by Andi James
Finding someone to take to a holiday party shouldn't be so hard, and he knew that. But it wasn't easy for him to accept he was searching for someone for only that purpose. It almost felt like using them, and he didn't love the idea of doing that. If he found someone he could talk to, someone who was easygoing and had a nice smile, someone he could relate to… Well, maybe it could turn into more after the holiday party. Was it so wrong to hope for that? Or at least imagine it as a possibility?
"The thing is,” Aiden went on, “I'm not exaggerating when I tell you I can't imagine spending any more time with these men than I have so far. Wyatt has actually been the best one, and he and I are pretty much opposites in every way. I have nothing to say to him."
"He's pretty though." Chelsea winked at him. "He could at least be good arm candy. That might go a long way toward making a certain ex a little jealous."
Was that Aiden's goal? To make Justin jealous? He didn't think so. He wanted someone at the party with him who could distract him, who could help him not pine after Justin or obsess over Justin's new boyfriend. Not someone whose purpose was to look good.
Okay, good looks probably wouldn’t hurt anything, but still.
"What was so wrong with the dates you went on recently?" Chelsea threw a fortune cookie at Aiden, which bounced off his cheek and onto the counter. "Why haven't you told me anything about them?"
Aiden tossed the cookie back to Chelsea and dumped more rice on his plate. "Why do you have to know every detail of everything? Why can't you trust my word that none of them went well, and let it go at that?"
Chelsea stared at Aiden, as if she'd never seen him before in her life. "In the time we've been friends, have you ever known me to do any of those things? Ever?"
Aiden had to laugh. "No."
"Exactly. And I'm not gonna start now, so you might as well spill." She grinned at him and popped a dumpling into her mouth.
Aiden stared at her, then his shoulders slumped. He reached for the bottle of wine and poured more in each of their glasses. "Fine. As usual, you'll get your way. Want to clean this up and move into the living room?"
Chelsea nodded and hopped off her stool. They quickly had the leftovers put away, with Chelsea giving Aiden strict instructions to bring all of them to work the next day for their lunch. Aiden grabbed the wine bottle on their way into the living room, where they got comfortable on Aiden's sectional.
Chelsea was turned toward Aiden, wineglass in hand, giving him her full attention.
As much as Aiden didn't have any interest in reliving either date, he was hopeful telling Chelsea about them would earn some sympathy. She was the only one who really knew what he was going through, and therefore, the only one he could talk to. Well, her and Liam, he supposed.
Chelsea narrowed her eyes at Aiden. "What's that smile on your face?"
"What smile?"
"That dreamy little smile you're trying to hide."
Aiden scoffed. "I wasn't smiling. And if I had been, it definitely wasn't dreamy."
Truth be told, he'd been thinking about how Liam had helped him with his last date. But he was confident no dreamy smile had appeared.
Chelsea rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say. Start with the first date this week. That was…”
Aiden groaned. "That was Randy. Chels, why did you set me up with a fifty-seven-year-old?"
She choked on her wine. Once she could breathe reasonably well, she said, "I honestly don't know what you're talking about."
Aiden gave her a blank look. "Randy? You don't remember him from the app? Older guy, silver hair?"
Chelsea got out her phone and started swiping across the screen. "This guy? He's so not fifty-seven."
She showed Aiden the photo on her screen, and he snorted. "Oh, but he so is in real life. That's definitely him in the picture, maybe fifteen years ago. Certainly not what he looks like now."
Chelsea cringed. "Well, I can't have known that would happen. I'm sure he's not the only one who fibs about his age on these things."
"Probably not." Aiden tugged a blanket off the back of his couch and tossed it over their legs. He thought back to what he'd dealt with during dinner with Randy. "But what even made you pick him?"
"Other than how attractive he is in this picture?" Chelsea seemed to be reading through Randy's profile. "Oh, because it says he owns his own business, and he sounded really passionate about it. You'd said that was something you were looking for."
