Flirting Lessons

Chapter Seven

Seven

Avery shook her head at Taylor’s “casual but sexy” instructions in response to her “what should I wear???” text. Last time, it was risqué; now sexy? Not for the first time, she wondered what she’d gotten herself into.

The good thing was she’d bought a bunch of new clothes recently, some for her Taylor adventures, which was how she’d come to think of them, and some for the garden club. She now had more casual sundresses, tops that showed a lot more cleavage than her other clothes did, and, in general, more clothes that she could wear out of the house for occasions other than work. She thought for a moment and pulled on her new pair of denim shorts that somehow managed to both be comfortable and make her butt look great, and a white button-down from the work wardrobe side of her closet. She buttoned one fewer than she normally would, rolled up the sleeves to her elbows, and tied the bottom to show a little midriff. There. With some flat brown sandals, that should be good no matter where they were going. At least, she hoped so.

She worried that she didn’t look queer enough, but maybe being with Taylor gave her some sort of cred? She still had no real idea what she was doing, but after her first few weeks of total anxiety, the burlesque show had cracked through that wall. Taylor had said the goal was to have fun, and she was having fun. And as a bonus, she got to hang out with Taylor at least once a week.

Sure, she had a crush on Taylor, but she also knew how Taylor operated. Everyone did because, from what she had observed, everyone had a crush on Taylor. She knew it, Taylor knew it, the rest of them knew it, so they just lived with their crushes and perked up every time Taylor smiled at them or flirted with them. And Taylor flirted with her, of course, both because she was literally teaching her how to flirt, and because she was Taylor and she couldn’t help it. Avery simply wouldn’t take it seriously, that’s all.

Anyway, it was fun to have a crush, for the first time in a long time. After she’d been so beaten down by her relationship with Derek, she’d wondered if she’d ever find anything fun about all of this again, if dating and relationships and love and sex were only about stress and pain and stifling yourself. Or if the good parts about it were reserved for other people, not her. But she felt butterflies again every time Taylor texted her, or when she got in Taylor’s car on their Tuesday nights, or when Taylor laughed at one of her jokes. She hadn’t had that feeling in a very long time. She was going to try to enjoy it.

She looked at herself in the mirror again right before Taylor got there. Oh, to hell with it. She unfastened one more button and walked out of her apartment before she could change her mind.

“How do I look?” she asked Taylor when she got into the car.

Taylor looked her up and down. Avery felt a little tingle go through her body the way it always did when Taylor did that.

“You’re going for prep school hottie tonight, I see,” Taylor said.

Admittedly, she had been fishing for a compliment, but she hadn’t expected that.

“Um, that wasn’t my aim, no. I think of prep school hottie as, like, short little plaid skirt. You know, like Britney in that video.”

Taylor laughed.

“I do know, and while I agree that you’d look great in that outfit, too, that’s the young version of the prep school hottie. Yours is the all-grown-up, polished, even hotter version.”

Avery smiled over at Taylor.

“You do amazing things to my confidence. Thank you. And you look pretty hot yourself tonight.”

That “tonight” was superfluous. Taylor always looked hot, but she was currently wearing the ur-Taylor hot outfit: jeans, a black belt, and a snug black tank top, with many earrings jangling in her ears. She’d gotten browner in the summer sun—it was almost impossible not to here in Napa—and her skin looked so smooth and supple. Avery wanted to stroke her arm. She made herself look up at Taylor’s face and smile.

“You’re getting good at this,” Taylor said. “Nice job there, returning the compliment.”

Avery tossed her hair.

“Remember? I’m a quick study.” She leaned back in her seat. “Plus, it has the advantage of being true.”

What had gotten into her tonight? Just because she’d made peace with her crush on Taylor didn’t mean that she had to overdo it!

But Taylor laughed and blew a kiss in her direction.

“Oh, how was Callie’s party?” Avery asked.

Taylor sighed, her smile dropping slightly.

“Oh, it was fun. Lots of people came, and I got there in time to have her phyllo dough turnovers, which were wildly delicious. Definitely the star of the party this year.”

