17 He's Kind Of Hard To Describe

Eden was a bit embarrassed that she admitted something so cheesy but it was the truth. She never would have said something like that first but Troy had managed to say what she was thinking before she got the chance. Not reciprocating would be dishonest.

The problem was that it felt like flirting even though it was true that seeing him was the highlight of her day. She always looked forward to talking to him again. Even on her days off.

This didn't mean she liked him, did it? She didn't want that! She knew almost nothing about him but what she did know didn't seem like boyfriend material. He was trying to become a musician for crying out loud!

Creative types that didn't care about having a real career were best to be avoided. Goodness knows she didn't want a repeat of what happened with one of her ex-boyfriends.

Luke had seemed like a great catch at first. He was funny, handsome, and dripping with charisma. It was that charisma that allowed him to sweet talk his way through anything. Including tricking Eden into paying for every single one of their dates even though she didn't make much more money than he did.

Troy didn't seem like the kind of guy that would manipulate her into that sort of thing on purpose but if she made a lot more money than he did, the imbalance would always be there. She would probably feel guilty enough to end up paying all the time anyway.

But why was she even thinking about this? She didn't like him! She hadn't even seen his face!

Just because you enjoy talking to someone doesn't mean you're romantically interested in them. Besides…even if this was flirting, only a small percentage of flirtatious relationships ever led to something real.

Eden needed to stop overthinking things and enjoy the moment. Right now, she was in the middle of a conversation with someone she had a lot of fun talking to and she needed to stop zoning out.

"So, when's your last day here?" Troy asked, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Two Fridays from now. After that, I'll finally be able to have weekends to myself! My mom has been giving me such a hard time about not being able to drive home for holidays but I'll be able to get away with going home for Easter this year since it's only a five-and-a-half-hour drive," Eden replied.

Her mom wouldn't be able to berate her about her lack of job anymore so that would be nice. And she would be able to see Ezra and his fiancée Nadia. They had been together for six years now so she was basically the big sister Eden never had.

Those two had been engaged for the past nine months but hadn't set a wedding date yet because they were waiting for Nadia to finish her master's degree in health care administration. She had two and a half semesters left.

If Eden had to guess, they would be getting married sometime next summer. All of the people close to her were getting married. She was the only one that was still single.

Not that it was a huge deal. She was only twenty-three; she had plenty of time. But it was depressing being a third wheel sometimes. And watching chick flicks for adorable scenarios that would literally never happen to her.

But hey, now that she was on track to have a proper career she didn't have to hold herself back anymore. Maybe she should try one of those dating apps Aubrey kept recommending. Apparently, Jennifer had a lot of luck getting first dates with them, even if it didn't go any further.

There were plenty of parties and other events happening on the weekends that she could go to once she wasn't working Friday and Saturday nights as well. Meeting people shouldn't be hard to do. It was what came after that Eden historically struggled with.

"I've never had that problem because all of my family lives here," Troy said, once again bringing her back to the conversation. She really needed to stop spacing out.

Right. He had mentioned his only family members were an aunt, uncle, and cousin. She already knew his cousin was his roommate so it wasn't terribly surprising that his aunt and uncle lived in the area too.

Most people didn't like being far from their families. Then there were people like her that felt suffocated if they didn't get away.

Eden would love living in the same general area as Ezra but she knew that would never happen. His life was firmly rooted in L.A. and so was Nadia's. There was no reason for him to relocate since she was still within driving distance.

At least Aubrey was nearby. David was from San Jose so he had no plans to leave any time soon. As long as she lived close to one of those two, she would always manage to be okay.

"What was your cousin's name? I don't think you ever said," Eden suddenly remembered.

Troy cleared his throat before responding. "…Jonah."

"You've mentioned him several times but all I know about him is that he's your best friend. What's he like?" She had talked about Ezra a lot more than he had about his brother figure so she was curious.

"Uh…he's kind of hard to describe. We go hiking together fairly often though and play basketball with a group of other guys. And he's a software developer."

Kind of hard to describe? How hard was it to describe someone you had grown up with? Maybe Troy wasn't good at describing people in general. He was friendly but didn't mention other people often so he might be more of a loner by nature.

There was nothing wrong with that but it was a bit surprising considering the field he was trying to get into. Musicians had to interact with people a lot, didn't they? He must really love music in order to overcome his natural tendencies like that.