Both Carla and Julie grinned at him like he was a giant chocolate cake, and I introduced them. “They’re here for the show tonight,” I added.

“You’re in The Static Klingons!” Julie blurted out. “I love you guys!”

He laughed and turned to me. “You didn’t tell me your friends were not only beautiful, but had great taste in music, too.”

I grinned. “They’re here with me, isn’t that obvious?”

“Good point. Hey, do you want to grab that bite to eat sometime this week? Assuming we’re both still around after tomorrow, that is.”

The girls nodded frantically at me, and I plastered a smile on. “Um, sure. Let me get back to you on when I’m free.”

“Great! Good luck tonight.” He saluted my friends. “Ladies, have fun.”

He walked off, and the girls checked him out from behind. “Holy hotness,” Julie said, with a low whistle.

“He seems to like you,” Carla said to me. “He asked you out in front of your friends—that’s pretty bold.”

“I know. He’s cute and nice but…” I shrugged. “He just doesn’t do it for me.”

“How is that possible?” Julie asked.

Carla set her hand lightly on my arm. “Maybe you’re so focused on Jared that you’re ignoring the guy practically throwing himself at your feet.”

“I’m not—” I started to protest. Was she really giving me guy advice when she was still with Daryl? I took a deep breath and started again. “Sean’s just not my type, that’s all.”

“He’s exactly your type, and he seems like the perfect guy to help you forget Jared,” Julie said.

“You’re the one who told me to go after Jared in the first place!” I blurted out, and then I glanced around quickly, hoping no one had heard me. Here they were, teaming up against me again. I loved my friends, but not the way they always wanted to run my life for me. I’d definitely not missed this over the last few weeks.

“Yeah, at the party. But you’ve known him for weeks, and if he hasn’t seen how amazing you are by now, he’s hopeless.”

“But—” I bit my lip. I couldn’t very well tell them the truth about Jared now. They’d just say he was going to hurt me, that this was only going to end badly, and a dozen other things I knew in my head but didn’t want to hear in my heart. “Let’s just drop this, okay?”

Carla gave me a pitying look. “We just don’t want you to get your heart broken, that’s all.”