That sigh didn’t seem like Taylor. Avery started to ask about that, but Taylor kept talking.

“Oh! And just so you know—I told Callie that I was introducing you to queer society, you know, like an old-timey chaperone but, like, modern and queer. Just FYI.”

Avery turned to stare at Taylor.

“You told Callie what ?”

Taylor made a face.

“You’re right, without any context that sounds unhinged, let me explain. She was asking questions about you and why we were suddenly hanging out a lot and if we were dating, blah blah. I had to tell her something, but I didn’t want to tell her about the flirting lessons, since that seemed personal and I didn’t want to tell the world about that without talking to you first, so I kind of riffed on it? And telling Callie would be telling the world, trust me. Wait, are you mad? I probably shouldn’t have said that, either. I’m sorry.”

Mad? Avery was flattered that Taylor’s friends had asked Taylor if they were dating, especially since they’d already asked her that. It felt good that they thought she’d be good enough for Taylor.

“No, of course I’m not mad. Thanks for not telling everyone about the flirting lessons; I appreciate it. I’m impressed you came up with ‘queer chaperone’ on the spur of the moment.” Avery giggled. “Wait. Does that make me a queer debutante? Do I get a coming-out ball?”

Taylor grinned at her.

“Say the word, and I’ll throw you one.”

A few minutes later, Taylor pulled into a parking spot in downtown Napa. Avery followed Taylor down the street to a bar and read the sign on the door.

“?‘Trivia night,’?” Avery read. And then smiled.

Taylor smiled back at her.

“I had a feeling you’d be good at trivia. You seem like that kind of person.”

Avery glared at her.

“That sounds like you’re trying to insult me, but I’m going to take it as a compliment.”

Taylor laced her arm through Avery’s.

“You should take it as a compliment. Come on, this way.”

Avery looked over to where Taylor was leading her. Aah, this made more sense now. Taylor’s friends were over there. That must be why Taylor had told her about the queer debutante thing on the way here.

“Avery, you’ve met Callie and Rex. This is Dani and Nadia,” Taylor said, gesturing at first Dani, then Nadia, thank goodness.

“Hi, all. Good to see you again,” Avery said as she nodded toward Rex and Callie. “Nice to meet you Dani, Nadia.” Dani was gorgeous; she was tall, with light brown skin, and looked like a retired professional soccer player or something. Nadia had dark skin that looked amazing with her bright yellow dress, and was very curvy. Avery tried to smile at them naturally, like she wasn’t nervous walking into a group of people who knew one another and were friends and probably saw her as an interloper. Was it weird how she’d tried to say hi to all of them and “good to see you again” to just some of them?

Why was it easier to unbutton her shirt one extra button than it was to not feel anxious in a social situation?

Everyone smiled at her, though, and Callie pulled her into a hug.

“Good to see you too, Avery!”

“Over here!” a woman shouted in their direction.

“Excellent, Liz got us a table,” Taylor said.

They all sat down, and Avery ended up between Liz and Callie. She wished she were next to Taylor, but the whole point of doing this was to flirt, learn to talk to strangers, maybe go on an actual date with a woman, and not be so fucking anxious in social situations that were new to her. It might be counterproductive to sit next to Taylor, whom she already knew, and whom she obviously would not be going out on a date with. If Taylor wanted that, it could have happened at any time in the past month.

“We missed you at the party this weekend, Avery.” Callie turned to her and put her hand on Avery’s arm.

It was likely for the best that she hadn’t been there, because otherwise Avery probably would have blurted out the truth about why she and Taylor were spending time together. And she didn’t really want all of Taylor’s friends to know that Taylor was teaching her how to flirt. That made her sound pathetic.

“I was sorry to have missed it,” Avery said. “Happy belated birthday, and thanks for inviting me. Taylor said it was great, and that the food was amazing.”

Callie preened from the compliment.

“I go all out on the food at my parties. I used to cook in restaurants, but that got exhausting, so I haven’t cooked professionally in years. Whenever I have people over, I get to go a little wild.”

