"What about the country club?" She smiled. "Chad is pretty hot."

"Chad?" I made a face. "He's a douche."

"He's hot."

"You think he's hot?" I made a face at her and thought about Chad. He was tall, blond, with blue eyes, richer than everyone but my family. But he was totally a dickhead. He'd f**ked half the girls at the club and didn't keep it to himself.

"He's totally hot." She collapsed on her bed and smiled. "I'd totally make out with him."

"Clemmie." I groaned and stared at her on the bed. "You'd catch something if you made out with him."

"Whatever." She smiled and rolled around on the bed.

"Clemmie, stop that." I muttered as I watched her, images of her doing naughty things suddenly entering my mind.

"Stop what?" She sat up and brushed her hair over her shoulder.

"Nothing." I shook my head. "I gotta go."

"Okay." She nodded and stood up. "I should get back to my homework."

"You sure you don't want to come tonight?" I asked hopefully.

"I'm sure," she nodded. "Very, very sure."

"Fine." I walked towards the door and looked back at her. "Thanks for nothing."

"You're welcome." She beamed and walked over to me, giving me a small kiss on the cheek and a quick hug. "Have fun tonight and good luck."

"Bye, trouble," I rubbed her hair and walked out of the apartment. It had freaked me out when Clementine had hugged and kissed me every time she saw me or departed from me. I wasn't used to a family that was so loving and tactile, but she blamed it on her Nanna's Cajun roots. Though her grandma was from the North and I’m not sure where the Cajun roots came from. At first, I’d been uncomfortable getting hugged all the time, however I had grown to appreciate how loving her family was. I truly felt that I was a member of the O'Hara clan.

***

"Yo Tomas, what you doing tonight?" I called to one of my friends from college as I walked into my house.

"Fighting the good fight. What's good, bro?"

"Wanna go on a double date?"

"Que?"

"Your girl is a hottie. Trust me." I held my breath waiting for his response. Tomas was the only guy I knew that liked the game as much as I did. Plus, he was a man that women loved. I think it was his Latin roots, but Tomas had a suaveness that made me look like a little boy. With his jet-black hair, brown eyes and dark tanned skin, he was the picture of tall, dark and handsome. It didn't hurt that he had an accent and flung out Spanish poems as if it was his job. I knew if anyone could help me tonight, it would be Tomas.

"You know I find my own chicas, Rhett." He laughed. "Unless there's a reason you called me?"

I laughed at his question. Tomas really did know the game well.

"Dude, I double booked. I don't want to cancel on either and was going to play it like I thought they knew it was a double date."

"Risky move."

"Yeah, but once they see you, they'll be happy."

"You know which one I'm getting?" He paused. “What does she look like?”

“She’s hot. Tall, blonde, big tits.” I paused. “Do I need to go on?”

“Nah.” He laughed. “What time we going out?”

“I told them both I’d meet them at Q bar at 8. That good for you?”

“I’ll be there at 7:45 with flowers.” He laughed.

“You’re going to make them both ditch me.” I laughed as well.

“Hey, don’t hate the player, hate the game.”

“I taught you the game.”

“You wish.”

“Perhaps.” I grinned into the phone. “So I’ll see you there at 7:45. Just go along with whatever I say, okay?”

“That’s fine. I don’t suppose Clementine will be there, will she?” Tomas continued talking and I could feel the smile leaving my face.

“No, why?”

“Dude, she’s hot. I can’t believe you haven’t smacked that ass.”

“She’s like my sister, dude.”

“The operative word in that sentence is ‘like’, bro. She’s not your sister.”

I rolled my eyes at the phone and waited to calm down before I continued. “Anyway, she’s not coming.”

“She seeing anyone?” He asked, not realizing how pissed I was getting.

“Clementine isn’t dating right now. She’s trying to concentrate on school first.”

“Nerd alert.” He groaned.

“Tomas.” My voice was short.

“No diss, man. Nerds are hot. I’d f**k a nerd. She could mutter the periodic table while I went down on her.”

“Dude, that’s not cool.”

“I’m having a laugh.” Tomas laughed. “Chill.”

“I’m chilled.” My voice was anything but chilled.

“I was just wondering. I know she’s your friend, but I was just curious. She’s cute. I’m sure you’d rather her date me than some schmuck you don’t even know.”

“Hmm.” I didn’t want Tomas to back out of the date, so I ignored his comment.

“You know Brody thinks she’s hot too.”

“No, I didn’t.”

“Yeah, when we saw her with you at the library, he said something, but you know he won’t do a thing. He’s too much of a pussy. Though, Clementine might enjoy that.”

“I wouldn’t say that.” My tone was definitely annoyed.

“We should all hang out some time. Invite her to the party I’m holding next week.”

“We’ll see.” I sighed. “Anyway, I gotta go, Tomas. I gotta make reservations. I’ll see you tonight, okay?”

“Okay, see you bro.” Tomas sounded a bit put-off, but I hung up before he could say anything else. I walked into the kitchen and grabbed a beer before walking to my living room and relaxing on the couch. Clementine had helped me pick out the dark brown leather recliner, though it wasn’t really her taste. She’d wanted me to buy a blue and white pinstriped linen couch and I’d vetoed her choice quickly. I’d been deciding between a black, dark brown and red leather couch and I let her choose between the three. I settled into the couch, trying to get comfortable, but I felt uneasy. I wasn’t happy that Tomas had been talking about Clementine. As if she would ever go out with anyone like him. It annoyed me that he was talking about her like that, like she was some sort of object. I shuddered just thinking about them dating. There was no way in hell that I would ever let anything like that happen. Clementine and Tomas would date other my dead body. And I didn’t think Brody was a step up, either. Though, he was nothing like Tomas and I. He seemed like a quiet guy. I didn’t really know him well, but he was in some of Tomas’s classes and hung out with us at the bar a couple of times. He definitely didn’t seem like a player. In fact, I’d never seen him with a girl, but that didn’t mean I was going to let him go out with Clementine. None of those guys was good enough for her. I smiled to myself, as I remembered that I didn’t have to see her dating either of those guys any time soon.

