Read Online LoveLines by S. Walden - Free Book Online Page A

Bam! I went from drunk to splitting the atom in three seconds flat.” He winked at me.
    I blushed.
    “Hope it didn’t ruin your night,” he said. “Your instant sobriety.”
    Brian f lashed in my brain. “No,” I muttered. “Something else took care of that.”
    “Oh?”
    “It’s nothing,” I said quickly.
    He had the good sense not to press me for details.
    “So, are we cool?” he asked.
    “Completely.”
    “Then I’ll see you later for lunch?”
    I gulped. “Lunch?”
    “Yeah. I thought we could eat together,” Reece said.
    I didn’t know what this meant. I knew my female brain was already reading way to o much into it, but I didn’t care. And here’s why: He had the best head of hair on any man I’d ever seen.
    “I eat at noon,” I said.
    “I know.”
    He gen tly pushed me aside and started down the hallway. I opened my mouth to ask him how he knew I ate at noon, but another question came out instead.
    “How did Haute Digital like your campaign?” I asked.
    He paused and turned around. “They . . . dig it.” He stood there buzzing with suppressed excitement. Something big was about to happen. I felt it. I felt it from him. The current escaped through his feet, traveled under the carpeted hallway, and zapped me.
    ***
    Reece paid attention. He watched her for an entire week, arriving to work at exactly 7:58 every morning. Eating lunch at noon on the dot. He found excuses to visit her cubicle just to see if her pens would be in the same order in which she lined them up the first time he met her. Without fail, they lay on her desk in their red-blue-black-green-purple order of importance.
    Another week passed, and he thought they were actually becoming friends. He didn’t need excuses to visit her anymore. It became habitual to stop by and ask about her weekend, see if she wanted a soda from the vending machine, find out where her favorite restaurants were. After all, he was still new to Wilmington, and there was a lot to discover. And he wanted to discover it with her.
    “I’m in love with a co worker,” Reece confessed to his friend, Camden, on trivia night at a local bar.
    “Not wise,” Camden replied, and chugged his beer.
    “And I’m pretty sure she’s OCD,” Reece went on.
    Camden stared at his friend. “Dude. No.”
    “I find it uncomfortably sexy,” Reece admitted.
    “That you like a co worker or that she’s OCD?”
    “The second one. There’s something strangely erotic about it. What the hell is wrong with me?” Reece shoved a cheese fry in his mouth.
    “Look Reece, I’m your best friend. And as your best friend, it’s my job to give it to you straight. So here’s the deal: Don’t even think about going there. Do you have any idea what those people are like? I mean, what? Is she your age?”
    “I don’t know. Maybe.”
    “Okay. So she’s maybe thirty, thirty-one. And single.” He paused for effect. “For a reason .” He shot Reece a “Hello? Don’t be a moron” look.
    “But I’m single, too.”
    “By choice, man.”
    Reece grunted. “That’s debatable.”
    “People with OCD are not single by choice. They’re single because no one can deal with their bullshit.”
    “But I like her bullshit,” Reece argued, then shook his head. “I mean, the way she acts. It’s not bullshit. It’s cute.”
    “You’re seeing it from a distance. Imagine dating it. Living with it. Fucking it. Totally different ballgame.”
    They listened for the answers to Round 3. Camden slammed his hand on the table.
    “I knew it was iambic pentameter! Why do I listen to you?” he grumbled.
    “Have you ever dated someone with OCD?” Reece asked, ignoring the question.
    “Never. Because I’m not crazy.” Camden grabbed the plate of cheese fries and pulled it across the table. “No more cheese fries for you. If my calculations are correct, you just cost us the lead, you dumb fuck.”
    Reece rolled his eyes. “Then how do you know if they’re difficult or not?”
    “Go