Page 20 of From Fling to Ring

Yup, that’s me. Making good impressions left and right. Fucking falling asleep on my date at the symphony. Sure, it was boring as hell, but I hadn’t planned on dozing off, for God’s sake.

To my surprise, instead of cutting off my balls, Lucy places a hand on my arm and gently squeezes. Through my suit jacket and dress shirt, a little zip shoots up my arm, surprising the hell out of me.

“It’s okay, Tyler. Really.”

I rub my face. I want to ask how long I was out for, but I don’t dare risk the embarrassment. I mean, it could have been five minutes, or it could have been a half hour. I’m not sure I really want to know.

“Lucy, I feel terrible. I was up early this morning for drills, and I guess the wine at dinner didn’t help.”

Lame excuses. But still.

The Symphony Hall staff are coming down the aisles with garbage bags, ready to dive into cleaning. Not a single one of them pays a bit of attention to us. They probably see assholes like me fall asleep all the time.

“It’s really okay, Tyler. These things are hard for me on a school night too, and I don’t have nearly the grueling schedule that you do.”

Huh. She’s given some thought to my schedule. And here I was getting used to the idea of wearing a pink skating dress in three months because she borderline couldn’t stand my ass. I get to my feet and reach for her hand to help her up. Not that she needs help, it’s just a reflex, my reaching for her. And to my delight, she accepts. Her hand is small and soft in mine, but warm. And comforting.

We slowly make our way up the aisle to the lobby. “I guess I owe you another date to the symphony.”

She turns and looks up at me. Even with her high heels on, she still only comes up to my shoulder.

And damn, I want to put my arm around her. But I don’t.

“So this was a date?” she asks, narrowing her eyes at me.

I stop in the middle of the lobby, where a few stragglers are chatting and waiting for their Uber rides. “What do you think it was?” I snap, trying to sound fake-annoyed.

She shrugs flirtatiously, and I think maybe she likes me, at least a little.

We head outside and hail one of the waiting cabs. “Two stops, sir,” I tell the driver.

I glance at Lucy but see no reaction. But I know she’s taking note, that I am not assuming anything.

I twist to face her where we sit in the backseat. “Hey, my little sister was coming to one of my games this week with a friend who cancelled. Why don’t you take the ticket?”

She looks at me and I’m pretty sure she’s trying to think fast of a reason why she cannot come, despite her kindness about my ill-timed nap.

“Sure,” she says after a moment. “That sounds nice. I’ve been to one or two other games with Petal and they were… fun.”

Okay, then. I’ll consider that progress.

We reach Lucy’s place and I ask the cabbie to wait while I walk her to the door. She takes a step up to her building and turns to me. We’re nearly on the same level, so I take a chance and kiss her. Nothing long or dramatic, or even really sexy. Just a sweet, chaste kiss.

“Once again, apologies for dozing off. I owe you.”

She play-slaps my arm. “Yes, you do. You ruined the entire night, and if we go again, I’ll have to buy another dress because this is the only nice one I have.”

Since she brought it up… I take a step back and look her up and down.

“Um. I think I want you to wear this one again. In fact, I insist on it.”

She laughs and I hustle back to the cab. I wait for her to get inside, and the driver takes me home.

It was a nice night in spite of everything , and I think I’m as surprised as Lucy by that. I can do this for ninety days.

I’m hoping she can too.

10

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