Aiden chuckled. "Yeah, he has a motorcycle repair shop. And since he talked about motorcycles half the night, it's safe to say he's passionate about them. It's too bad all of it went over my head. I've never even ridden on one, and I barely know what all the lights in my car mean."
Chelsea grinned at him. "Don't tell me he didn't offer to give you a ride. He did, didn't he?"
"At least five times." Aiden groaned again. "But that wasn't even the bad part."
"No?" Chelsea raised her eyebrows. "What was?"
Aiden's cheeks heated up. Even thinking about it embarrassed him. Especially since he knew Liam had overheard it more than once.
"He kept trying to like, dad me," Aiden mumbled.
Chelsea laughed loudly. "What, like, 'Are you a bad boy? Daddy's going to spank you’?"
"Noooo. That I probably could have handled by simply explaining it's not my thing." Aiden took a long drink of his wine, polishing off the glass. "I mean dad me. He tried to cut up my food for me. Lectured me on investing my money wisely for when I retire. Asked me when I'd last had the oil changed in my car. Continually called me son."
Chelsea wasn't laughing out loud, but her face was turning red from keeping it in, and her shoulders were shaking.
Aiden had to put his hand over his face to tell her the absolute worst part. "And he kept slipping into baby talk. 'Aww, does wittle Aiden have to go tinkle.' He didn't even care that people could hear him! It was so bad, Chels."
Chelsea was scream-laughing at that point. "He did not!"
Aiden looked at her, horrified. "You think I'd make that up? I'm not even capable of making that up."
"Oh my god." Chelsea leaned over and put her arm around Aiden's shoulders, squeezing. "While that is hilarious — and let's be honest, something I'm totally stealing to use on you at work — I'm sorry. That was probably zero fun to sit through."
Aiden crossed his arms in front of his chest. "It wasn't. Though, he did give me a tip on a credit union that has good rates on CDs right now. I'm gonna look into it."
Chelsea scooted back and bit her lip.
Aiden glared. "No. That does not make up for everything else he put me through."
She held her hands in the air. "I didn't say a word."
"You didn't have to. I know you were thinking it."
"Maybe." Chelsea took a deep breath, as if she was trying to compose herself. "Okay. Agreed. He is not a possibility for the holiday party. What happened with Frank?”
Aiden scrunched up his face. “That was over and done with in ten minutes. He left after the third time I told him no, we weren’t having sex right then, or ever.”
Chelsea sighed heavily. “Gross. Forget that guy. So what about… Trevor, was it?"
Aiden shook his head. "No, Chels, he goes by Tre, thank you very much. And he seemed highly offended I didn't know that."
Chelsea picked up the wine bottle and poured more in Aiden's glass. "Why wouldn't he put Tre as his name on the app then?"
"Right?" Aiden threw up his hands. "That's what I said!" He sighed. "Anyway, Tre apparently can't hold his liquor. He was coming off as buzzed after chugging one rum and Coke, and he talked so fast I truly didn't know what he was saying. Something about mules and spaceships, I think?"
Chelsea stared at Aiden.
He shrugged. "No clue. After his second drink — which he also gulped down — he became pretty uncoordinated. Spilled my drink all over the bar, that kind of stuff. Keep in mind, we hadn't even ordered food yet."
"Yikes. Maybe he was drunk before
he got there? Had to have some liquid courage first?"
Aiden thought back. "Yeah, that's a definite possibility."
"Aww, he was probably nervous."
Aiden ignored Chelsea because there was no way anyone could be nervous over meeting him.
"So, I strongly suggested he switch to regular soda or water, but he insisted he was fine and ordered a third drink."
"Uh-oh." Chelsea clapped her hands together. "This sounds like it's going to be good."
"It's not," Aiden said with a chuckle. "Well, you might think it is. Who knows." Aiden rubbed a hand over his face. "Third drink was gone in ten seconds. Five minutes after that, he put his head down on the bar and fell asleep."
Chelsea shoved Aiden's shoulder. "Shut the hell up. He did not."
Aiden laughed. "Oh, he did. Snoring and everything."
Her eyes got wide. "What did you do? Put him in an Uber or something?"
