Chapter 21
Chapter
Twenty-One
IRIS
Gilmore Girls is playing on the TV while I clean out my personal inbox. The amount of spam email that’s accumulated in the last two weeks is insane. The notifications keep racking up, and they’re showing on my home screen, which makes my eye twitch.
Could I turn it off? Yes. Will I? No, what happens if an email comes through that needs urgent attention, but I don’t see it because the notifications are off?
I pick up my glass of water and take a sip as I work. Before I can set it down, though, someone knocks at my door. Picking up the remote, I pause my show.
“Who is it?” I yell.
“It’s me,” Max says from the other side.
“You know the code. Let yourself in,” I call out.
As I unpause the show, he lets himself in.
“Not even bothering with answering your door now?” he teases.
“It was just you, and you have the code.” I shrug.
“Damn, you know how to make a guy feel special,” he quips back as he comes to sit in the chair next to the couch.
I can’t help but take him in. He’s got on a pair of gray sweats and a black T-shirt. His hair is messy, telling me that it was one of those days where he had a bunch of nervous energy he needed to dispense.
“Everything okay?” I ask.
“Yeah, why wouldn’t it be?”
I look at his hair and raise a brow.
“Ah. I’m working on a project, and it’s a whole thing.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
He opens his mouth to say something, but a text message comes through on my phone.
“Can you hold that thought for one second?”
“Sure,” he says as I swipe to unlock my screen.
Clint
I am officially fitted for my tux. Are you still planning on wearing black?
Me
I am. I can’t wait to see you in it.
Clint
I won’t lie, I look pretty fucking good. You’re going to be the luckiest girl in the room.
As I read his message, I chuckle.
“What’s so funny?” Max asks, pulling my attention back to him.
“Oh, it was Clint,” I tell him as I darken my screen.
His jaw clenches. “You still dating him?”
“He’s a friend. Did you want to talk about your secret project?” I ask, pushing the attention away from me.
“Actually, I wanted to talk to you about the charity event coming up. I was wondering if you would want to go with me,” he says, making my heart race.
Did he just ask me out?
“Like old times,” he tacks on, making my heart shrivel up and die. “You know I hate these events.”
Never mind then. I can’t keep getting my hopes up.
I clear my throat to try and hide my hurt. “I wish you would have asked me sooner. I already have a date.”
The corner of his eye twitches. “You do?”
“Yeah, Clint was also invited, so we decided to go together.”
“Oh…” He looks away, and his knee begins to bounce.
“I thought you forgot about it,” I tell him honestly. “You hate going to those things. I figured you’d just send a check.”
“I wish,” he mutters.
“It’s not too late to find a date,” I say weakly.
Although I’m sure if he brought someone else, I would be jealous the whole night. I feel guilty now for saying yes to Clint. He didn’t want to go by himself, and I didn’t think Max would want to go. I love these events. I figured it was a way for me to enjoy it without having to drag Max into it.
I never thought Max would want to go.
He shrugs. “I meant to ask you sooner, but I didn’t find the time to. It’s okay. I’ll go alone.”
Of course he will. It’s not even a big deal to him to go alone. He probably only wanted me there as a buffer.
For a split second, I contemplate telling him I’ll cancel on Clint and go with him, but I won’t. Not only would that be incredibly rude, but I won’t change my plans just because he wants me to.
“I’ll save you a dance,” I tell him.
“Yeah, sure. You know what? You’re busy, so I’m going to go,” he says as he stands.
“What? You just got here.” I hate that I feel guilty right now.
“I’ll talk to you later,” he says before he stomps out of my apartment.
At the last second, before the door can slam closed behind him, he catches it, letting it close softly. Then I hear him press the lock button, the door automatically locking as he does.
Even when he’s clearly angry, he tries to keep me safe.
I tip my head back and groan.
Every time I feel like we are taking a step forward, I feel like something pushes us two back. Are we making any progress at all? Am I imagining all the long looks and lingering touches?
My phone rings, and I answer it without looking at the screen.
“Yeah?” I answer, annoyance in my tone.
“You left me on read, which isn’t like you,” Clint says with humor in his voice.
“Sorry, Max stopped by for a minute,” I admit.
“Ah, what did he want?”
In the background I hear someone yelling and a car honking.
“Are you on your way home?” I ask.
“I am. Now stop ignoring my question and tell me what’s up. Did Max piss you off?”
“You can say that,” I sigh before telling him what just happened. “He wasn’t even here five minutes before he left. I don’t get it.”
“You rejected him. Did you really think he would stick around after that?” he asks.
“I…”
“Don’t answer that,” he says, cutting me off. “I know that wasn’t your intention, and I can almost guarantee he knows that too.”
“It doesn’t make me feel better,” I mutter as I look down at my lap.
“I’m sorry. Do you want to go with him? I’ll step to the side,” he offers.
“Yes, but no,” I groan.
“Explain.”
I sigh. “Yes, I would have loved to go with him, but he didn’t ask, not until now at least. He knows I like making plans and hate doing things last minute. I took matters into my own hands and made plans that don’t include him.”
“You can still go with him. I wouldn’t mind,” he says as the sounds of the city die down.
He must have gotten to his building.
“No, we made plans, and I’m not going back on those just because he remembered that I exist. I’m not the girl who abandons her friends just because the guy she likes finally steps up.”
Clint laughs. “Iris, trust me, that man has never forgotten that you exist.”
“Yeah, well, I guess we will find out.”
“We will, and we will make him jealous as fuck when he sees us dancing and having fun all night. But if you change your mind, it won’t hurt my feelings,” he promises.
“I appreciate you coming with me as my date, but I want you to be happy, so if that’s with him, I can find other ways to entertain myself for the evening. ”
“I promised him a dance,” I tell him.