Clementine was a romantic and lived with her head in the clouds when it came to relationships. I didn’t anticipate her dating anyone serious for a long time and that suited me just fine. I grabbed my phone and called Q bar and made a dinner reservation for four. I knew that the two girls would be slightly put out that it was a double date, but I also knew that once Tomas and I turned on the charm, they’d be like putty in our heads. Shit, I wouldn’t be surprised if one of them decided to go down on me at the bar. I grinned to myself as I pictured Sally or Jackie blowing me under the table. That would be hot as hell.

Chapter Two

I woke up with a smile on my face, grinning as I remembered the events of the previous night. Sally and Jackie had both been pretty upset as they realized that they were on a double date, but when they’d seen Tomas they had both turned into blubbering messes. I shook my head as I remembered Tomas saying line after line in Spanish. None of us had any idea what he was saying, but even I had to admit it sounded pretty Spanish. The funniest part was that Tomas had basically been speaking gibberish. He didn’t even speak Spanish and only knew a couple phrases. I’d nearly burst into tears of laughter as he’d said, “Voulez-vous coucher avec moi?” I’d had to whisper in his ear that I was pretty sure that was French. He’d laughed and winked at me as the two girls played with their hair and licked their lips. It had been a pretty good night overall. While neither of them had blown me, Sally had grabbed a hold of me a couple of times and rubbed her pretty little derriere on top of me as she’d given me a pretty lame lap dance.

I stretched and jumped out of bed and walked to the window and looked outside. The sun was shining and I knew that it was going to be a pretty day. My mind immediately turned to Clementine and I wondered if she wanted to go to the park and play some Frisbee or something. I sighed as I remembered it was Sunday. Sundays were always reserved for family time. Clementine always went home for Sunday lunch with her parents, Nanna and her brother Jake. I knew that I was always welcome to go, but I didn’t like to impose and go too often. I walked back to my bed and sighed as I plopped back down¸ the smile gone from my face. I was bored living in this big house by myself. I grabbed my phone and called Clementine and waited impatiently for her to answer.

“What’s up, Rhett?” She answered breathlessly and I wondered what she was doing.

“Nothing much. Just woke up.”

“Must be nice.” She laughed.

“What are you doing?” I asked curiously. “You sound like you’re out of breath.”

“Playing Frisbee with Jake.”

“Oh, cool.” I smiled as her brother’s face entered my mind. “Tell him I said hi. Tell him to call me. I got tickets to see the Gamecocks.”

“Okay.” She paused. “Rhett says hi, Jake.”

“Hi.” I heard Jake mumble in the background. “Tell him to come over.”

“Jake says you should come over.”

“Tell him next time.” I muttered, even though part of me really wanted to go.

“Rhett says he’ll come next week.” She shouted at Jake and I rolled my eyes at how loud she was being. I was pretty sure that Jake wasn’t that far away from her.

"What are you doing tonight?" I changed the subject.

"I'm watching Devious Maids."

"You don't have a maid." I stared at my bed as I spoke into the phone.

"It's a TV show." She laughed and I smiled at the sound of her girlish giggles.

"I was about to say."

"No Rhett, I didn't win the lottery and I didn't marry a Madison or a Vanderbilt."

"You already know I'm not getting married and I think all the Vanderbilts are gay."

"Rhett!" Her voice rose in disapproval.

"I'm joking. Well, not about the ‘me not getting married’ part."

"No one wants to marry you, Rhett Madison."

"There's a hundred girls that would disagree with that statement."

"Only a hundred?"

"Clemmie," I sighed and sat down on the bed. "Do you want to hang out or not?"

"Not. I told you I have TV shows to watch."

I rolled my eyes as she spoke. "I thought you had a DVR?"

"I do."

"So then you can hang out."

"I don't want to hang out."

"Come on." I frowned annoyed. If it was any other girl I would have forgotten them by now. I wasn't a guy who bothered with girls who played games. Fortunately for Clementine, she was my best friend and I knew she wasn't playing games.

"Don't you have a little black book? Call one of those girls up."

"I don't want to go on a date. I just want to chill."

"Ask Tomas."

"Tomas went out." I was starting to get upset at the fact that she didn't want to hang out. “And anyway we hung out last night.”

"Are you getting angry at me?" She laughed. "Oh Rhett, you think every girl should drop all their plans just to hang out with you, don't you?"

"No."

"If you want to hang out, you can come over and watch TV with me."

"Crazy Linda's not going to be there is she?"

"She'll be in her room. We'll watch TV in my room."

"I don't want a repeat of last time." I groaned and closed my eyes as I remembered Linda trying to corner me in the bathroom to kiss me.

"When did you get so picky? I thought you would have been happy that Linda tried to kiss you."

"She had a mustache."

"So?"

"And she has crossed eyes."

"She's having surgery."

"On her brain? Because she didn't seem too smart."

"Rhett, you're horrible."

"That's why you love me." I laughed. "I'll be over at 7, is that okay?"

"That's fine."

"What do you want me to bring over? Actually don't tell me, let me guess. Salt and vinegar chips, chocolate chip cookies, a bottle of wine and some gummy bears."

"You know me too well." Clementine laughed and I could picture her eager smile in my head and it made me grin.