Callie’s hand was still on her arm. Avery froze. Was Callie flirting with her? Shit. What was she supposed to do now? She couldn’t remember anything.

From the corner of her eye, she saw Taylor at the other end of the table. Knowing she was there made Avery relax a little. Now she remembered. Smile. Don’t freeze up. Make eye contact. Ask questions. Okay, she could do this.

“So, Callie, what do you do?” Yes, What do you do? was a boring question, but she had to start somewhere. Small talk, remember?

“I own a plant store in St. Helena.”

Huh, that wasn’t what Avery expected her to say. But then, she supposed, she didn’t know what she’d expected.

“Oh wow, how did you get into that? Plants, I mean.” Plants, I mean. Why was she so incredibly awkward? “Sorry, that sounded weird, what I meant was that I recently started getting into gardening and I’ve loved it so far.”

“I guess the way most people get into them,” Callie said. “I got obsessed with having plants in my too-small apartment, and then in our too-small house, and I was constantly moving them around to figure out which ones need full sun and which need filtered sun, how much water they all need and how to repot them and why and everything else. At first, it was just fun, and then I got super into it, and I was at some of my local plant stores so often that all of the staff knew me. So when there was a part-time job available at one, I took it, mostly just to make extra money that I could spend on plants.” She laughed, a little self-consciously. “And then, a few years later, right when I’d decided that I was done working in restaurants and catering companies and needed to figure out something else to do with my life, the owner of the store was retiring and selling the business, and I made the very risky decision to buy it from her.”

“That’s amazing,” Avery said. “It sounds a lot like my business origin story, except not with a plant store.”

Callie raised her eyebrows at Avery.

“What’s your story? What do you do?”

“I’m an event planner. I used to work at hotels, doing their event planning stuff, and I got laid off during the pandemic.” Callie made sympathetic noises. “A few months later, a local event planner who I’d worked with reached out to see if I could work for her part-time, helping with virtual events since she didn’t know how to deal with them. And then when she retired, I made the very risky decision to buy her business.”

“That is similar,” Callie said. “How’s it going?”

“Really well, actually,” Avery said. “I’m working a lot, though. I’ve been thinking about hiring an assistant, but I’m a little worried that I’d make a terrible boss.”

Avery saw Taylor grin when she said that.

“Oh, I thought I would be, too,” Callie said. “Luckily, it’s turned out great—which I’m only sure of because I have some employees who have been around since I bought the place, and absolutely would tell me if I was a nightmare. There were definitely some bumps in the road initially, but we figured it out. If you end up hiring that assistant, let me know if you have any questions about being a boss, happy to help.”

“That’s so nice of you,” Avery said. “I might take you up on that.” She knew a lot of other small-business owners in Napa Valley, but many she’d met at events, or given her business card to when she’d dropped by their store; they all sent business one another’s way, but she often had to fake it till she made it with them and be the smart, successful, hardworking, intrepid entrepreneur. She couldn’t ask them questions like how it felt to be a boss, and how to make sure she was demanding excellence from an employee without micromanaging them. That fear had kept her from hiring someone, but it meant that she was constantly overworked. But wouldn’t she be overworked when she had to train someone new and also do all the stuff she was already doing? See, this was the kind of thing she needed to ask someone else.

“So, tell us, how did you meet Taylor?” Liz broke in. “She was pretty vague about that.”

Avery laughed. She hoped it was a casual laugh, and not one that said, Why are you asking me this, do you think there’s something weird about Taylor bringing me here?

“That’s no mystery: my best friend Luke used to work with Taylor. I think he was intimidated by her, which is excellent. More women need to intimidate straight men, it’s good for them.” Even the best of straight men, which Luke is, need that sometimes.

“Taylor can do that,” Callie said, laughing.

Liz nodded.

“It’s true, she can.” She grinned at Avery. “She breaks a lot of hearts, you know.” There was a smile on her face, but not in her voice. What was this about?

