Read Online Chat Love by Justine Faeth - Free Book Online

fun drinks, and convenient location. The restaurant is always packed on both of its two floors, and is not your typical Ruby Tuesday, where you’d normally go for just a burger and fries. No, this Ruby Tuesday is fancy, especially compared to others.
    Since we come here so often, the staff knows us and we usually get the same table. We order our drinks: Skyler their signature Hurricane and I a dirty martini. After our waiter takes our food orders, Skyler points to my drink, raising her eyebrows.
    “OK, it’s only Monday. What the hell happened?” she asks.
    I take a huge swallow of my drink and relish the feeling of it sliding down my throat. After a minute of silence I finally say, “I can’t stand Jackson Foster.” Skyler laughs at me and I shake my head. “Don’t laugh, it’s not funny. Seriously, that man is an asshole. He’s nothing but an English asshole that thinks he’s better than me. I wish immigration would send his ass home.”
    “You mean the ass you check out every morning?” Skyler asks me with a smirk. I narrow my eyes at her and her face turns serious. “I’m sorry—I heard what happened today.” She takes a sip of her drink, the large diamond in her beautiful engagement ring sparkling in the light. “OK, so Jackson can be a pain in the ass, but the guy is under a lot of pressure from the suits.”
    I lean back in the booth, bothered that my friend isn’t taking my side. “Why do you always defend him?”
    She throws her hands up in the air, “I’m not. I’m just saying that the guy isn’t that bad.”
    I roll my eyes. “He likes you, Skyler. That’s why he’s nice to you. He’s only nice to Caitlin and all of her little friends because he wants to screw them or is already screwing them. On the other hand, he hates me.”
    She gives me another smirk, “Well then maybe all that tension between you two is sexual.”
    I chuckle, “If only; that would be something I could fix. No, the tension between Jackson and I has more to do with the fact that we can’t stand each other.” I take another sip of my drink. “Anyway, he never looks at me the way that he looks at all the other women at work. He checks you out even though he knows you’re getting married in May.”
    “You know, I’ve seen him check you out more than once. I’m just saying.” She wiggles her eyebrows at me. “So are you finally on Chat Love yet?” she asks, changing the subject.
    “No, not yet,” I reply, “I’m just not sure if it would work for me. I’m not that kind of girl.” I purposely don’t mention how my family and some of my friends are against my using the site.
    She leans back in the booth. “Oh, you aren’t? Well then what kind of girl am I?”
    I quickly explain to her what I meant, “It’s just that I’m very busy, and I’m not good with computers or the Internet, and I just don’t think that I can advertise myself that way…”
    Before I can finish my rambling, Skyler cuts me off, “Excuses. All I hear are excuses. Do you know what I think? I think you don’t actually want to try to find someone.” I open my mouth to protest, but she continues, “And I mean
really
try to meet someone. You always say you’re looking, but you only look with one eye open. I think you’ve just given up, as if you don’t think your Mr. Right is out there. I think that maybe you’re afraid to try Chat Love because you know there’s a good chance that you’ll actually meet someone, and that would mean you’d have to risk getting hurt again. You’re afraid to put yourself out there because you’re afraid of getting hurt.”
    I stare at her with my mouth open, surprised at how correct her conclusions are. I’ve been hurt and disappointed so many times that, in a way, I have given up. My heart is finally healed, and I’m not sure I’m ready to expose it at the risk of it getting broken again.
    Skyler looks at me, laughing, and says, “Close your mouth before you swallow a fly.” I snap