Free The Boyfriend Bet (Boyfriend Chronicles #2) by Chris Cannon

squinted like he was trying to figure something out. “That may be what you heard, but that’s not what I meant.”
    Hope bounced around in my chest. I did my best to flatten it. “Let’s try this again. What exactly did you mean?”
    “I have no plans to ask any female on the planet to be my girlfriend. I wasn’t judging you or saying you were like the Ringer.”
    “Oh.” That painted him in a much better light. “Well then I retract my freak-out.”
    “You can do that?” he asked.
    I nodded. “My world. My rules.”
    He shook his head. “You are a strange girl, Zoe Cain.”
    “But not boring.” I took a big gulp of my café mocha and waited to see what would happen next.
    “So is there anything else we should talk about?” He said this like he expected me to make some sort of confession. What was he getting at? And then I remembered. Crap. This was going to be awkward. I abandoned my drink in favor of turning my grandfather’s watch around and around on my wrist. “When I was under the impression that you told me I wasn’t up to your standards, I might have told Lena you were a dick, during first hour class…and other people heard me. I’d like to retract that, too.”
    He glared at me.
    “Sorry.” I stopped fiddling with my grandfather’s watch, sipped my mocha, and waited to see how he’d respond to my apology. What I’d said hadn’t been that bad. He couldn’t be too mad, right?
    The glare turned into a grin. “Actually.” He slapped his hand down on the table. “I already heard about that.”
    “Lena told you?” Were they talking again? Had I inadvertently pushed him back into her arms? Cause that would totally suck.
    “No. Amber.”
    Still sucked, but not quite as much. “Oh, I never would have guessed that one.” I swirled my coffee around in my cup and waited. This moment, right here, was why I hated the whole dating system. I should be able to say, “So do you want to go out this weekend?” but if I asked him on a date I’d be labeled pushy. And I know Delia asked Aiden out earlier but that had sort of been a joke. So, I played with my drink, biding my time and waiting for him to make the first move.
    He finished off his Coke and smacked the plastic glass down on the table. “Glad we straightened this out.”
    “Me, too.”
    He pushed away from the table, waved at Aiden, and then sauntered out of the coffee shop without looking back once. What the heck? That was so not how I hoped this encounter would end. Darn it.
    Delia came to join me at my table while Aiden made his exit.
    “What just happened?” she asked. “Aiden and I were talking and laughing and then Grant left and it was like Aiden had fulfilled some social obligation and he was done. He just said, “See you tomorrow,” and bailed on me.”
    “That’s weird. It’s not like they rode together.”
    “Makes me think they planned it this way.” Delia frowned. “Maybe he didn’t want me to accidentally think he was interested.”
    “That’s crap. But, I’ll one up you on weirdness.” I explained my conversation with Grant and how we had straightened things out.
    “So you apologized to him, and then he just left.” Delia added creamer to her coffee. “At this point, I wonder if they’re both just messing with our heads.”
    “Maybe. I do know one thing—your mom’s frying pan theory is beginning to make a lot more sense.”

Chapter Seven
    Zoe
    I gauged the emotional temperature of the room in first hour the next morning. Lena seemed content to ignore me, which was good news. I was afraid she’d hear that I’d been out with Grant. Not that we’d really gone out together, like a date, but someone could have seen us together in public and interpreted it that way.
    As we walked down the hall after class, I asked Delia, “Want to practice making our book cake tonight?”
    “Sure. I can give you a ride home. Do we need to stop at the store?”
    “Have you met my grandmother?”
    Delia laughed. “I