CHAPTER 28
Harlow could not believe that she was holding Larissa’s hand as she drove.
Her hand was in Larissa’s lap, resting on her thigh, and Larissa’s fingers were entwined with hers.
She was sitting at a stoplight with her date, and that date was her best friend.
Harlow smiled when the light turned green and shook her head.
“What?” Larissa asked.
“Nothing. Why?”
“You were just all smiles. That excited about the light turning green?” Larissa teased.
“No, and you know why I’m excited. Is it going okay so far?” She squeezed Larissa’s hand. “Not too weird, having me holding your hand like this?”
“We’ve never been the touchiest of friends, have we?”
“Legs in each other’s laps, for the most part, and some hugs here and there.”
“Does you pushing my glasses up my nose count?”
“I think so,” she said with a little laugh.
“I really don’t want your glasses to keep sliding down your nose.
One day, they really will slide off and break or something.
But it was more that I could do that, and it allowed me to be close to you without being too suspicious.
I should probably be honest now: anytime my hand ended up on your back, it was more than just trying to get you to walk ahead of me. ”
Larissa laughed and said, “Good to know. And no, it’s not weird. I mean, it is – it’s weird that we’re doing this – but it also isn’t. It’s strangely…”
“Right?” Harlow hoped.
“Yes. And I know it’s the first date, and we’re only about twenty minutes into it, but I thought it would be weirder.
All day today, I worried we would be awkward tonight.
Like, we wouldn’t have anything to talk about, and we wouldn’t know how to touch each other or if we even should, but we seem to have figured that part out, at least.”
Larissa held up their joined hands.
“I think we’ve figured out the talking to each other part, too. We’re talking now.”
“We’re talking about us talking.” Larissa chuckled.
“But we are talking. We’re also here.” Harlow nodded at the building to the right. “Just need to find street parking.”
“You’re so good at parallel parking. I’m glad you drove tonight. I still can’t do it right.”
“You can do it right, just not well,” she teased.
“You got about three feet away from the curb last time. If you had kept at it, eventually, you would’ve gotten six inches from the curb.
Your form was good. You just get concerned that you’re going to smack into the curb, so you don’t want to get any closer. ”
“You know that when I was learning to drive, Aggie was tasked with teaching me that, and she was not helpful at guiding me closer to the curb. She kept pretending like I was ten feet away from it, then suddenly, she’d yell from outside the car, where she was watching, and I was on top of the curb or something.
My parents were bad people for letting her help me. ”
Harlow laughed, found a parking spot up the block, and a few minutes later, they were parked and out of the car.
“I can teach you, if you want. I promise, I won’t yell at you or try to trick you. Aggie was a bitch as a teenager, huh?”
“She had her moments,” Larissa replied and took Harlow’s hand.
Harlow looked down and probably had confusion on her face.
“I promised you that you could hold it all night. Taking it back already?” Larissa asked.
“No, definitely not taking it back. I’m just still getting used to it.
We’re on a street, and we’re holding hands.
We’re not doing that friend thing where our hands are just joined at the elbow or something.
We’re very clearly holding hands as two people who are on a date or are together, and it’s very, very new.
New and good. New and unexpected, but new. ”
“Unexpected?” Larissa asked.
Harlow nodded for them to start walking and said, “I really did think you’d say no.”
“Why?”
“Because you’ve never given me any indication that you could feel the same way.
I even tried asking you out in college three times, but you didn’t notice or just thought I wanted to hang out, not go out, and I gave up.
I thought I’d get over it eventually, but that eventually never came, and here we are. ”
Larissa stopped walking and said, “Wait. You tried to ask me out?”
“Three times specifically, yes. I’m sure I also made a few comments here and there, just trying to gauge any interest, but you never went for it or even looked at me, confused.
I got it in my head that you were just so focused on school that dating wasn’t even on your radar, and for a while, I still kept trying, but then, I got it in my head that you just weren’t interested at all and only wanted to be friends, which was why you never addressed the fact that I kept asking you out.
I was younger than you. Now, three years isn’t a big deal, but it was then.