Callie nodded.

“She does. We once got her to sing ‘Heartbreaker’ during karaoke, everyone died laughing.”

Avery tried to picture Taylor doing karaoke and smiled.

“Yeah, so she’s told me,” she said. “I can certainly see why, she’s a lot of fun.”

Liz turned to look at Taylor, who was in the middle of a conversation with Dani.

“Yeah,” Liz said. “She is, isn’t she?”

Had she just tried to warn Avery off Taylor? Avery couldn’t decide whether to be amused or flattered. She guessed it would be a combination of both, since it was both very funny to her and an enormous compliment that anyone could think Taylor would be interested in her.

Okay, now it was her time to change the subject. She couldn’t just ask the What do you do? question again, could she? Well, why not?

“So, Liz—” she started, when Liz interrupted her.

“What are your big three, Avery?” Oh no. Not astrology. “Wait, let me guess…Libra sun, right?”

Avery took a sip of the margarita she’d ordered and shook her head.

“Hmmm, I could have sworn…Well, you must have Libra as a rising sign. Leo?”

Avery shook her head again. She had the sudden evil impulse to see how long this would go on if she just kept shaking her head and giving Liz nothing. Was it because Liz had irritated her a bit with that implied warning about Taylor? Maybe. She also hated when people tried to distill her personality traits—or what they knew of them—down to when she was born.

“Okay, well—hmmm.” Avery glanced over to the other end of the table and saw the smirk on Taylor’s face. Their eyes met, and Taylor winked at her. Avery couldn’t help but grin. “Aha! Scorpio!” Liz said. “You must have that somewhere in your birth chart.”

“Do we want to order some nachos?” Taylor asked their end of the table. “One vegetarian and one with meat?”

There were universal nods, so Taylor got up. She came around to their side of the table.

“Liz, did you open a tab?” Taylor asked. She rested a hand on Avery’s shoulder as she talked to Liz. “If so, you should come to the bar with me and get your card back, I’ll get this round.” Avery took the last sip of her margarita and started to lean back against Taylor before she caught herself. She tried to pretend that Taylor’s touch was no big deal, didn’t make her feel anything at all, totally normal.

Liz jumped out of her chair.

“Oh yeah, thanks, Taylor.”

When Taylor came back, she slid into the seat next to Avery.

“I had to save you from that astrology conversation,” she said in Avery’s ear. “I knew that it would go on forever if I didn’t do something. I’ve got to say, usually you’re great at a poker face, but that time…”

“Wait, what was wrong with the look on my face?” Avery asked.

“Nothing was wrong with it, exactly, it was just clear that she was getting on your nerves.”

Avery had to laugh.

“She wasn’t getting on my nerves! She’s nice! Though I was kind of enjoying fucking with her.” Oops, she had not meant for that to come out of her mouth. She looked around to see if anyone had overheard her, but thankfully it didn’t seem like it.

Taylor grinned sideways at her.

“I could tell.”

“My mom is super into astrology, and I guess one of my small bits of rebellion is to resist everything about it.”

Taylor leaned closer to her.

“Wait, if your mom is super into astrology, that means you know your big three. Come on, you can tell me.”

Avery sighed, but she couldn’t help the smile on her face.

“Capricorn sun, Virgo moon, Taurus rising.”

“Oh, Liz was very wrong.” Taylor laughed. “Incredible.”

“Now you have to tell me yours,” Avery said.

“How do you even know I know them?” Taylor asked.

“Because I do,” Avery said.

Taylor fluttered her eyelashes.

“Leo sun, Sagittarius moon, Libra rising.”

They smiled at each other, both with eyes full of laughter, and Avery suddenly realized how close they were sitting. So close, their hips were touching. So close that if she moved just a little, their arms would be touching, too.

She stayed right where she was. But that tiny space between their arms felt like it was almost pulsing. She could feel the warmth coming from Taylor’s skin.

