EvenGraham.
“Yeah?” Graham’s worried, miserable expression melted away into something hopeful. “You are?”
“You have no idea. I haven’t … God, I don’t know ifeverwent on a date to the movies,” Thad mused.
Graham looked startled. “Really? Cause all the guys said that was their first date. And like, obviously this isn’t my firstfirstdate but it’s my, um, first date with a guy and I thought that was kind of a big deal and—I should shut up now. I’m making myself sound even dorkier.”
“You are so dorky,” Thad agreed with a little smile. “But don’t shut up. I want to hear how you made this all happen. Tell me.”
He stepped back and took Graham’s hand, tugging him over toward the desk. “The snacks? Where’d you find all this?”
“I um, I went to a couple of places in the area and picked up food that seemed like it would be movie-themed, you know? Took a while to find the right containers but there was this party store. Not like a … um, liquor store party store but the kind with balloons and streamers and stuff for birthdays.”
Thad might actually die from how fucking adorable Graham was being, all nervous and rambly. And he didn’t think he’devercalled anyone adorable, unless they were under the age of about six.
“And the pillows and throw blanket?” he asked, gesturing to the bed.
Graham’s cheeks heated. “Well, I couldn’t do like … movie seating, obviously, but I thought it would be comfy, you know?”
“You carried all that through the lobby?” Thad said doubtfully. He and Graham were going to have a talk about how to fly under the radar.
“No! The snacks were in my backpack and I, uh, called down to the desk and asked if they could bring the pillows up. The throw blanket is from the boutique in the lobby, and they brought that up too.”
Thad whispered, “oh my God,” to himself becausewhat the fuck Graham? What the actual fuck? Are you even real?
“The candles?” he asked in a louder tone.
“Umm, I thought they’d add some ambiance. I know they’re not a movie thing, but I wanted you to know this was like adate, and I thought it was the most obvious date-like thing I could add. They’re battery powered though because I was worried about setting off the smoke detectors and I figured the sprinkler system would turn on and we’d all end up on the street in front of the hotel and I’d have to explain why I had a shitload of candles burning …”
Thad squeezed Graham’s hand, too overcome to manage anything else as Graham’s rambling slowed and finally halted.
This man. Seriously.
“I thought about doing a projector but that seemed a little over-the-top.”
Thad smothered a snort.No shit!
“But I got some speakers so we could have a surround sound experience.”
He looked so hopeful andeagerThad had to resist the urge to tumble Graham onto the bed and kiss him senseless.
Graham might havesaidhe was fine with the idea of a penis, but Thad had a feeling he was maybe overselling how confident he was about shit.
And even if he was okay with that part, he was clearly nervous about the idea of dating Thad. Tonight was a big deal to him for some reason.
And, maybe it was a big deal to Thad too, weird as that was to admit.
So he tugged Graham over to the desk and surveyed what was on it.Fuck, he wished he hadn’t eaten quite so much at dinner. He’d gone a little wild with the nigiri and maki because he loved it and the team was paying for the high-end stuff instead of the grocery store shit he usually had to settle for.
“This looks great,” Thad said anyway.
He let go of Graham’s hand so he could dump a handful of popcorn into his palm and toss that into his mouth. He shook half the container of Reese’s Pieces into the popcorn, annoyed when they immediately sank to the bottom. Honestly, he preferred doing this in another container, when the popcorn was hot and he could shake everything up together and make the candy a little melty, but he’d have to make do.
He grabbed a cream soda—Grahamdefinitelyknew his favorite there—and turned to look at him.
“Okay, so I’m sorry I couldn’t get Reading Draft,” Graham said, biting his lip. “I couldn’t find it around here.”
Thad smiled at the reminder of the Pennsylvania-based brand. “It’s alright. I don’t even know if they sell outside of the state.”