I think I thought that was part of the problem, too. ”
“I don’t even remember that. I promise, it wasn’t any of that, Harlow. Well, the me being oblivious part – probably, but not the other parts. I’m so sorry if you thought I didn’t want to address it or bring it up somehow.”
“It’s okay,” she said. “I don’t regret trying or anything. And I don’t regret that we’ve been friends. I wanted more, yes, but I don’t regret the fact that we didn’t have it.”
“Until now?”
Harlow smiled at her and said, “Until now.”
“So, where are we going, exactly?”
“Here.”
She pointed to the building with the sign hanging above the door and wide window.
“Make your own pizza?” Larissa said when she read the decal on the front door.
“I thought we could make pizzas together. This place is new. They give you all the ingredients and tell you how to best shape the dough, and you can throw it in the air, if you want, before you bake it in their oven. You can take it home, too, if you want, but they have space to sit and eat. It’s not like one of those places where you tell them what you want and watch them make the pizza.
You get to make it yourself. Is it okay?
I wanted to do something different, but not something fancy because that’s not us. ”
“Do they know I can’t cook?” Larissa asked.
“You’re not really cooking; that’s the thing.
You’re preparing the pizza, and they help you put it in the oven.
They’ll pull it out for you when it’s done, so you can’t mess it up.
We can sit here and eat together. They have wine, beer, and other things, too.
I thought it would be fun. Was it a bad idea? ”
“What? No. Harlow, it’s a great idea. I don’t care what we do tonight, but this is a great idea.”
“Okay. Let’s go,” Harlow said, smiling.
And she smiled even wider on the inside because she’d come up with a good idea for their first date.
It hadn’t taken long. Earlier at work, she’d searched for fun first-date activities, and someone had suggested a cooking class, which had made her laugh, but there had been an ad on the side of the site for a local place, and she’d looked it up.
Thinking this was a good way for Larissa to practice making something without too much pressure and giving them a fun activity to do, she’d booked a slot for them.
Inside, there were four long tables where several people stood on one side and an employee stood on the other.
On those tables, there were containers of the ingredients like cheese, sauce, meats, and vegetables.
The woman at the door asked if they had a reservation, so Harlow gave her her last name, and the woman asked if they wanted to choose a table and eat here after their food was ready.
Harlow looked over at Larissa, who nodded.
“Great. I’ll put you at table three. All of our tables have numbers on them, as you can see.” The woman motioned to the space with about twelve tables, each of them having a number on the wood of the table itself, either embossed or printed somehow. “Your table is by the window over there.”
She pointed.
Harlow turned to see that they had a table in the corner that was, indeed, next to the window.
“Have you been with us before? I should’ve asked that first.”
“No, we haven’t,” Larissa volunteered.
“Okay. Great. Well, welcome. First, you’ll choose your dough. We have a few different options on that board over here.” The woman motioned to a big chalkboard. “With the package you booked, you each get to make two pizzas tonight.”
“We do?” Harlow asked.
“Yes, it’s our bake-and-take package. Did the system make a mistake?
” the woman asked and looked down at her computer screen.
“It shows me that you booked that one, so you get to make two pizzas and have one here and take one home with you. We vacuum seal it for you, so you can bake it at anytime, but we recommend within the week.”
“Oh, no. I’m sure I booked that. I just booked the first thing I saw, honestly.”
Larissa laughed a little.
“So, pick your dough. You can pick two of the same or different ones. It’s up to you.
Then, you’ll go to a station. I’ll put you at station one.
We’ve got five different sauce types you can choose from or mix and match, as well as different cheeses and all the other toppings you could want.
If you don’t see something there, or you don’t know if we have it, just ask Eric.
He’s your helper tonight and should be behind your station. ”
“Okay. Thanks,” Harlow replied.
“Other than that, when you’re finished, Eric will help you get them into the oven, and you can have a seat.
We will wrap up the other pizzas and keep them in the fridge until you’re ready to go, so don’t forget to grab those when you leave.
When you sit, you’ll have a waiter, who will bring you drinks and/or any other food if you’d like.
We have a small menu, but standard stuff for an Italian restaurant. ”
“Okay. Great,” Larissa replied and rested her head on Harlow’s shoulder.
Harlow’s eyes went wide.