“So?” My lips quirk into a small smile.
His face scrunches in that adorable grumpy way. “Even if I said no, you could have gone with your friends.”
“I know.” I chuckle.
“What if I said I didn’t want to go?”
“Then we wouldn’t have gone.” I shrug.
“Soyouwouldn’t have?”
“Maybe. Depends on if you were just not interested in going to Ellie’s, but still wanted to hang out with me.” I wink.
“You’d miss out on hanging out with your friends, to hang out with me instead?”
“You’re my friend too, Blake,” I huff.
“But so are they.”
“Blake.” I put my hands on his shoulders. “I can see your mind overthinking things. It’s not a big deal. I’d rather hang out with you; you’re fun. We play video games. And honestly, I don’thave a lot of guy friends, so getting a break from all the girly gossip is nice.”
“I don’t want them to think I’m stealing you away,” he mutters, his eyes casting down.
“Blake.” I gently grip his chin and tilt his head to look at me. “You’re not stealing me away from anyone. They’re not going to be mad that we’re hanging out. Trust me. Wanna know a secret?”
“Okay?” He blinks, licking his lips. Those pink, kissable lips.
“Unless it’s a weekend, I don’t hang out with anyone. Haven’t for years.”
His brows raise. “What do you mean? We hang out all the time. Not just on the weekends.”
“That’s because, thanks to you, I’m not spending all my free time drowning in schoolwork. For the first time, I have free time to breathe.”
“Then why not hang out with your friends more?”
“Because I’d rather spend the time withyou. I’m sorry to break the news to you, but you’re my best friend. I don’t make the rules, but that’s just how it is.” I shrug. “Best friend status trumps everything, and that’s who gets most of my time.”
“I thought Ellie was your best friend?” he grumbles back, but he can’t hide that little blush on his cheeks.
“She is, but she doesn’t have a lot of free time. She’s got three kids and five lovers.” I chuckle. “She’s a busy girl.”
“What about Lexie and Val?”
“Also, best friends, but they are closer with one another than they are with me. They do everything together.”
“Tabitha?”
“Another good friend. But she has a complicated life that even the girls don’t know the full details of.”
“Oh.” He blinks, not seeming to know how to act.
“You don’t have to hang out with me all the time,” I tell him. “If I’m overstepping or putting pressure on you, just let me know. I know I can be a lot.” I rub the back of my neck awkwardly. “Sorry.”
“No,” he rushes out. “No, it’s not that. I, ah, I like hanging out with you. I’m just... not used to it,” he grumbles, leaning against the car, his head dropping again. “I know. It makes me look like a pathetic loser. A twenty-two-year-old man in college who didn’t have any friends until a few weeks ago.”
“Hey.” My voice grows a little hard. Not because I’m angry at him, instead I’m angry at everyone who felt the need to hurt him in the past.
His head snaps up, eyes wide. “You’re not pathetic, stupid, or a loser, okay? Sure, you’re prickly around the edges, but I like that about you. You’re fun to be around, you’re a good person, and you deserve all the friends in the world. Your past is in the past. That’s not who you are, or how things are now. Right?”
