Searching for Neverland by Monica Alexander

until ten when we walked over to O’Donnell’s. Kimmy stayed with us for exactly fifteen minutes before she announced that she was going to meet some friends at Hyde Park Café – thank God. She’d invited (actually begged) Josh to go with her, but he’d decided to stay with us, most likely because he was offended that his girlfriend didn’t want to hang out at O’Donnell’s.
    Josh, the wine selection here is so sub-par.
    Josh, the people here are so average.
    Josh, why can’t you come hang out with me and my friends tonight? I’m not exactly dressed for this place.
    She whined the whole time she was with us, and I knew her subtle digs had to hit Josh’s pride button right on the head. He loved the understated, unpretentious vibe of the pub he managed, but instead of telling her this, he just let her go, told her he’d call her the next day, kissed her goodbye, and then camped out with Cole and me.
    And he spent the whole time trying to talk to Cole about sports – something I know nothing about. Cole, being the good friend that he was, humored Josh, but I could tell he wasn’t really into the sports talk that night. And because of Josh, Cole and I did not get to spend as much time hanging out as I’d hoped and had ended the night with a hug, instead of a kiss.
    Yes, I could have been slutty and brought him up to my room, but I knew that wasn’t smart to do with a guy who ran in the same circles as me. So I kept quiet, and it was on to Plan B, which was to see how I could arrange to run into Cole in the next few weeks to make my summer less sucky. Dating him would be better than a one-night stand anyway.
    After we closed the bar down, Josh and I walked home together. He didn’t say anything and didn’t even look in my direction as he unlocked the gate that led to our backyard. 
    “So Kimmy seems nice,” I said, in an effort to start a conversation with him as he re-secured the gate on our side.
    “Why would you say that?” he asked, still not making eye contact with me.
    “Because she is,” I said, somewhat surprised as to why he would question my impression of her.
    “You don’t think that,” he deadpanned.
    He finally looked over at me, obviously expecting me to respond to his accusation. And I realized then that it would do me no good to lie to Josh. He could read me like a book. But I could be subtle.
    “Why do you think I don’t think she’s nice?” I asked, trying to sound innocent.
    He shot me a look that said he could see right through my act.
    “Because, she’s not your type. She can’t ‘hang with the guys’ as you would say.”
    I bit my lip in an effort to not tell him everything I thought about the horrible fembot he was sleeping with.
    “I guess, but quite honestly, all I really care about if whether you like her, so what does it matter what I think?”
    Josh looked pointedly at me. “I care. You’re one of my best friends. I trust your judgment.”
    “Well, thanks, I guess.”
    “Tell me what you really think of her,” he asked point blank. He held the back door open for me to walk through, and the icy air conditioning smacked me in the face when I entered the house. Or maybe it just felt colder than normal since Josh seemed more frigid than usual.
    I took a deep breath. “Do you really want to know?”
    He hesitated before saying, “Yes.”
    He turned to face me, as he waited for me to answer him.
    I decided that if he wanted the truth, then I wasn’t going to sugar-coat it. “She’s sort of a bitch, Josh. Yeah, she’s gorgeous and adorable, but she’s a little elitist, she hates O’Donnell’s, and she’s going to try to change you. She acted like she was better than all of us the whole night, that is when she even deemed any of us worthy of conversation. The only person she seemed to actually like was Cole. Oh, and she’s definitely not a fan of me, so I can’t exactly warm up to her. I think you need to reconsider if she’s the right girl for you. Oh,