Cute.
Danger hissed in a breath through his teeth. “Dude…”
“I have some errands to run,” Ginny clipped.To the record store.
She’d give Melody Man her answer and forget all about dibs and how a certain delicious, predictable elementary school coach would not, in fact, be calling dibs in hercutedirection.
Ever.
Though he didn’t step closer, Ryan’s presence seemed to fill the space between them. It was always that way when he was anywhere in her vicinity. Danger and her annoyance and anythoughts of music or meddlesome sisters disappeared in the face of the man looking back at her now.
He reached in his bag and offered her a sandwich. “Stay for lunch? I have an extra.”
She pinched her lips, wanting to decline, but knowing she wouldn’t.
“Ok. Thanks.” Ginny turned, retaking her seat, and ignored the silly grin on Danger’s face as Ryan claimed the seat at her side. She took a careful bite of the sandwich he’d given her and nearly choked when Ryan pulled out another sandwich from his bag. “Youactuallyhave an extra sandwich in there?”
Ryan’s eyes flicked from his sandwich to Danger to Ginny. “Uh, yeah. No big deal. I, ummmm…. I forgot an entire lunch here yesterday, and then I brought a new one today.”
Danger shook his head and sighed before smacking his hands on the desk. “Ya know what? I just forgot I told… someone else… that I’d have lunch with them… not here. Anyways, so sorry.” He pulled out a sack lunch from his desk drawer and abruptly stood. “I’m gonna have to leave y’all here.”
“Don’t. You. Dare.” Ginny said under her breath. She imagined her eyes looked like giant, brown saucers. Puppy-dog eyes her daddy had always called them. She gave Danger her best puppy-dog—don’t you dare leave me behind—eyes now. Somewhere in the background a somber Sarah Mclachlan song played.
But that heartless giant showed no mercy. Instead, Danger leaned down and kissed Ginny’s cheek like Dakota would if he were there and had just stolen the last cookie from the cookie jar. She flicked Danger’s no-good butt chin away from her face and shoved another bite of turkey sandwich into her mouth, finding herself alone—again—with a man she desperately wanted to be alone with, who would never seek her out that way for himself.
Only the sound of Ryan’s quiet chuckling could pull Ginny from the dark, plotting path her mind had taken. She’d momentarily fantasized sending an anonymous note to the woman Danger had quietly loved his entire life, declaring his feelings for her. It felt conniving but on par with what her friend had done. Could no one be trusted?
“Do you think this is funny, Ry?” she asked as Ryan leaned back in his seat, put his feet up on Danger’s desk, and dove his fingers into a bag of chips.
“I’ve just never seen someone so desperatenotto have a meal with me,” he said, somehow self-deprecating and smug all at the same time.
“You don’t wanna have lunch with me, Ryan.”
“I’m pretty sure I just askedyouto stay for lunch, Gin.”
“Yeah, you did. But… it was under false pretenses. You were coerced. Bamboozled. Taken advantage of.”
“Bamboozled?” He was chuckling again. “I always seem to forget how dramatic you can be when you get carried away.”
She gasped and threw a piece of crust at him. Because, though she wanted Ryan to look at her like a grown woman, she still could not be tempted to eat the crusts of her sandwiches. “I am not dramatic! And you just proved my point. You forgot what I’m like because you can barely stand to be in the same room with me—”
“That’s not true, Ginny.”
She put her hand up, stopping him. “It is. And now you're in this same situation… again. And I'm sorry. And also, thank you, this sandwich is delicious. I wish I’d givenyouthe scone.”
“I wanted you to stay, Ginny.” He placed chips and an apple on the desk between them. “And I didn’t need convincing, because I don’t mind your company.”
“High praise, Ryan.” She rolled her eyes. “Keep talkin’ like that and you’ll be the one with a marriage proposal.”
Ryan coughed on a salt and vinegar chip, and she totally didn’t take pleasure in the way his eyes filled with tears. She stared at them now, taking a crisp, satisfying bite of her apple.
“Ya know,” he said after taking a sip of water, “your eyes are awfully bright when you’re scaring a man senseless.”
“Bright? Bright is better thancute, so I’ll take it.”
“What is wrong with cute?” he asked, and brushed the crumbs from his hands onto Danger’s clean floor. Ginny felt the sudden urge to grab a dust buster and clean up a bit, but then remembered her friend’s betrayal and decided to leave the mess where it lay.
“Cute,” she snipped, “is how you describe a kitten in a wicker basket surrounded by sleeping ducklings. Not a woman in a dress.”
