"I like dives."
"Sawyer."
"Daniela."
We were smiling at each other and I knew it and couldn't stop and the tequila had nothing to do with it, or not much.
He was so—steady. That was the thing. Every person I'd talked to today had wanted something from me or wanted to give me something or wanted me to know how important they were. Sawyer was just standing here drinking a beer like we had all the time in the world.
"Can I ask you something?" I said.
"Sure."
"Have you ever—" I stopped. Started over. "Millie and Gage’s wedding. We…we were drunk, but—you remember?”
His expression didn't change but something in it went careful. "Yeah."
"Did you—" God, I was bad at this. I was never bad at this. "Was that?—"
"Nothing happened."
"I know that, but I'm trying to ask you something."
"I know." His voice was low. "Ask it."
I looked at him. The bar noise was a wall around us. Mark was at the other end talking to someone and not looking our direction, which I appreciated.
"Did you think about it after?" I asked. "That night. Us dancing. Flirting."
Sawyer was quiet for a second. He set his beer down.
"Yeah," he said. "I did."
My heart did something I was going to deal with later.
"Me too," I said.
Neither of us said anything for a moment.
Someone bumped into me from behind and I swayed into him and his hand came to my elbow and stayed there. Just that. His thumb moved once against the inside of my elbow and I felt it everywhere.
"I leave tomorrow," I said again, because it felt important to keep saying it. I wanted him to understand that there was some urgency here—that I’d decided what I wanted and now was the time to take it.
"You said that."
"I'm saying it again."
"I heard you." His eyes stayed on mine. "What do you want to do about it?"
I looked at his mouth. Looked back up.
"I want another drink," I said. "And then I want to get out of here."
His eyes sparked…he almost smiled.
He turned to the bartender.
"Two more," he said.
