I convinced Natalie to join me tonight since Mason suggested I bring a friend, which I hated but am now very grateful for.
“I'm just excited,” I say. And I am. This is what I wished for. I had to set Mom up with tickets to that new musical just so I could have tonight free, but it'll be worth it if I can finally connect with Mason.
“Good excited or nervous excited?” Natalie asks as we head toward the entrance.
“Good excited, I think.”
The bar is packed when we walk in, a mix of young professionals and locals. The trivia setup takes up most of the back half of the space, with mismatched tables and chairs scattered around a small stage where someone's testing the sound system.
I scan the room and spot Mason immediately. He's sitting at a corner booth with a large group of people, and my stomach drops when I realize that at least five of them are women. Gorgeous women. Women with perfectly tousled beach hair, effortless makeup, and the confident body language that suggests they've never doubted their place in a room.
“There he is,” I whisper to Natalie, nodding toward the booth.
“The tall guy in the blue button-down?”
“That's him.”
“Oh, he's cute! Not quite Brandon hot, but I can see why you'd like him.”
I'm not sure how to take that comment, so I leave it alone.
She studies the table for a moment. “Okay, so there are a lot of people. That's good. Less pressure. We'll just introduce ourselves and play it by ear.”
Easy for her to say. She's not the one about to walk into what looks like a scene from a tech company's social media page, all beautiful people laughing at inside jokes while I stand here feeling like I'm about to crash a party I wasn't really invited to.
Mason notices me before I can lose my nerve completely. He waves me over with a genuine smile that makes my heart skip.
“Stella! You made it!” He stands to greet me, and I'm reminded again of how tall he is. “Everyone, this is Stella, the trivia ace I told you about.”
A chorus of hellos greets me, and I manage to smile and wave without tripping over my own feet. Mason introduces everyone, but I only catch about half the names because I'm too busy trying not to stare at the woman sitting closest to him. She's stunning in that effortless California way, with sun-streaked blonde hair and the kind of tan that suggests she spends her weekends hiking or surfing.
“This is Amy,” Mason says when he gets to her, and something about the way he says it feels deliberately casual. Too casual. Like he's working to make it sound unimportant. “We work on the same team.”
Amy smiles at me, and it seems genuine enough, but there's something in the way she looks at Mason that makes my chest tighten. The familiarity. The ease with which she touches his arm when she talks to him. And the way Mason doesn't seem to notice or mind.
“Stella, come sit next to me,” Mason says, patting the spot beside him. “I want our trivia ace right in the strategy zone.”
I slide into the booth next to him, trying to ignore how good he smells or how his thigh brushes against mine when he leans forward to grab his drink. Natalie settles in across from us, and I'm grateful that she's here because I can feel myself getting flustered by Mason's proximity.
My phone buzzes with a text.
Brandon
How's it going, sunshine? Knocking them dead with that Southern charm?
I glance around to make sure no one's watching before typing back.
Stella
I guess fine? I'm sitting next to him, which is good, but there's a girl that keeps touching his arm and I can't tell if there's something there. These women are all gorgeous and seem to know him really well.
Brandon
Breathe. You're not competing. You're just being yourself and seeing if there's a connection.
Stella
Easy for you to say. You don't see these women. They look like they stepped out of a magazine.