“Good. If it happens, I’ll record it for you and play it at your wedding.”
“You’re too good for me,” I tell him as gratitude warms me.
“Nah, no such thing. Now tell me, is your black dress going to make him jealous?”
I can’t help but smile as I think about it. “You have no idea.”
Max is going to swallow his tongue when he sees me, and I can’t wait.
MAX
I ran.
Plain and simple.
I went up there with the intention of hanging out with her tonight. To spend some quality time together. I wanted to ask her to be my date for the charity event. Maybe order some dinner, and if I was lucky, have her lean against me while she watched whatever she wanted.
That’s not how it went, though.
I asked her to the charity event, and she said no because she had already made plans.
With him.
Fucking Clint.
Then, like a little bitch, I ran. I didn’t want her to see how annoyed I was that she said no. It’s her life, and she can do what she wants. Logically I know that, but that doesn’t stop me from wishing she was going with me.
We’ve made so much progress lately. I’ve been touching her every chance I get, making sure that when she’s in the room my attention is on her. I flirt, and when I do, her eyes soften. I’ve done everything the guys told me to do that they claimed would help win her over, but I crashed and burned.
Or at least it feels like it.
I let myself into my apartment and rake my hands through my hair.
This isn’t how tonight was supposed to go, and I have no one to blame but me. I’m the fool who waited until the last minute to ask her to join me. I should have done it sooner.
Then again, she’s never brought a date with her in the past. We’ve just always gone together, no questions asked. This is what I get for assuming. They say assuming makes an ass out of you and me, but in this case, it’s one hundred and ten percent on me.
I could always go back up and tell her that I want to go with her. That I want her to cancel on him.
No. No. No. I can’t.
I want her to go with me because she wants to, not because I force her hand.
I force myself to walk across the living room away from the door and flop down onto my couch.
This is a mess, but it’s not unfixable. She promised me a dance. One dance.
Surely I can make that the best dance of her life, right?
Before I can spiral any further, my phone rings. When I pull it out of my pocket, I see Brantley’s name flash across the screen.
“Shouldn’t you be watching your team?” I ask as I answer, not bothering with formalities.
“Our game is tomorrow.”
I look down at my watch to double-check the date, and sure enough, I’m one day off.
“Well, shit,” I mutter.
“Been a long day?” He chuckles.
“You have no idea.”
“Tell me about it.”
“How about you tell me why you’re calling? It’s after six, shouldn’t you be making dinner for Chloe?” I ask, trying to pull the attention off of me.
I swear to God, I’ve been the center of my friends’ attention lately, and I hate it. I much prefer when it was them going through shit and not me. I don’t care if it makes me a dick for saying that.
“She’s working late on a project. I’m going to pick her up in two hours so she doesn’t have to drive home after dark.”
“You could just order her a ride,” I remind him.
“Eh, I’d rather just do it myself. Gives us more time together.”
“Look at you being all domesticated,” I tease.
“You know it. Now enough deflecting. Are you going to tell me what’s wrong? Don’t think I didn’t notice your voice did that weird thing it does when you are trying to hide something.”
I tip my head back and groan. “Fuck you.”
“Thanks, but no thanks. You aren’t my type. Now spill.”
“I asked Iris to go to a charity event with me, but she already has a date,” I mutter.
“Well, shit. When did you ask her, and when is it?” he asks.
I tug on my ear and wince. “This weekend, and I asked her tonight.”
“Dude, please tell me you’re joking,” he groans.
Even though I can’t see him, I know he’s pinching the bridge of his nose.
“I know. I know, okay? I just forgot about it until today when Chad reminded me. He said my tux was cleaned and was going to be returned to my closet for this weekend. If he hadn’t said that, I would have forgotten about it completely.”
“Well, you can’t be mad at her for making plans, bro,” he tells me.
“I’m not. I just wish I would have remembered sooner.” I can hear the pouting in my voice.
I fucking hate it.
“Me too,” he sighs. “Okay, does this suck? Yes, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use it to your advantage. Is she interested in this guy she’s going with?”
“She was dating him. She had stopped talking about him for a while, so I figured they parted ways, but I guess they are still talking. She claims he is a friend, but look at her. What guy only wants to be friends with a woman like her?”
“True. Okay, so here’s what you need to do, and hear me out because I know you aren’t going to like it.”
“Okay…”
“You need to befriend him,” he says, catching me off guard.
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me. If they really went from dating to friends, that means he means something to her. Iris isn’t the type to let an ex hang around otherwise.
So keep doing what you’re doing with her and show him that you aren’t bothered by their friendship and want in too.
Think of it like you befriending Bethanie,” he says, referring to her childhood friend.
She doesn’t see her really at all anymore, but I know they still talk. Could I befriend Bethanie? Honestly, probably not. She seems like a bit of a basket case.
Can I befriend this Clint guy?
I sigh. I might be able to. He’s in some sort of business role. We would have something to talk about at least.
“You really think that will work?” I ask in disbelief.
“I’m not sure of shit. I haven’t seen her with this guy, but I do know it would be worth the risk. I mean, if anything, you can prove that you are right for her and he’s not.”
Groaning, I tip my head back as I let the thought marinate. I just don’t know.
“Enough about me, tell me something. Anything,” I beg.
Brantley laughs. “You really hate the attention, don’t you?”
“You have no idea.” I mutter, making him laugh harder.
“Poor baby…” he teases before launching into giving me a life update.
By the time I get off the phone with him my mind has gotten over not going as her date and is back on the goal at hand.
Winning Iris over and proving to her that I’m the only guy for her. It’s hard, but it will be worth it. I know it.