her. I reach over and grab her margarita and take it to my side. “See.”
“Hey. Why?”
“Because if you decide to kiss me at the end of this date, I don’t want you to blame it on the alcohol.”
“Kiss you?” she asks. “Wow. The pack leader is getting a little full of himself.”
“I told you already, I’m not full of myself. I’m just confident, and I can read signs.”
“Signs? You sound like you’re lecturing a room full of your sad followers—I can hear your voice now, microphone and all—‘look for the signs she’s giving you.’”
“You don’t think you’re giving off any signs right now?”
“Absolutely not.”
“You’re giving off plenty of signals. You always were—since the first time I met you at VidCon, you just don’t realize it.”
That’s when she starts to laugh. Really laugh. So loud that we get a few looks. It’s mocking laughter, but its so hard that I can tell she’s over compensating. “Okay, I’ll bite, and maybe it’s just the buzz I have going from that margarita. What signs?”
I lean forward and smile. “Well, let’s start with the most obvious one and then we can work our way down to the more subtle things.
“Okay. I like a good hierarchy.”
“The most obvious sign is that you’re here with me in the first place.”
“Bullshit,” she says. She’s so predictable. “You know very well why I’m here with you, and it’s not some sign from the romance gods—you basically forced me.”
“It’s not just your physical presence that’s the sign, it’s how you are this whole date.”
“And how am I?”
“You’re into it. Your fake laugh and your real laugh have completely different tones. I know that because you’ve done both, but mostly they’ve been real. When you look at me you, have a tilt to your head—an angle that has nothing to with the fact that you’re shorter than me, it’s a way to show that you’re interested in what I’m saying. And your whole voice has been softer and more normal since you first stepped out of that Uber. If you really wanted to go, you could have. You want to be here, and everything your body is giving off confirms what I’m saying.”
I wait to get laughed at—for another cackle to fill the already loud room, mocking everything that I just claimed even though I know it’s true. But she doesn’t laugh. She gets really serious and just looks at me.
“You know, I think this drink is getting to me a little more than I thought. I seriously don’t want to be like this in public. Do you mind if I call an Uber?”
“Not at all. Like I said, no one’s actually forcing you. Everything we agreed to before stands.”
She takes out her phone to get an Uber. It probably won’t take long considering we’re in a busy part of the city. “Five minutes,” she announces. I’m not sure what just happened, but something did. I get the check and pay before walking her outside. Eventually, I see her car pull up.
“Look, I do appreciate you coming. And I’m sorry I had to use guerrilla terrorist tactics to get you here—that won’t happen again.” She’s barely looking at me, turning her back and making eye contact only every few seconds before looking away again. “Umm. . . we can work out the details of what we agreed to later on. . . I guess.”
Before I can finish my sentence, she reaches up, pulls my face down, and pushes her lips against mine. It takes me a second—only a second—to adjust, before I grab her by the waist and pull her body against mine.
It ends as quickly as it began, and for once I’m the speechless one. I stare at her as she walks towards her waiting ride.
“So, okay, bye then. Thank you.” She gives me one last look, that I can only describe as torn, before getting in the car and closing the door.
As the car pulls away, I can legit say that I’ve never been so confused in my entire life.
And I like it.
I like it a lot.
Shoshana—The Next Day
“I fully accept your half date/half appointment hybrid invitation.”
My headache has a headache.
I passed out after I got home, and I woke up a little over two hours ago. Functioning isn’t really a thing yet.
I don’t ever remember feeling like this after drinking. I don’t have alcohol intolerance like Tori, but then again, I haven’t really drank like that in a long time. Maybe I’m just getting old.
My head feels