“Are you all right, Jake?” he asked.
I shook my head. “Yeah.”
I realized we were still holding hands. I retracted mine as un-awkwardly as possible.
“Listen,” I said, trying to clear the lump from my throat. “I’m gonna be blunt with you.”
His eyes twinkled in amusement. “Please do.”
“I don’t know if we’refriendsor something else, but…”
I opened my mouth to continue and my tongue froze. What was I thinking? What the hell was Isaying?
Griffin took a step closer to me, and the intense scent swirled around me, pulling me closer even though his arms remained firmly by his sides.
“What is it?” he prompted.
Unable to hold myself back any longer, the words blurted out of my mouth. “Do you want to, like - meet up this week? Sometime?”
Griffin looked about as shocked as I felt. It seemed like I was having an out-of-body experience, staring down at myself in utter disbelief that I’d just said something like that.
Griffin’s face softened. “Yes, I think I would enjoy that.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a phone - a brand new model. “I don’t believe we’ve exchanged numbers yet, have we?”
“No.” I was embarrassed by my brick-like phone compared to his, since mine was quite a few generations behind, but pulled it out anyway. “Although, like you said, the universe keeps finding ways to put us together anyway.”
His lips curled. “How is this Saturday?”
I felt a prickle of impatience. That was too many days from now.
I can’t believe I’m thinking this way! What the fuck is wrong with me?
But I couldn’t appear too eager. I didn’t want him to think I was desperate, despite the irrational and insane urge screaming at me to bump up the date.
“Saturday is fine,” I replied. Before I could stop myself, I added, “Skylar’s at work that day, so… Do you want to meet at my place?”
Griffin’s eyes widened. Once again, both he and I were surprised by my own words. With an amused smirk, he said, “I’m guessing you no longer think I’m a stalker, then.”
“Nope.” I watched as one of the kittens sneakily stuck a paw out of the cage bars to claw at Griffin again. “The kittens and I have cleared you of all charges.”
“Thank you.” Griffin smiled, his eyes glittering. “Then Saturday at your place it is.”