What was she doing, fantasizing about Taylor like this? Taylor wasn’t interested in her! Taylor had women throwing themselves at her all the time—as was clear from what Liz and Callie had said. Taylor didn’t want someone as inexperienced and awkward as Avery. Taylor was only out with her because she was teaching her how to be not quite so awkward.

Wait, hadn’t she decided it was fine to have a crush on Taylor? That it was a nice way to warm herself up, to get some practice in, to make herself feel a bit less awkward around women? That it was an Exciting New Experience and that she was not going to fight it but instead let herself enjoy it?

That was before she was one strong margarita in and sitting this close to her.

“Okay,” Taylor said in her ear. An actual tingle went down her spine. How could Avery not have a crush on her? “I bet you’re very good at trivia,” Taylor continued.

Avery turned to look at Taylor. She had a sly little smile on her face.

“Kind of, but I’m making no promises,” Avery said. “Are you good at trivia?”

Taylor shook her head.

“No, but I’m good at being able to figure out who knows what they’re talking about versus who is bullshitting. Let’s see how this goes.”

Taylor probably shouldn’t have gone over to Avery’s side of the table, not with her friends around, watching for any sign that something was going on between the two of them. And she definitely shouldn’t have sat down so close to her. But she had to save Avery from Liz, who was clearly annoying Avery and absolutely dying to cross-examine her. The only problem was that Liz was now back and sitting in Taylor’s old seat and kept looking at the two of them. Whatever, if Liz stared at them, she stared at them. The important thing was that Avery enjoy herself.

“You having fun?” she asked Avery in a low voice.

Avery nodded quickly, a smile on her face.

“Definitely. Your friends are all fun, and the margaritas are great.” Avery took another sip and laughed. “And also very strong—I can’t have more than two of these, I have to be up early tomorrow for a breakfast meeting.”

Taylor opened her eyes wide.

“A breakfast meeting? Those are two words that should never be paired together.”

Taylor saw Dani and Liz exchanging glances at the other end of the table. She sighed internally but shook it off. Whatever, this whole group would gossip about her later, not like that was anything new. She sort of asked for it by bringing Avery around them—though she probably wouldn’t have done that if she and Avery hadn’t already run into them at the dance class. But the queer community in Napa wasn’t all that big; she and Avery definitely would have run into her friends at some point. And once it happened, it made sense to just bring Avery to a group event so the rumor mill wouldn’t go quite as wild about what was going on between the two of them.

Still, the knowing looks and raised eyebrows in her direction were getting on her nerves. She didn’t love the way they gossiped about her, though she knew none of it was malicious. It had been different when Erica was around the group all the time—then, it had been easier to not be bothered, to laugh it off. Then, it had been fun to be the one there were always stories about, the one who everyone gossiped about, who everyone wanted to know what she was doing…or who she was doing, more specifically.

But now Erica was married and pregnant and hanging out with her friends who had elaborate dinner parties and organized their home offices. If she complained to Erica about the way they were acting about her and Avery, would Erica say something like Well, you know how you are with women or even Come on, tell me, have you slept with her yet?

At least Erica wouldn’t size up Avery like she was fresh meat, like everyone else here was doing. Well, not everyone, Rex wasn’t. But Dani and Nadia were staring at her cleavage, Callie was staring at her whole body, and Liz was just staring at her. Granted, Avery’s cleavage was on display tonight, which both surprised and impressed Taylor. That wasn’t something the Avery of a month ago would have done.

She was glad that she’d waited until this part in their flirting curriculum to bring Avery to hang out with her friends. She was way more relaxed and comfortable with them now than she would have been at first. She hoped Avery would come away from this night buoyed by all the people flirting with her.

As a matter of fact, she should probably move away from Avery so the rest of the group could continue to flirt with her. Slightly reluctant, she stood up.

“I’ll get us another pitcher before things get too busy at the bar,” she announced to the table at large. She walked over to the bar and nodded at Sofie, who was behind the bar that night.

“Another pitcher of margaritas?” Sofie asked her.

“You know it. See, this is why you’re the best bartender in Northern California.”

