Larissa nodded and swallowed.
“Did you even chew that?” she asked with a chuckle.
Larissa shook her head.
“Are you regretting it instantly?”
Larissa nodded, so she passed her a glass of iced water, and Larissa drank half of it. Harlow smiled at her and cut into her own pizza.
“You called mebabe,” Larissa said a minute later.
“I did,” she replied. “Accident. I think the whole head-on-my-shoulder thing did me in.”
Larissa laughed softly and asked, “Should I do that again some other time?”
“Literally anytime you want,” Harlow answered.
After they finished their pizzas and had shared the dessert that the owner had given them for free, they tipped their waiter and took their extra pizzas with them. Harlow held on to both of them on their way out because she wanted Larissa’s hand free to hold, and they laughed about how Harlow had stolen both of the strawberries on the chocolate cake dessert. When they got to her car, Harlow put the pizzas into the back seat and opened Larissa’s door for her.
“We haven’t talked about what we will do when we get home,” Larissa noted once they were back on the road.
“What do you mean?”
“We talked about how you could pretend to pick me up, but not how you could pretend to drop me off.”
“Iamdropping you off,” she replied.
“I know. But you’re coming inside with me.”
“I booked a hotel room, Larissa.”
“What?”
“I told you, I wanted this to be real. I booked a cheap room about five minutes from the house, and I already have my overnight bag in the trunk.”
“Harlow, no. That’s silly. Just stay the night.”
“I don’t think either of us is ready for me to dothat.”
“You know what I mean,” Larissa replied.
“I wanted it to be as authentic as possible if it were a first date, with me–”
“Thisisour first date,” Larissa interjected. “And it’s very real. It doesn’t matter what other people do or don’t do on a first date. This one isours, and we can do whatever we want. Do youwantto stay in a cheap hotel tonight?”
“No, I want to sleep in my own bed.”
“Then, do that. We can walk to the door and pretend, if you want, but I’m really okay with just acknowledging that we’re staying in the same house tonight.”
“It’s still early. Want to do something else? I didn’t plan anything for after dinner, but we could find a movie or go for a walk or something.”
“Can we go home to watch a movie?” Larissa asked.
“If that’s what you want,” she replied. “Do we have any popcorn there?”
“No, I think we’re out.”
“Want to stop by the store and get some?” she asked.
