“Ah, what did he want?”
In the background I hear someone yelling and a car honking.
“Are you on your way home?” I ask.
“I am. Now stop ignoring my question and tell me what’s up. Did Max piss you off?”
“You can say that,” I sigh before telling him what just happened. “He wasn’t even here five minutes before he left. I don’t get it.”
“You rejected him. Did you really think he would stick around after that?” he asks.
“I…”
“Don’t answer that,” he says, cutting me off. “I know that wasn’t your intention, and I can almost guarantee he knows that too.”
“It doesn’t make me feel better,” I mutter as I look down at my lap.
“I’m sorry. Do you want to go with him? I’ll step to the side,” he offers.
“Yes, but no,” I groan.
“Explain.”
I sigh. “Yes, I would have loved to go with him, but he didn’t ask, not until now at least. He knows I like making plans and hate doing things last minute. I took matters into my own hands and made plans that don’t include him.”
“You can still go with him. I wouldn’t mind,” he says as the sounds of the city die down.
He must have gotten to his building.
“No, we made plans, and I’m not going back on those just because he remembered that I exist. I’m not the girl who abandons her friends just because the guy she likes finally steps up.”
Clint laughs. “Iris, trust me, that man has never forgotten that you exist.”
“Yeah, well, I guess we will find out.”
“We will, and we will make him jealous as fuck when he sees us dancing and having fun all night. But if you change your mind, it won’t hurt my feelings,” he promises. “I appreciate you coming with me as my date, but I want you to be happy, so if that’s with him, I can find other ways to entertain myself for the evening.”
“I promised him a dance,” I tell him.
“Good. If it happens, I’ll record it for you and play it at your wedding.”
“You’re too good for me,” I tell him as gratitude warms me.
“Nah, no such thing. Now tell me, is your black dress going to make him jealous?”
I can’t help but smile as I think about it. “You have no idea.”
Max is going to swallow his tongue when he sees me, and I can’t wait.
MAX
I ran.
Plain and simple.
I went up there with the intention of hanging out with her tonight. To spend some quality time together. I wanted to ask her to be my date for the charity event. Maybe order some dinner, and if I was lucky, have her lean against me while she watched whatever she wanted.
That’s not how it went, though.
