Well, I knew where it came from. A lifetime of being Ward’s best friend, of the two of us coming as a pair.
I’d felt guilty for years over how much I’d hated Liz when he’d gotten together with her. In my defense I’d been seventeen and not the most emotionally mature person, and back then I’d felt like my best friend was being taken away from me.
I didn’t want to lose him again.
That was a weird thing to realize as we stood in the middle of the street, holding up the foot traffic.
“I don’t like it,” Ward said, but it was more the complaint of a tired toddler than a serious objection.
“Will you hate me if I say I do?” I asked, nudging him into the mouth of an alley so we weren’t as in the way as we had been. “You’re so shy, Ward. And it’s… kinda cute, mostly, but I wish sometimes that you had the confidence you should in yourself. You’re incredible and I feel like I’m the only one who ever gets to see that.”
Ward shrugged. “That’s enough for me.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. Ward had just come out with it like it was no big deal, but itfeltlike a big deal and I had no idea what to do with it.
“Can I take a picture of you?” I asked instead. “Y’know, proof that Ward Harrison did once dress up to go out on a hot date.”
“Since when are you a hot date?” Ward asked, raising an eyebrow.
“What happened to method acting?” I asked.
“I thought that wasn’t what method acting was?” Ward teased, eyes glittering in the last rays of sunlight.
“You’re impossible,” I said, taking my phone out and stepping away. “Lean back against the wall and pretend to be cool for once in your life.”
Ward laughed, but he did as I said, leaning back with his arms folded over his chest and one leg crossed over the other. The spot he was standing in meant the sunlight fell across his face and neck, highlighting the lines of it as he tipped his head back and closed his eyes.
“Hey, two windmills are standing together at a wind farm,” I said, taking photos every few seconds so I’d get the best one possible.
“Yeah?” Ward asked, already smiling at the incoming joke.
“Yeah. One of them asks the other what kind of music it likes,” I said.
“And the other one saysI’m a big metal fan,” Ward finished for me, grinning like it was the best joke in the world.
“Heard that one before?”
He was so gorgeous like this, laughter in his eyes, finally relaxing. Dressed up like he was going on a real date with someone he really wanted to impress.
I could barely stop staring at him, even as I took another half-dozen pictures just to capture the light in his eyes, the smile on his face.
The way he was looking at me, like I was something worth seeing.
“It was in one of your movies,” Ward said. “The one… were you maybe an architect? Taking care of your sister’s kid?”
“Oh, the one with the llama,” I said. “Yeah, I remember. Must be where I got it from.”
“I thought your delivery was perfect.” Ward shrugged. “Have you taken enough photos of me yet? I’m starving.”
“It’s just after six and our reservation isn’t until seven,” I pointed out, flicking through the photos of Ward to pick a favorite.
“Confirming my suspicion that LA is as uncivilized as I think,” Ward said as we stepped back into the street. “Who eats dinner at seven?”
I shrugged. “When I’m working I consider myself lucky if I get to eat before eleven.”
Ward wrinkled his nose. “Dinner is between five and six o’clock,” he said.
I laughed at that, finally choosing a photo to show him. It was one of the first I’d taken, when he’d been leaning back with his eyes closed looking like he was on-set for a fashion shoot with Vogue or GQ or something.
