“Maybe I should meet your friends,” I suggest. “Even the playing field.”
“I don’t have very many friends. The only one I have, you’ve known longer than I have.”
“That’s it?”
“I guess,” she muses. “I have my sister.”
“I can meet your sister.”
She eyes me skeptically. “You want to meet Jade?”
“Yeah, why not?”
“I don’t know. I just…didn’t think you’d want to meet her.”
“Of course I do. Maybe I can babysit your niece with you next time.”
Grace laughs. A sleepy chuckle that makes her voice raspy and sexy. “Sure. If you like watching Blippi for three hours.”
“What’s Blippi?”
Her hand slides over my thigh, giving me a placating pat. “You don’t want to know.”
It’s just after two in the morning. We still have about twenty miles to go to get to her condo. After that rousing round of pool, the excitement dwindled down to casual talk and nonalcoholic beverages. We sat around a table, ordered some onion rings and fries and caught each other up. I told Ro about my interview with Thad after Grace insisted it was more important than I made it out to be. Grace told my friends about what she does for a living and the hospital she works at. Jake told me about the cat he adopted. Though adopted doesn’t seem like the appropriate word when the little guy just snuck into his apartment when he had the door propped open to bring in a new coffee table. We could’ve talked until the sun came up, but as soon as Hayley grew weary against Ro’s side, and Grace started stifling the first of many yawns, I knew it was time to head home.
“You know, we never did decide on the bet.”
I keep my eyes on the road, but I’m sure Grace gets a glimpse of my smirk even in the dark. “No, we did not.”
The dashboard lights glint off her impish grin. “I was thinking the loser has to…” She pauses, clearly in thought, before she excitedly exclaims, “Get me hazelnut waffles.”
“Right now?”
She nods. “Alcohol makes me hungry.”
“Okay,” I answer without putting up a fight. It’s a good thing Marie’s is open twenty-four hours.
I love seeing this side of her. She looks so loose and happy, and I wish I could always see her like this. I start to wonder if maybe this idea of us and keeping things a secret is what causes her to be wound up sometimes. Almost as if the constant reminder that no one is supposed to know about us is the cause of the tension sitting between her shoulders. After tonight, maybe she can see it doesn’t have to always be this way. Sure, maybe we can keep things quiet for now. Ease our relationship out to the surface with time and care, but maybe that’s the point. We can move slowly but keep moving. Get to a place where we don’t have to hide things, and she can always be this way. Buoyant and carefree.
The car continues to whir in the quiet night, and I glance at her before adding, “I’m sorry if that was weird. You know, them calling you my girlfriend.” I worried it might have caused a few warning bells to go off in her head, but I loved it. It made a beam of pride burst through my chest.My girlfriend.I imagined introducing her that way. To my friends or my family. To anyone.
“Don’t be,” she answers. “I…kind of liked it.”
“You did?”
“Yeah.”
It’s quiet, and when I peek over at her, she’s beaming at me with a sweet smile I just want to kiss. She reaches to hook her fingers over my bicep. She gives me a tight squeeze, and I take her hand in mine, kissing her knuckles gently.
“Does that mean you want to be my girlfriend?” I ask boldly with our fingers intertwined.
She shrugs. “I guess. I mean, if you have an opening.” She leans forward, as far as her seat belt allows, and she kisses my cheek.
“Does that mean I’m your boyfriend?” I ask as her lips travel to my jaw. I shiver at the same time her hand grazes my chest. She deliberately hooks her thumb over and under my chain and gives it a quick tug.
“Yeah,” she answers huskily. “I mean, that’s the matching title. I’d hate to call you my friend if you’re going around calling me your girlfriend. That’s just embarrassing for you.”
Her fingers play with my belt buckle, tickling my skin as her hand searches for more. “What are you doing?”