"I didn't, but ultimately, Liam did."
"Wait." Chelsea's eyebrows scrunched together as she took a drink. "Who is Liam?"
Aiden felt his cheeks turning pink again, which made no sense. "I've told you about him. He helped with this." Aiden pointed to his temple. "He's a bartender there. Well, he's actually the owner, but he often works behind the bar."
"Oh, right. I thought that name sounded familiar. So what did Liam do? Pick up Tre and carry him?"
Aiden laughed. "Almost. We both had to help him off the stool and support him as we walked outside, and then Liam made Tre drink a bottle of water and recite the alphabet backward before he'd let him get in a stranger’s car."
Aiden had deeply appreciated Liam stepping up and helping him get Tre home. He hadn't thought he'd be able to do it on his own, with Tre being four inches taller and probably forty pounds heavier than Aiden.
"Damn. Definitely don't want to bring someone to the party who can't hold their liquor. What did you do after that? Just go home?"
Aiden gave Chelsea a look of mock horror. "Are you kidding? I went back inside and had a drink. I needed one after all that."
They stared at each other for a few seconds, then burst out laughing.
When they'd finally regained their composure, Aiden slumped into Chelsea and leaned his head on her shoulder.
"Can you do me a favor?"
"Anything," she said.
"Please pick better dates, or I'm going to be going to that holiday party alone."
She reached up and patted his cheek. "I'll do my best."
Chapter 7
Aiden was forty-five minutes into the worst date in the history of dates. Steven apparently didn’t hold the same opinion about their evening together, because when he had stood to excuse himself to go to the bathroom thirty seconds earlier, he’d given Aiden a warm smile and squeezed his hand. A sweet and attentive gesture from anyone else, but from Steven, it was a terrifying reminder the night wasn’t over.
Aiden watched Steven walk down the hall, and he heard a chuckle from next to him.
“This is going well.”
“Liam,” Aiden hissed, “save me.”
“Save you from what? From this amazing date?”
Aiden groaned and slumped down on his stool.
“Are you telling me you didn’t enjoy arm wrestling with him?” Liam couldn’t keep the laughter out of his voice.
Aiden cringed. “I still can’t believe that happened.”
“I can’t believe you’re still here. He’s in the bathroom. Now’s your chance to bolt.”
Aiden had considered that several times, but that wasn’t him. “I couldn’t do that to someone… Even to Steven.”
Liam gave Aiden a smile he couldn’t quite read.
“Liam.” Aiden may have been whining slightly. “He keeps telling me about law things.”
“Like, about his job?”
“No, like about the legal system.”
“Did you not tell him you’re an attorney?” Liam asked, wide-eyed.
“He didn’t give me a chance! He’s been talking about nothing except himself and his own feats of general intelligence and strength since we got here. Or, since I got here…”
“Yeah, I can’t believe he showed up an hour early just to make sure he beat you here.”
“Since when is arrival time a competition?”
“I have a feeling he could make anything into a competition. Before you got here, he asked me if I could name all fifty states in five minutes.”
“Could you?”
Liam narrowed his eyes. “Of course not. No one can.”
“Um.” Aiden cocked his head to the side. “Pretty sure lots of people can.”
“Well,” Liam said with a wave of his hand, “geography is not my strong suit.”
“No, no… I get it. States are hard. I mean, there are like, fifty of them,” Aiden teased, “which is basically a million. And, it’s not like they teach you them in elementary school.”
The patron to the left of Aiden snorted, clearly listening to their conversation.
Liam’s face adopted an unreadable expression, and Aiden wondered if maybe he’d gone a little too far, but Liam broke into a wide grin as he glanced over Aiden’s head. “Don’t look now, but your date’s coming back.”
“Help me,” Aiden pleaded again.
Liam looked at him, his smile bright. “Don’t worry, Aiden. I got your back.”
And Aiden wasn’t sure why those words gave him a tingling feeling in his stomach, but the mood was quickly broken when Steven settled onto the stool beside him.
“How long was I gone?”
