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Chapter 7 - Saddle Up

CHAPTER 7

JOHN

"You were talkin' about me," I stated when Carly came and took a seat in front of me, looking rather red in the face and unwilling to meet my gaze. I found that incredibly entertaining.

"We were not," she argued back, but the fact that she was getting redder seemed to suggest otherwise.

"Oh, so you were just gigglin' about how cute this table is and not about the guy sittin' at it?" I suggested.

I wasn't good at this whole flirting thing; I wasn't even sure I was doing it right, but the way she looked at me in that moment told me I wasn't doing it entirely wrong.

"I didn't say you were cute, now you're just puttin' words in my mouth," Carly retorted. "And we weren't giggling, I'll have you know," she added.

"Okay," I shrugged, taking a bite out of my sandwich.

"Oh my God, seriously, you're so aggravating, I think I liked you better when you didn't talk," Carly rolled her eyes, laughing.

I didn't say a word, glancing down at my food and inspecting it rather fondly. I counted the seconds in my head: one... two... three... I didn't even get to sixty when she started speaking again.

"Okay, I know the difference between you bein' you and you purposefully givin' me the silent treatment... Stop," she said.

"I can't do anythin' right with you, can I?" I teased, glancing over Carly's shoulder briefly to find that her blonde friend was still watching us. I didn't know what was going on and to be honest I wasn't sure I wanted to know. "Your friend's been eyeballin' me since we got here," I pointed out to Carly.

She glanced over her shoulder, the waitress behind the counter winked, and when Carly turned to face me again her face had returned to a bright shade of crimson.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing, she's just a pain in my ass," Carly replied.

"You aren't tryin' to set me up with her are you?" I asked with a small smile.

"Oh, no, no, don't worry, she's engaged," Carly said, perhaps a little too quickly. "She's actually gettin' married in just over a month... which is actually kind of terrifyin', since we still have a lot of things we have to do before her big day. I'm the maid of honor... It's been a lot of work, trust me, she's a picky bride! We spent a whole weekend in Dallas specifically to shop for a wedding dress and the dresses for the bridesmaids... I don't know, personally I think when my day comes I'll just elope... it'll be a whole lot easier for everyone involved," she laughed.

I was content listening to her; it meant I didn't have to come up with anything to fill the silence as we ate. I liked how animated she got whenever she spoke about something she was really interested in; she was perhaps complaining about the dresses and the wedding preparations, but I could tell she was still really excited about it.

"I've never been to a weddin' before," I said.

"Are you serious?" Carly asked incredulously. "You're thirty and you've never been to a wedding? You must have some friends that got hitched at one point or another... or a second cousin once removed or somethin'?" she trailed off, looking thoughtful.

"Well, I mean, a couple of my army buddies are married... or were," I shrugged. I didn't want to get into Mick's story and how he'd been planning on proposing to his high school sweetheart before he was killed overseas. "But most of 'em were already married when I met 'em," I added... It was either that or the fact that I wasn't close enough to them to get an invitation. I wasn't exactly the most sociable guy around, I didn't blame them.