Chapter 4 #2
Mia smiled at us. “Jared owes me a coffee,” she said. “I told him there was something between you two, but he thinks you have a thing for Griff, Audrey.”
Shit, I thought, willing myself not to flush. It’s that obvious?
Henry knew, of course, and even though Ellie had never said anything, I suspected that she suspected, but—
“It’s new, Delphinus,” Henry said, lightly kissing my cheek after I tapped my debit card against the register’s PIN pad. “We’re just seeing where things go…”
Don’t tell anyone! I almost added, even though the point was for Mia to tell everyone. We wanted her to stir up some gossip.
By the time we walked out the door, my phone had pinged with a text from Venmo: Henry Chen has paid you…
I sighed. “I don’t mind.”
It was the truth… mostly. I’d ordered more glass supplies this week and those shipments were never cheap.
“Nope, don’t even,” Henry said. “That history book alone was forty dollars.” He shook his head. “You can fund dinner.”
“All right.” I nodded, but regretted bumping our terms-and-conditions talk until later. Because this felt like we were actually dating. We could’ve googled rules for fake dating before leaving my house, or taken notes during To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before…
Henry unlocked the Highlander to stash his treasures; the Little Tuna was only a few blocks away, so we’d walk. I was fantasizing about a dragon roll when I heard voices.
Before I could turn and look, Henry closed the car door and leaned against it with a smirk curling the corners of his mouth. “What?” I asked.
He moved fast, reaching out to take my hand.
I let him tug me toward him, now able to clearly hear Griff and his friends talking about their fantasy baseball league.
A shiver rolled up my spine when Henry put a hand on my waist and shifted us so that I was now the one up against the car.
I felt my spine straighten. “Do not kiss me,” I whispered before he got any ideas. “I don’t kiss on the first date.”
“No?” Henry tilted his head. “Not even halfway through the first date?”
I rolled my eyes, all too aware that our hip bones were nearly touching. I regretted telling him about me and Brody Jones in the boys’ locker room at JProm last year. Brody had been a senior, so nothing came of it, but it’d been a fun night.
I admittedly hadn’t had many fun nights since then.
Guys weren’t exactly lining up to ask me out.
“Audrey, it’s because you’re this badass glassblower,” my cousin Grace told me when I’d confided in her over Thanksgiving.
“You intimidate them.” She comically brought her hands together in prayer. “May they someday be enlightened…”
What is wrong with you? I wondered now. Why was I resisting this? Why couldn’t I just kiss Henry? It had been a long time since I’d kissed someone, and now the perfect opportunity was presenting itself. And it wasn’t even a real kiss! It’d be a stage kiss, with zero emotion behind it.
Part of me wondered if that was the problem. I didn’t want to find out what Henry was like when he went on autopilot, going through the motions with any of his feelings.
“Hey, Chen!” Griff shouted, making my heart lurch. “Is that you?”
My first inclination was to jump away from Henry, but he had one hand on the car window, half shielding me from the sidewalk. I couldn’t move without it being incredibly awkward.
“Hey, Keeler,” Henry said casually as Griff left his friends on the corner. “What’s new?”
Griff sounded uncharacteristically and delightedly villainous. “Your friend,” he quipped. “Are you gonna introduce us?”
Introduce us? I thought, confused. Griff, you know me!
Except he didn’t, I realized. Because right now, all he was seeing was some bleached blonde whose face was obscured by Henry’s arm. My guess was he hadn’t yet seen Henry’s Instagram story, where @audreyb had debuted her new look.
“Griff.” I wriggled away from Henry. “Griff, hey.”
Griffin Keeler’s eyes widened and his jaw dropped, basically falling to the sidewalk. “Audrey?” he managed after a few beats.
I smiled. “Per my birth certificate.”
“You…” He took a step backward and blinked, almost as if hallucinating.
“What’s he doing?” I whispered to Henry.
“Having a moment,” he whispered back.
“You changed your hair,” Griff stated.
“This afternoon.” I nodded, then attempted to bat my eyelashes. “What do you think?”
He shook his head, still in disbelief. “Thumbs—I mean, double thumbs-up.”
“That makes two of us,” I said, then nudged Henry. “This guy hasn’t weighed in yet.”
“I’m still composing my compliment,” Henry deadpanned.
Griff chuckled. “No, seriously, you look incredible.”
“Thanks.” I tucked a lock of hair behind my ear, feeling myself blush. “We should probably go. Our reservation is in…”
“Five minutes,” Henry supplied smoothly.
“Cool, cool, cool.” Griff nodded, then furrowed his brow. “Are you two… ?”
“Yeah, we’re grabbing dinner,” I told him. “The Little Tuna.”
“Right, okay…” he said slowly, as if trying to piece together tonight’s context clues. His eyes snapped back to mine, deep blue even in the low lamplight. “Will I see you later? At Jason’s?”
I glanced at Henry. Was Griff inviting me out?
“You should come,” he added. “It’ll be fun.”
“Potentially.” I tried to play things cool even though butterflies had swarmed in my stomach. “I’ll definitely see you tomorrow, though.”
Griff gave me a look. “I didn’t think you were working the retirement brunch.”
“I’m not.” My heart rate heightened. Even though the idea had only popped into my head three seconds ago, I told myself to go for it. “But I am having some people over tomorrow night.”
“You’re having a party?” both Henry and Griff exclaimed, but in very different cadences. Griff was psyched; Henry sounded shocked.
“A small gathering,” I corrected them, and took Henry’s hand. I wondered if he could feel my pulse pumping in my palm. “I’ll text you details later.”
Griff grinned. “Embracing your freedom, huh?”
“Exactly.” I grinned back as I noticed him clock Henry’s and my hand-holding. “Embracing my freedom.”