“Just, like, all night? Can I hold your hand all night? I’ve never been able to hold your hand like this before.”
“Yes, you can hold my hand all night. Well, with some exceptions.”
“Exceptions?” Harlow asked with a quirked eyebrow.
“Yeah, when I have to go to the bathroom or something.”
“Oh, so we’re not at that stage of the relationship yet where we watch each other pee?” Harlow joked.
“No, not yet,” Larissa replied and entwined their fingers. “Lead the way, Harlow.”
CHAPTER 28
Harlow could not believe that she was holding Larissa’s hand as she drove. Her hand was in Larissa’s lap, resting on her thigh, and Larissa’s fingers were entwined with hers. She was sitting at a stoplight with her date, and that date was her best friend. Harlow smiled when the light turned green and shook her head.
“What?” Larissa asked.
“Nothing. Why?”
“You were just all smiles. That excited about the light turning green?” Larissa teased.
“No, and youknowwhy I’m excited. Is it going okay so far?” She squeezed Larissa’s hand. “Not too weird, havingmeholding your hand like this?”
“We’ve never been the touchiest of friends, have we?”
“Legs in each other’s laps, for the most part, and some hugs here and there.”
“Does you pushing my glasses up my nose count?”
“I think so,” she said with a little laugh. “I really don’t want your glasses to keep sliding down your nose. One day, they really will slide off and break or something. But it was more that Icoulddo that, and it allowed me to be close to you without being too suspicious. I should probably be honest now: anytime myhand ended up on your back, it was more than just trying to get you to walk ahead of me.”
Larissa laughed and said, “Good to know. And no, it’s not weird. I mean, it is – it’s weird thatwe’re doing this – but it also isn’t. It’s strangely…”
“Right?” Harlow hoped.
“Yes. And I know it’s the first date, and we’re only about twenty minutes into it, but I thought it would be weirder. All day today, I worried we would be awkward tonight. Like, we wouldn’t have anything to talk about, and we wouldn’t know how to touch each other or if we even should, but we seem to have figured that part out, at least.”
Larissa held up their joined hands.
“I think we’ve figured out the talking to each other part, too. We’re talking now.”
“We’re talkingaboutus talking.” Larissa chuckled.
“But wearetalking. We’re also here.” Harlow nodded at the building to the right. “Just need to find street parking.”
“You’re so good at parallel parking. I’m glad you drove tonight. I still can’t do it right.”
“You can do it right, just not well,” she teased. “You got about three feet away from the curb last time. If you had kept at it, eventually, you would’ve gotten six inches from the curb. Your form was good. You just get concerned that you’re going to smack into the curb, so you don’t want to get any closer.”
“You know that when I was learning to drive, Aggie was tasked with teaching me that, and she wasnothelpful at guiding me closer to the curb. She kept pretending like I was ten feet away from it, then suddenly, she’d yell from outside the car, where she was watching, and I was on top of the curb or something. My parents were bad people for letting her help me.”
Harlow laughed, found a parking spot up the block, and a few minutes later, they were parked and out of the car.
“I can teach you, if you want. I promise, I won’t yell at you or try to trick you. Aggie was a bitch as a teenager, huh?”
“She had her moments,” Larissa replied and took Harlow’s hand.
Harlow looked down and probably had confusion on her face.
