“Dude,” he says in my ear. “You can’t justsaystuff like that!”
“It’s the truth. You’re beautiful. I don’t approach people in public, never have. But with you, I wanted to. I was working up the courage whenyouapproachedme. How do you think it made me feel when you took a selfie with me and then left in ahurry? If anyone was feeling superior in that meeting it wasnotme.”
“Fuck,” Blue breathes out, “I really amsosorry. Streamers get a sense for when someone is trying to work up the nerve to ask for a photo. I thought I was beingnice!”
“You weren’t. You were the most beautiful asshole I’ve ever met but an asshole nonetheless.”
“Oh my gods! No! He cut his sound!” Oli cries out, waving frantically at the tv screen. “Fuck you, Azaad! I see you typing that you’re cutting the stream! I want to hear the drama!”
“Oh shit,” Ivan says as the screen cuts off, jumping to someone else’s stream. “They just raided some other guy’s stream and completely shut down Blue’s!”
“I can totally see why you’d think that,” Blue says, his voice much softer. “I really am sorry.”
“I can’t hear it on the stream so turn your phone on speaker phone,” Oli says with a hissed out whisper. “I want to hear.”
I roll my eyes before taking the phone away, hitting speaker phone. Everyone crowds around, listening in.
“Maki? You still there? Sorry, my mods just shut down my stream because they could see how worked up it was making me and they said I was going to start a scandal,” he says with a sigh.
“I’m still here.”
“Okay, good. I want to talk this out, genuinely.”
“I’m listening.”
“The truth is, I assumed you were a fan and I realize now that I shouldn’t have done that. I didn’t mean to brush you off but my phone kept vibrating in my pocket because my roommate was frantically trying to get ahold of me. This is all just a really big, stupid misunderstanding.”
I let out a long breath, my chest suddenly feeling so much lighter. “I see,” I say slowly, looking at Oli who’s standing right infront of me. He waves at me to say more. “I understand how this was all a misunderstanding and I forgive you.”
“That’s a huge relief,” Blue says and I swear I can hear a small smile in his voice. “Can I make it up to you? Please?”
Against my permission, I find my cheeks heating up. I look up at everyone around me, all of them wearing various faces of intrigue and excitement. Oli just barely keeps himself from jumping up and down while clapping.
“Say yes!” Oli hisses out, softly enough that my phone doesn’t pick it up.
“Umm, sure. I think I would like that. What do you have in mind?”
“How about we go to dinner somewhere, my treat. We can talk things out properly and I’ll show you I’m not an asshole?”
“Okay. I will give you my phone number and you can text me the details. Does Friday work?”
“I’m busy Friday but I could do Thursday night?”
“Thursday night after my practice. That would work.”
“Perfect. Thanks for giving me another chance, Maki.”
“Don’t waste it, Blue,” I say before hanging up the call.
Oli starts jumping up and down, just barely keeping an elbow out of Ivan’s face. “Oh my gods! You’re going on a date with Blue! This is so exciting!”
“A date?”
Daniel jumps in. “I’m not so sure it’s a date.”
“I don’t know,” Bo says, rubbing at his chin. “Sounded like a date to me.”
Sullivan declares, “all those who think it’s a date, raise your hand!” Sullivan, Oli, Bo, Kent, and reluctantly, Ivan, all raise their hands.
