Free Perfect Match by J. Minter

with a guilty glance at Camille, I looked over at my friend again. Oh good, she was talking one-on-one with Saxton!
    I stepped closer to stealthily eavesdrop, but as soon as I tuned in to their conversation, I actually wished I hadn’t.
    â€œWhen he broke up with me,” Camille was saying, her hand over her heart, “it was like a piece of me died. I’ve been walking around in a daze every since. Like I’m not even awake. Do you know what I mean?”
    Saxton was nodding, but I could tell it was less of a sympathetic nod and more of a how-quick-can-I-bail-on-this-convo kind of nod. He looked at the screen and sprang to his feet.
    â€œIt’s my turn,” he said briskly. “I’ll, uh, I’ll be right back.”
    Camille didn’t really seem to notice Saxton leaving or me plopping down in his seat. I put my arm around her.
    â€œYou know what the most fun thing about bowling is?” I said.
    Usually Camille would have jumped to reply, “Obviously, watching everyone’s butts.” But today, she missed her cue.
    So I had to use my fingers to rotate her head toward Saxton. He was bending over to bowl in some very fitted Diesel jeans.
    â€œNow,” I prompted, “isn’t
that
more fun to look at than the ball-return machine? Don’t you think he’s hot?”
    Just then, Alex appeared, holding a plate of jalapeño poppers with a stiff look on his face. He sort of half held out the plate to us, then turned and offered some to Amory and Phil first. That was weird.
    Uh-oh—he hadn’t heard me talking to Camille, had he? He couldn’t really think I meant
I
was into Saxton.
    It was time for my last frame and I nodded at Alex to join me. He didn’t wrap his arms around me this time; he just told me which direction to aim for.
    â€œIs everything okay?” I asked, while both of us faced the pins.
    â€œOf course,” he said. “Why wouldn’t it be?” His voice sounded normal, but I wasn’t convinced. I didn’twant to make a big deal out of it; I could definitely just have been being paranoid.
    After the game, when everyone grabbed their stuff and took the elevator back down to the street, he gave me a good long kiss.
    â€œSaxton and I both live uptown,” he said. I couldn’t help wondering whether he was trying to gauge my reaction at the mention of his friend. “You’ll be okay to get home if I share a cab with him?”
    â€œSure, yeah,” I said. “Study date tomorrow?”
    â€œCool,” he said. “See you then.”
    Camille, Amory, and Phil all shared a cab down the east side, but since I was going west, I decided to walk. I sort of wanted to clear my mind about how the night had gone. At least the Phil and Amory thing had felt like a success. And when Alex and I were bowling at the beginning together, I’d been having tons of fun. I just hoped I hadn’t screwed anything up by trying to get Camille to focus on Saxton.
    My cell phone buzzed and I pulled it out, hoping to see Alex’s face on the screen, but it was a text from Morgan.
    I’d forgotten all about her pseudo-date with Rob. I hurriedly read her message:
    BE HONEST: WAS THAT WHOLE “RUN-IN” A PREMEDITATEDSETUP? HE’S NICE AND ALL, BUT I DON’T NEED YOUR PITY, FLAN. IT’S EMBARRASSING.
    What? That was my least tactical fix-up ever! How had she gotten that idea? But knowing Morgan, this hiccup would seriously hinder any future attempts I might make at fixing her up by Valentine’s Day. I guessed I was just going to have to find the
perfect
guy to make it up to her. But if not Rob, then who?

Chapter 10

TWO CUPIDS ARE BETTER THAN ONE
    On Wednesday, I showed up to my study date with Alex lugging two big tote bags full of books. I had tests in three of my classes over the next week, but lately the only work I’d been doing was Cupid’s.
    We’d agreed to meet at Westville