“Sorry,” Aiden said with a little shrug, “I didn’t realize I was supposed to be timing you.”
Steven grinned. “That’s fine. Pretty sure it was under four minutes though. Which has got to be some kind of record, right?”
Aiden didn’t know what Liam’s plan was, but he silently begged him to hurry.
Liam took that moment to walk back to where they were seated. “Hey, you two. I just wanted to let you know Sandy is going to take care of you for the rest of the night.”
Aiden raised an eyebrow. Was Liam leaving early? He had never done that before. He was always at the bar, and Aiden wasn’t sure what to make of the disappointment he felt.
“Thanks. Are you taking off?” Steven asked.
“I wish.” Liam chuckled. “Actually, we’re going to start trivia in about ten minutes,” Liam said, giving Aiden an inconspicuous wink.
Oh my god. This cannot be happening.
Aiden sniffed the air, checking for the scent of toast, because he had to be having a stroke.
Steven’s eyes widened to the size of marshmallows. “No way.” He looked at Aiden. “No way! I love trivia.”
Why was Aiden not surprised? He cleared his throat. “Yeah, okay. Well, have a good night,” he told Liam. “I should probably get going too.”
“What? No!” Steven practically shot off his stool. “You have to stay. Let’s play trivia!”
Aiden shook his head with what he hoped looked like regret. “Unfortunately, I can’t—”
Before he could give his poorly planned excuse, Liam interrupted. “Aiden, didn’t you mention that you had a free weekend since you were already prepared for court on Monday?”
You are dead to me, Aiden mouthed at Liam, who couldn’t contain his grin.
“Holy shit,” Steven cried. “Are you on trial?”
Dead to me.
“Okay,” Liam said, “I have to get set up.”
“Do you normally host?” Steven asked.
Liam chuckled. “No, but my emcee has the flu, so I told her I’d do my best. You two should definitely play.” Liam shrugged. “I mean, unless you’re afraid of losing to a bunch of drunk people.”
It was as if Liam had just found out Aiden had wronged him in another life. Why, why would Liam do this to Aiden?
“I’m glad the theme tonight isn’t geography,” Liam lamented. “I’m no good at that. I must have missed that day in k
indergarten.”
Aiden pressed his lips together into a firm line, ignoring the twinkle in Liam’s eyes.
“But you’re not playing,” Steven said, a puzzled look on his face.
“Oh, that’s true, I guess.”
“What is the theme tonight?”
“Last week the theme was Hanukkah, so this week it’s Christmas.”
Aiden sensed another opening to get out of this. He shook his head. “Oh, I don’t know much about Christmas, Steven. I’d just be weighing you down.”
“Oh no, it’s fine. I’ll be here to help you.”
“Yeah, Aiden,” Liam encouraged, with a grin. “It will be fun.”
Spoiler: It was not fun.
An hour and a half later, Aiden was pondering who was to blame for the worst Friday night he’d ever had. It was easy to name Steven, but that didn’t seem fair. Aiden had originally pointed the finger at Liam, but then turned his eye on Chelsea. Ultimately, he decided it was his own fault since he’d never really considered his option to relocate to the north pole, where the biggest problems are polar bears and frostbite, not exes, bad dates, besties who don’t listen, and evil, tattooed bartenders.
“Here,” Steven said, sliding several small slips of paper in front of Aiden. “How about you take over writing the answers and turning them in?”
“Sure.” Aiden picked up the pen as they waited for Liam to read the next trivia question. It would be the only help he’d contributed to the game since he’d vehemently opposed Steven’s suggestion that they name their team The Well-Hung Jury.
It wasn’t that Aiden didn’t know the answers… Well, at least some of them. It was that, even when he suggested an answer, Steven opted to submit whatever he thought the answer was. The result was that they were not winning. Not even close. Aiden had assumed Steven would rather quit than lose, but he just buckled down harder. Aiden was fairly certain there was almost no mathematical way they could still win, but Steven listened to each question intently before arguing with himself over the right answer.
Aiden picked at his garlic cheese fries. “You know, we could really just leave…”