Page 34 of True Sight

Hey Conrad. I know I saw you yesterday at our meeting but I wanted to just say that I’m really glad you came by on Sunday to help me with the studio. I had fun spending time with you

Oh, and my contractors are building out the locker rooms in the next few weeks and I need to pick the hardware for the doors. I could use your keen eye for detail if you wouldn’t mind helping me again

I clear my throat as I read the word ‘hardware’ and start to type a message back.

“Hey, no phones at the table. That was your rule in the first place, Connie,” Malcolm barks at me and waves his hand towards my phone. I turn quickly so he can’t take it from me and read Henry’s text.

“Shut up,” I mumble before hitting send on my reply.

“Besides, it’s no phones during gameplay. We aren’t playing yet, so no rules were broken.” I smirk at him. My phone buzzes again and my lips flicker up before I can stop them. My fingers dance quickly across the screen before hitting the send button again.

“Was that it?”

“It could have been it.”

“For Conrad, that was pretty close to being it.”

My friends round robin their words as I look up at them.

“What the hell are you morons talking about?” I bark at them, already tired from the evening and their antics.

Kolbi leans over the table across from me and grins. “You, my friend, just had the look.”

“The look,” Hank echos, nodding his head knowingly at me.

“Alright Connie, finally gettin’ some! Who’s the chick?” Malcolm claps a hand down on my shoulder and I want to punch his stupid smirk off his face.

“Malcolm, do not refer to a woman as a ‘chick,’ it’s demeaning,” Ophelia scolds. She and the other girlsare still milling around the room and now, just like my friends, are all staring at me.

“Whatever you say, little fox,” Malcolm murmurs. He’s so totally whipped by her he would lay down in front of a moving train if she asked.

“So, who’s the girl?” Bailey encourages with a smile on her face.

“Is it Margaret?” Magnolia quickly adds.

“Why would it be Margaret?” I groan because their insinuation that there’s anything going on between me and Margaret is absolutely ridiculous.

“You twohavebeen spending a lot of time together.”

“Yeah, she told us so at brunch last weekend.”

“You two would be so cute together,” Magnolia cries.

“There isnothinggoing on between Margaret and I. I can promise you that.”

“Then who’s the girl?” Malcolm asks again, a little more forcefully than before.

“There is no girl,” I nearly shout at them, smacking my hand down on the table. My breath is heavy and hot and I blink a few times before looking around the room. All six of them are looking at me with varying degrees of shocked or stunned expressions on their faces.

“Okay, brother. There’s no girl.” It’s Kolbi who speaks, his deep voice low and soothing. “Everyone settle in, it’s time to start.”

As the awkward tension dissipates and the significant others say their goodbyes before going to their own corners of the house, I unlock my phone and send off one more text.

1 New Message: Henry Baker

Hey Conrad. I know I saw you yesterday at our meeting but I wanted to just say that I’m really glad you came by on Sunday to help me with the studio. I had fun spending time with you

Oh, and my contractors are building out the locker rooms in the next few weeks and I need to pick the hardware for the doors. I could use your keen eye for detail if you wouldn’t mind helping me again