Prank Date [✔]

Part 25

"Not lame, no," I said. "But even if the stone held magic, I doubt it could help me. Maybe Patrick was right. I'm a lost cause when it comes to love."

"Hey! No negative comments about yourself." Lisa slapped the thigh that I had pinched just moments before. Then she rubbed the affected body part, making my leg and places higher up my body-tingle.

This is not happening. I clenched my teeth. My insides trembled.

It's just this place and the wine that affect me like this. Not a woman. Not Lisa. A picnic during sunset on a beautiful beach would put anyone in a romantic mood, right? It didn't mean anything. But the voice inside of me that said otherwise was becoming louder.

"You've got to start treating yourself better. Don't be so hard on yourself," Lisa said, her voice a soft, intimate murmur. "You're not a lost cause. When the time is right, you'll be in a happy, loving relationship."

In the past, I never cared. Whether I ever started a relationship again hadn't mattered. But now, sitting on a blanket with Lisa, watching the setting sun dipping the ocean in bronze and copper, I longed to have someone with whom I could share special moments like this.

A man, preferably.

But try as I might, I couldn't imagine anyone else sitting in Lisa's place.

For the first time, I had to face the fact that those feelings might not go away. I stared at the moonstone, tempted to throw it away. But then I paused. When Lisa wasn't looking, I slipped the stone into my pocket, scolding myself for the sudden sentimentality.

Lisa's knee brushed against my ankle beneath the blanket, directing my attention away from the moonstone. Despite the hard ground, Lisa stretched out on her back. The setting sun threw a soft glow over the planes of her face. She blinked, and each time, her eyes remained closed for a millisecond longer.

"You look tired," I said before I could stop myself. I bit my lip.

Lisa forced her eyes open and sat up. Her clothes were rumpled, which looked surprisingly attractive, and the wind swept a strand of hair into her face.

When I caught myself almost reaching out to comb the unruly curl back into place, I stuffed my hands into my pockets. I encountered the smooth contours of the moonstone. Quickly, I pulled out my right hand and rested it beneath my thigh instead.

"Sorry," Lisa said. Her nostrils quivered as she fought to suppress a yawn. "I swear it's not the company. Nikki kept me up way past my bedtime last night."

I dug my teeth deeper into my lip. I didn't want to imagine Lisa with Nikki, but I didn't comment. Even though at times, the lines began to blur for me, Lisa wasn't my girlfriend and didn't owe me an explanation.

"What about your past relationships?" I asked after a while.

Lisa folded her legs beneath her and faced me with an open expression. "Well, you've met Nikki."

Is that really in the past? I wondered.

"And before that ..." Lisa took a fistful of pebbles and let them slip through her fingers one by one. "I searched for all the wrong things in all the wrong places."