Chapter Three

CHLOE

      He's not gay. A gay man will never talk about having three girlfriends in high school. I'm just sitting down and watching as he takes my girlfriends to comedy lane. We haven't talked about me being rejected again, I guess it's a good thing it's been hard for me to even think about it. It's better for me to watch this clown act like an idiot than for me to bring up my failure.

"Hey, Chloe." He calls me and I put on my best fake smile, the fake smile that can convince you that I like you. "Who's your favorite comedy actor?" My girls are looking at me and they look brainwashed. I turn to face Chris who has that genuine smile on his face, his smile looks more real than mine. I also don't know why he's asking this question, what does this have to do with our club? Sure we talk about movies and music but he's not supposed to know that, he just joined us.

"Uh, Chris Rock?" I say and he snaps his finger.

"I love that guy." He's still looking at me and I want him to look away so I can remove this fake smile and roll my eyes but since he doesn't want to look away I'm going to bring up something else.

"So Chris, have you written any books?" I take a sip from my coffee.

"Oh I don't write books I'm a journalist." I feel like wiping that wide smile off his fucking face.

"Oh wow." Oh God, I think Cindy notices that my voice is fake cause she's looking at me like I'm crazy. Well, I hope she does notice because I can't believe this. It's not that I hate all men I just needed to hang around with women so we can rant about how wrong Mr. Moe was for rejecting my work. Now there's a man here who's going to tell me the same old thing. Rejection is redirection.

A man who's going to try to justify all the nasty things his brothers have done to vulnerable girls.

Maybe I should stop thinking about this, there's no rule that says men aren't allowed. He looks nice either way.

"Yeah." He says. "I'm trying to get a job at ABC News I have my job application ready and stuff. You guys wish me luck."

"Good luck." They all echo and they're smiling like maniacs I don't even know why Aisha is blushing, she has a handsome and sexy fiance she doesn't need this guy to make her blush. Although, maybe he's able to make her blush because he isn't white. I did hear her say she will never find white guys attractive. At least she's crushing on someone who looks like he won't leave a woman after they've had sex.

"Okay, okay an hour has gone and since Chris is new, let's hear him talk about his favorite books, the best book to movie adaptations, and his favorite authors."

Great another opportunity to open that mouth of his and now I have to listen for the next two hours. Monet's has always been my comfort spot beside my home but now it's not. Maybe I'm being too dramatic and I should give this guy a chance.

After hearing him say he loved reading high school romance novels I was taken away, a man admitting that he likes romance novels? That's amazing. Now I'm all ears, I love a man who's not afraid to speak his truth. Why didn't I have sex with him instead?

We're done with the club and I've got to say, I misjudged Mr. Joshua and I shouldn't have. He's not just a male he's a male feminist. He disagrees with almost everything his toxic male friends have done. Technically they're not his friends but still.

I also told everyone that I got rejected again and their focus was on me, Christian also gave an advice.

"Just look at the things that your publisher doesn't like and don't change them, just make them stronger and better." He said and I was happy and grateful he said that because all I've been hearing is rejection is redirection. And I got tired of hearing that shit.

The girls are talking to each other, and I'm about to join them when Christian stops me to talk. Does he always smile a lot? Even when I put on a fake smile my mouth hurts, smiling is hard. This man was someone whom I wanted to disappear, now I kinda like that he's here. I also realize that he's cute as hell, maybe I too should forget about white guys and start spending time with men like Christian who have pink lips and smooth brown skin, I wonder what his lips feel like.

And I need to slap myself for thinking that way.

"Hey." He says.

"Hey," I reply, he smells like breath mint and flowers. A man who smells good turns me on. That guy I had sex with also smelt good. And I should stop thinking about that guy and start thinking about how I'm going to perfect my work, I shouldn't be thinking about guys at all.

"I just wanted to tell you you've got this, don't let some old fart tell you you can't do anything." He sounds so confident, we just met and he already believes in me. I'm here blushing like an idiot. What the fuck is wrong with me sometimes?  "Wait, the guy is old right?" He asks and we giggle.

I nod "yes, yes he is."

"They always are." He says.

"Yeah whatsup with that?" We laugh again and I try my best not to blush again but too late. I'm sorry but it's quite impossible not to blush in front of this fine specimen of a man. Now I get why the girls were all giggly and shit. Everything about this guy is neat, his clothes, his nicely cut fade. Everything.

"Anyway, I've gotta go. Have to see if they've accepted the job offer or not."

"I hope you get the job." Uh oh, I've got my flirty voice on. The voice I used to seduce my roommate's boyfriend into having sex with me, the voice I used on that bartender to get more drinks, the voice that creepy man must have heard and that made him think about wanting to talk to me, and the voice I used on that hot guy last night now I'm using it on this bookworm, who knew male bookworms were hot?

"Alright, see you around." I wave and he goes out the door. He didn't even ask for my number. That proves it, he doesn't like me like that.

The girls want to go to the club to have fun but I decline, I want to go home and just work, I don't have the strength for fun at the moment.

"Are you sure hun?" Cindy asks. "It's gonna be just us girls no hot, I mean no Christian. . . " We all laugh. "You guys know what I mean."

"Yeah and Aisha is it too late to break up with your fiance?" Lexi jokes and Aisha giggles.

"Nope. He's just as handsome as Mr. Christian." She says confidently.

"Is that so."

"Yep."

"If you say so."

I shake my head and I'm smiling.

These girls are messed up.

"Okay if that's what you want," Cindy says then hugs me, the girls do the same and we say bye to each other and go our separate ways.

I turn around and I bump into someone, my bag falls to the ground.

"I'm so sorry." We both say and he gets my bag and hands it over to me. I can't believe it, it's him the guy I had sex with last night. He looks at me like he's seeing a ghost. Ugh! I feel like slapping his handsome face right now.

"You again," I say then I fold my arms, I honestly didn't want to see this clown again, well maybe I did want to see him tell him how disgusting it was to leave without saying anything. The universe has allowed me to call this fool out on his rudeness and I'm not gonna waste the opportunity despite how handsome or hot he is.