“Only Northern?” Sofie shook her head. “I’ve obviously got some work to do.”

Taylor laughed and handed over her credit card. As she waited for the margaritas, she wondered who would take advantage of her departure to get up to “go to the bathroom” and then quickly come back to sit down next to Avery. She refused to turn around—someone at that table was definitely watching her—so she pulled out her phone to text Erica.

Taylor

I brought avery to trivia night tonight and the whole crowd is flocking to her. I just got up to get drinks, want to bet on who grabs the seat next to her?

Would Erica be too busy with work or her house or Sloane to see and respond to her text?

Erica

Ooh yes. who all is there?

Guess she wasn’t too busy tonight.

Taylor

Liz, callie, nadia, dani, rex. but callie is already on avery’s other side and isn’t budging

Who would she bet on? Taylor ran through the group in her mind.

There was definitely a strong probability Liz would try to grab her seat back. However, Dani had already very casually asked Taylor if Avery was single. She was warm and bubbly, so that would be good for Avery; it was really easy to talk to her. Rex, no—they were never interested in people as femme as Avery, so they definitely wouldn’t jump up to go sit next to her. Though Taylor kind of wished they would; Rex was calm and low-key—they’d probably be a soothing presence for Avery. Nadia was a wild card—she also wasn’t into femmes, but she loved gossip, so she might try to get some info out of Avery just for fun.

She smiled to herself as she thought of that quick mental rundown of her friends. It had reminded her of all their good qualities and the reasons why she was friends with this whole crew in the first place. Sure, they gossiped about her; she also gossiped about other people all the damn time. And to be fair to them, she’d probably gossip about herself, too.

She mentally apologized to them; they probably had no idea she’d been a petty bitch about them tonight. Still, she’d put her money on either Liz or Dani to be the one who had leapt from her own seat to sit next to Avery. And since Liz had started the night sitting next to Avery, Taylor was pretty sure that when she turned around in about thirty seconds with the pitcher of margaritas in her hand, Dani would be sitting next to Avery.

Taylor

I’ll go first: i’m betting on dani

Erica

Ooh, interesting, i’m betting on liz

Sofie handed her the pitcher, and Taylor tipped her well. Then she turned around to go back to the table and almost laughed out loud. Yep, there was Dani, sitting next to Avery, chatting animatedly with her. And look at that. Avery was chatting animatedly right back.

Taylor

I was right. dani

Erica

Damn it. that was going to be my other choice.

By the time Taylor got back to the table, the trivia was in full swing.

“Interstate highways in America that go west to east always end with what number?” the announcer asked over the mic.

“Zero!” Avery said, as did Dani. The two of them grinned at each other.

Taylor didn’t contribute much to trivia; she’d never particularly been good at it. Also, she didn’t understand why people would want to ruin a nice relaxing night out at a bar with a series of tests. But she’d had a feeling that this would be a good venue for Avery. She’d been right.

“This famous English breeder of roses developed over three hundred rose varieties during his lifetime,” the announcer read.

“I know this one,” Avery said. “David Austin. People always want his roses for weddings.”

“Avery, you’re so good at this,” Dani said, practically trying to sit in her lap. “You should come join our trivia team every week.”

Taylor barely stopped herself from rolling her eyes. Yes, Avery was good at this, and it was good to see her blooming under the flattery of Dani and Liz and Callie and everyone else, but could they be any more obvious about this?

Avery looked away for a moment, and Taylor could see her start to withdraw a little. Oh no, was this too much for her? But then Avery turned back to Dani, looked her in the eyes, lowered her lashes, and then looked back up at her.

“Thank you,” she said. “It’s good to be able to put the random information I’ve learned throughout my life to good use. I’m glad you appreciate it.” She grinned at her slowly. “Do you want to know what the eleven most common allergens are? I know that, too.”

Dani burst out laughing, and Taylor let herself grin. Avery was having fun with this. And Taylor needed to stop being such a bitch, once again.

Their team came in second, which made everyone at their table cheer loudly—apparently it was the first time they’d come in the top three in months.

