Liam blushes again, his lips curved into a shy smile, and yeah, he might actually like her too.
We’re saved from any more awkward flirting by Janice, hoisting a huge oval tray of laden plates.
“All right, loves,” she says. “Who’s hungry?”
***
Jasmine has to use the bathroom before we go, but it’s so nice outside—the sun setting, a pleasant breeze rising—we wait by the car. Liam leans against the trunk, all long legs, arms crossed, while Bowie checks their phone.
“My parents want me to grab a pie. Be right back.”
And then it’s just me and Liam, waiting. I lean against the car next to him; his fingers brush my neck as he tucks in my tag.
“Thanks,” I say. “Sorry for... you know.” I gesture toward the restaurant.
“What? No. It was fine. Your sister is cool.”
“Yeah?”
He chews on his lip for a moment, staring past me at the doors. His fingers drum against the trunk.
And I know what he’s going to ask. I can see it in his eyes. In the way his cheeks are colored by more than just the sunset. In the way Jasmine was all over him tonight.
“I actually wanted to ask you something,” he says.
My throat closes off. But it’s not like I didn’t know this was coming.
“Yes,” I tell him. “You can.”
“Huh?”
“You can ask her out. It’s okay with me.”
“Oh...” He blinks down at me. “Uh. Really?”
“Really.” My throat feels sandy—a little hash brown stuck in it, probably—but I swallow hard. “I think you’d be really good together.”
“Oh.” He scratches the back of his head. “I haven’t dated anyone in a while.”
“Really? Why?”
He looks at me, then down at his feet and says something I don’t catch.
“What?”
“Sorry. It feels weird to say.”
“You can sign it.”
A smile crests his lips. “I’m not that good yet.” But then it fades, and he runs a hand through his hair. “Sometimes I feel like people only want to go out with me because of how I look. Like my outside is all that matters.”
“Well, have you seen yourself in a mirror?” I blurt out. And immediately wish I could take it back. My cheeks are burning, and Liam’s look ready to go supernova. I have to salvage this.
“It’s a miracle you can swim without getting distracted by your reflection in the pool.”
The tension snaps, and Liam cracks up, squinting and showing his canines. “Oh, god, that makes me sound so conceited.”
“That’s what I always tell people. Only someone as conceited as you would bother hanging around to help me clean up after rehearsals.”
