Page 27 of Rosie
“Right.” His voice dripped with what sounded a bit like disgust, and he turned back to his pastry.
Rosie slipped into a chair at the table. “Do you want me to call Olivia?”
“No!” Matt shook his head vehemently. “She worries too much. I’m fine.”
“Okay. If you need a ride to work, text me. Ride shares are expensive, and I’m off for the tournament tomorrow.”
He nodded mutely. Seeing that her presence was unwanted, she rose and walked to her coat, then slipped out the front door. “Good night,” she called as she closed it. She almost missed his wave.
Disappointed, Rosie strode down the stairs to her own apartment on the third floor. For a moment in the car, she’d thought he’d kiss her. Clearly that had been the fatigue. Briefly, she wondered if he’d wanted her to kiss him instead, but then admonished herself. That would have been taking advantage of him, and she could never live with herself if she did that. She resolvedagainto start looking for someone else, and get over this hopeless infatuation.
Chapter 7
Rosiesmiledassheparked her car in the parking lot of the dark brick building. She’d heard so much about Fabled from members of the squad, who’d been there when Jake apologized to Olivia the first time. Olivia had broken up with him after he refused to stand up for her when his co-anchor at the network insulted her. He managed to make it up to her eventually. It was also where Nadia met Caleb, which had been hate at first sight, partly because Caleb was Jake’s best friend. She still didn’t fully understand their relationship; Nadia sometimes goaded him into an argument because, as she put it, “Make-up sex is the best.” Sometimes she thought Nadia just loved to argue. And she’d witnessed Caleb provoke Nadia an equal number of times. But her friend was happy, and that’s all Rosie cared about.
The theme from the Mos Eisley Cantina filled her ears when she pulled the door open. The dim restaurant had been decorated with space-themed decorations, but the huge tree-like bar still gave it a fantasy air. Rosie grinned. It seemed everyone had dressed to match the theme, and some even had come in full costume. She felt right at home in along-sleevedStar Warst-shirt that was almost a dress on her,and her galaxy print leggings. Rosie had even put a little make-up on. Not much, just lip gloss and mascara. Enough to make her feel put-together and feminine.
She paused in front of the door, and searched the room until she found Matt at a table with two dark-haired guys. They had to be Keith and Damir. Walking past an Imperial officer talking to a guy in a Chewbacca shirt, she strode up to her squadron.
“Hey guys.” Wow. These two were muscular. Her friends would probably say they were hot. One was even taller than Matt, and the other was shorter, close to her five foot five. Rosie found herself slightly intimidated.
Matt was the first to greet her. “Hi, Rosie.” He actually smiled! A small one, but still.
“Hel-lo, nurse!” The short one made no secret he was checking her out. She gulped, trying to ignore the awkward sensation of his gaze.
The tall one reached his long arm over the table. “Nice to officially meet you, Rosie. I’m Damir.” She shook the polite one’s hand and smiled.
“It’s nice to meet you, too. So that makes you —”
“Keith, my lady. Or should I say, General.” Keith winked and instead of shaking her hand, he bowed and kissed it.
Rosie’s eyes almost bugged out of her head as people started to stare. Had she stepped into a renaissance fair by mistake? She wasn’t used to anyone flirting with her, and it made her really uncomfortable to be center of attention. It was especially awkward since she wasn’t attracted to him, atall. But they had to compete together so shecouldn’twalk away like she would have anywhere else. It was going to be a long night.
She slipped her hand from his and held it out of his reach. “It’s nice to put a face to the name.”
Apparently, he didn’t get the hint. Throughout the night, Keith insisted on sitting next to her, and slid his arm around the back of her chair, touching her, more than once. She was so distracted, she forgot to ask Matt how his hand was feeling. It was still bandaged, but he washereso he must be okay to play, right?
As the night wore on, Keith grew more andmoreflirty. He was even making inappropriate jokes about playing nurse and patient with her. Rosie didn’t knowwhatto do! She just wanted to play the game. The man was clueless. It probably didn’t help her main reaction to the nerves was to giggle uncomfortably. The only time she was comfortable was when they were playing because Keith’s entire focus was the screen. She honestly considered throwing the next match just to get out of there. How was she supposed to tell him that she wasn’t interested without making a scene? There was no spark with Keith, not like she had with Matt.
Rosie tried to at least keep Matt on her other side, since she was familiar with him. But that wasn’t pleasant, either. Matt barely even looked at her. He grew more and more surly the longer the night went on.
Matt seethed as his character got shot out of the sky too quickly again. They had to get the best out of five matches against the other squadron to move on to the final round. He was completely off his game, and it was all Keith and Rosie’s fault. And maybe partly the hand injury, but those had been mostly surface cuts and had already started to heal. Rosie especially was sending him mixed signals. She would giggle at some of Keith’s flirting, but she didn’t flirt back. If she’d only tell him yes or no, Matt would know where she stood!
He loaded up another basic fighter for the light side and fought on, but his mind wasn’t on the screen in front of him. Nope, it was on the couch on the other side of Damir, where Keith and Rosie were sitting awfully close together. Granted, the couch wasn’t all that large so even he was touching Damir’s leg, but he would have rather been sitting by Rosie. Maybe even between her and Keith. He could try that next round. If they even made it.
The last villain fell from space and now they were two and two against the other squadron. This was it. It was their turn to be the dark side now. Matt immediately loaded up Kylo Ren’s TIE silencer. Their map was the gray, rainy clone center on the planet of Kamino. Domed metal roofs on pedestals rose out of the water planet, connected by bridges that created a spiderweb of a course. It was his favorite level. The silencer snaked around the spires and shot at the good guys, its speed and maneuverability a boon in this course. He found he could focus if he pretended all the other team’s ships were played by Keith.
But he wasn’t enough. The rest of the heroes teamed up on his squadron, who he was busy ignoring. The message that he was the last of his group flashed on the screen, and then his ship exploded. They were done.
“Well, we had a good run, gang.” Keith put his controller back in the provided basket as the next team prepared to take their turn. “Hey Rosie, can I buy you a drink?”
“No, thanks, I have to drive home,” she responded, shaking her head.
“Some other time then?”
She seemed to hesitate before replying, “Maybe.”
Matt had heard enough. But he had to work with Keith and Damir, and he lived in the same building as Rosie. “Night, guys.” He put his controller back and stormed off to the parking lot.
