Her phone buzzed again. Not the group chat this time. A private message.
Grant: You still awake?
Riley's heart jumped. She stared at the message for a solid ten seconds before typing back.
Riley: Unfortunately.
Grant: Hannah call you?
Riley: How did you know?
Grant: She called me too. Asked if I was okay with you bringing someone.
Riley sat up straight.Why would Hannah ask him that!
Riley: What did you say?
Grant: That I'm happy for you.
Riley: Very convincing I’m sure.
Grant: I'm a terrible liar.
Riley: We're both terrible liars. This is going to be a disaster.
Grant: Maybe.
Riley: So why did you offer?
The dots appeared, then disappeared. Then appeared again.
Grant: Because I'm tired of being everyone's plus-one. And I didn’t want you to have a panic attack in the group chat.
Riley smiled despite herself.
Riley: How did you know I was having a panic attack.
Grant: I know you. You always type in all caps when you're panicking.
Riley: I do not.
Grant: You definitely do.
She scrolled back through the chat. He was right. Every time she'd panicked in the group thread over the years, her messages had dissolved into capital letters and excessive punctuation.
Riley: Okay fine. Maybe I do.
Grant: So. Ground rules.
Riley: Right. Ground rules.
Grant: We should probably figure out our story. How we got together. How long we've been dating. All that.
Riley chewed her lip, thinking.
Riley: A few weeks? That's what I told Hannah.
Grant: Works for me. We ran into each other in the city?