“You’re our lucky charm, Avery,” Callie said. “That just means you’ve got to come back next week.”

Avery looked at Taylor for a second. Was she checking in with her to see if Taylor wanted to come back, or was she trying to get Taylor to give her an excuse not to? Taylor wasn’t sure. Avery turned back to Callie.

“I’ll see what I can do,” she said. “You know how it is to own a small business; work often gets in the way of fun things. And a lot of my stuff is at night, unfortunately. But this was really fun, I’d love to do this again.”

After another round of hugs and goodbyes and whispers in Taylor’s ears (“Leave it to you to bring around a hottie no one knew” from Dani; “Okay, but seriously, is something going on between you two?” from Nadia; “Bring her back!” from Callie; “I have so many questions” from Liz), all of which she just laughed at. Taylor and Avery walked back to Taylor’s car.

“So,” Taylor said as soon as they drove away. “ Did you have fun, and would you love to come back, or were you just saying that to Callie?”

Avery had a smile on her face, but then, she’d had a smile on her face most of the night, which was why Taylor already knew the answer to that question.

“Yeah, I had a great time,” she said. “You were right, I am good at trivia, I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. And your friends were all super nice to me.”

Taylor raised an eyebrow.

“You mean my friends all thought you were hot as hell.”

Avery’s smile turned just a tiny bit smug.

“Well. I wouldn’t have put it that way, but I did get some good flirting practice in.”

“Oh, I saw,” Taylor said. “But what was that look you gave me when Callie said she wanted you to come back?”

“That was just…” Avery said. “I wasn’t sure how to answer.”

“Why not?” Taylor asked. “Didn’t you have fun?”

“I did,” Avery said. “It’s just…these are your friends. I didn’t know if you would want me to come back and hang out with them. I also didn’t know if Callie’s invitation was real or just something she says to everyone, and I shouldn’t take it seriously. But mostly the first thing.”

Taylor was glad they were stopped at a light so she could look at Avery.

“Callie’s invitation was definitely real, but why wouldn’t I want you to hang out with my friends?”

Avery didn’t look at her.

“Sometimes people…like to keep circles separate. Plus, we’re not…I mean, you’re doing these flirting lessons for me but that was you taking pity on me, we didn’t really know each other before, so I don’t want to…”

Taylor shook her head.

“Avery. I like you. I’m not doing these flirting lessons for you because I’m ‘taking pity’ on you—I’m not that kind of person. I’m not that nice! I wouldn’t hang out with someone on a weekly basis if I didn’t like them. We are friends, and friends help each other out.” Taylor paused. “I mean, that’s if you want to be. I don’t know, maybe you don’t like me, in which case I just made a fool of myself, but then I do that often, so—”

By this point, Avery was laughing.

“No, no, I like you, too. I thought we were friends, too. Or hoped. I mostly thought we were; I guess I was just having a moment of insecurity, or, I don’t know, mean girls from the past getting into my head about friendship and everything. I’m sorry for being weird.”

“No apologies necessary,” Taylor said. “Any other questions about tonight?”

“Now that you ask,” Avery said. “Is there a story with you and that bartender?”

Taylor let out a loud laugh.

“Why does everyone ask me about Sofie? Yes, we may have hooked up before, but she’s taken now.”

Taylor could feel Avery’s smirk without even looking at her.

“I knew it,” she said.

Taylor rolled her eyes.

“Don’t you start,” she said. “Now you’re acting like my friends. Wait, what did they tell you about me?”

“Oh,” Avery said. “Just stuff I already knew. Heartbreaker, champion flirt, allergic to long-term relationships, that kind of thing.”

Basically, exactly what Taylor had thought they’d say. Taylor, always jumping in and out of relationships. She’d heard it all before.

“Okay, that last thing is true, and fine, maybe the second thing, but I still resist the heartbreaker label, despite what I’m sure they told you about karaoke.”

Avery’s laugh confirmed that yes, they had told her about karaoke.

Their next flirting lesson was not going to include her friends.