The Boyfriend List by R.S. Novelle, Renee Novelle Page A

participating in the exact scenario she’d argued against with Petra only days before, but was willfully
taking it to the next level as she crossed the street and fell right into
Brett’s path behind him. Though she was probably about ten yards back –
safe enough that no one would ever catch on – she knew what she was up to, and if she was going to be perfectly
frank with herself, the decision had her questioning her own sanity...
    Still,
she couldn’t deny the adrenaline rush of being that much closer to finding out if she could check off one or two
more qualities from her list. It was the principle of it at this point, she
decided. The quest to find the perfect man hounded her, and she wanted to know
if in fact he existed, or was just another myth concocted from romance books
and sappy movies. From what she’d seen so far, if there was going to be a
candidate for perfection anywhere in the world, it would be Brett. She was
certain of it.
    So
why was Ian’s checklist still lingering in the back of her mind? All the
qualities had been marked off already... at least, all the ones she’d been
brave enough to verify. She wouldn’t have to stalk him because she knew
everything there was to know about him. But maybe that was the problem. Maybe
she knew too much, and the knowledge was working against her now. And that’s
where books and movies got it right. On paper, Ian looked perfect and in the
movie version of him, there wouldn’t have been time to show every time he
farted on the couch or his history of being a habitual flirt. The audience
could easily fall in love with him because they didn’t know he was incapable of
holding down a relationship for longer than a month, and therefore prone to
breaking their hearts...
    Or
was he? He’d held down a relationship with her for the better part of three
years, hadn’t he? Albeit, a very different kind of relationship without any of
the nice fringe benefits. But still, shouldn’t she let that count for
something?
    It
was a mute point, she decided. Despite Petra’s biased observations, Ian had
never shown an interest in Reagan like that. It was a waste of time even
considering him as an option. She might as well throw his list away.
    Becoming
caught up in her thoughts was an easy distraction as they bounced around inside
her head, gathering confusion and resentment as she went back and forth between
them. It was too much to focus on at once, and before she’d realized what’d
happened she completely lost sight of Brett. The scattered crowds had loomed in
around them, and he’d disappeared into the activity. “Seriously?” Her
rhetorical question was directed only at herself, before she began to mutter,
“This can’t be happening.” And if not for the quiet, muffled laughter at her
back, she would’ve thought she was the only one who could hear.
    Not
the case, Reagan quickly found out. Turning sharply on her heel, she found the
perpetrator was a gangly, skinny man who was standing – or rather hiding
- behind a hot dog stand. The faded gray shirt that hung from his bony
shoulders drooped low over blue shorts that were just a little too long. With
purchase in his hand, he was eyeing her closely, clearly entertained by her
one-way dialog.
    But his
comic appreciation for her little tantrum wasn’t sitting well with her.
    With
eyes blazing hot in anger – not only at his rude interjection, but at the
entire culmination of the events leading up to this moment – she stalked
toward him. It had been the wrong time on the wrong day to laugh at her, and she
could feel the animosity pulsating through her. One more word from him, and she
was about to completely and totally snap.  
    “What
are you laughing at?” The words tumbled out in more of a sharp accusation than
a legitimate question.
    He
said nothing, probably the wisest choice he’d made by far. But rather immediately
broke eye contact and pretended like he hadn’t heard her, while he busied
himself by