“Shut up.” I bit back a smile and pulled out my phone to check my messages. Technically, David and I had a meeting scheduled in our calendars for one another. And the only reason it was there was because he’d texted me halfway through week:
I really need to see you.
My initial concerned response was:
what happened? What’s wrong?
David
I just need to see you.
It’d taken me a second to puzzle together that this was a social text, and this was David’s way of saying he missed me.
I’d joked:
I could pencil you in. Send you a calendar invite.
His response was:
Perfect. Do that, please.
I didn’t know what triggered the politeness and the lack of patience. I knew I appreciated it because I’d spent days trying to figure out a decent enough dare to have an excuse to see him.
My heart jumped when I saw a message notification with his name on it. Blocking off the stage became as low priority to me as it was to Haven and Indie.
They noticed and instantly started aww’ing me.
“Alright, alright.” I waved them away. “He’s picking me up.”
“How far is he?” Indie asked.
I checked his location. “Twenty-five minutes.”
“We’ll wait with you,” Haven offered.
“You know, that gives us plenty of time to move a couple of boxes—” I tried.
“Outside,” Indie interrupted and started herding us to the door. “We’re all waiting for him outside. You need to get away from this place, Yara. It’s got a hold on you.”
“The grip’s tight,” Haven agreed as she stared around thewarehouse with the look she got when she wanted to burn incense around the house.
I let them corral me outside. The air was biting now that we were nearing the end of fall. We hurried to Haven’s car for warmth while we waited. David somehow turned a twenty-five-minute drive into a fifteen-minute drive.
“Someone’s excited,” Haven said under her breath when she saw his car pull into the lot. She still wasn’t convinced he was good for me, but she’d been open to changing that belief when I told her about his attempt at teaching me how to drive. A man who helped someone gain more autonomy was one worthy of respect in her book.
“Have fun.” Indie winked at me. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
“Of course not.” I hopped out of the car, giving them a final wave before hurrying over to David’s car. He got out as soon as he saw me coming, meeting me on the passenger side. I stopped a couple of feet away, buzzing at the sight of him.
David wore a gray Henley underneath his worn black jean jacket. His hair stuck out from underneath a green beanie, the strands curling from a recent wash.
“Hi,” I greeted, not knowing what to do with my hands, so I stuffed them into my jacket pockets. A shield of unfamiliar shyness went up around me, making it difficult to meet David’s eyes. I blamed it on Haven and Indie. They were watching us from the van. I waved my hand behind my back, trying to gesture for them to go away. The car’s engine remained rumbling in the background.
“What’s going on with them?” David raised a brow, glancing over my shoulder.
I shrugged. “They’re… curious.”
He leaned against the car, making it that much more tempting to wrap my arms around his neck and pull him down for a kiss. “About?”
