Page 52 of Always Been You

"Yeah."

"Why don't you come over for dinner, and bring that smart, beautiful girlfriend of yours."

"I'm gonna have to take a raincheck. I'm in Rosewood Grove meeting Jess for a dance lesson."

Nana started chuckling, "Oh I would give anything to be there to see that."

She wasn't doing anything to help his growing suspicion that he was going to make a fool out of himself. But if it made Jess happy, that was all that mattered. Just thinking of her smile made anything worth it.

He was reminded of that when he saw her smile walking straight toward him.

"I gotta go, I'll call you tomorrow. Love you."

"Love you, too. Tell Jess I said hi and thank her for the hours of entertainment I'm going to get out of this."

She was still giggling as he ended the call. He sighed as he put it in his pocket.

"Everything okay?" Her brows lifted as she eyed his phone.

"Yeah. That was Nana. I had to tell her about the dance."

"Oh, good." Jess clapped her hands together.

That was not the reaction he'd expected, but he was glad to see she wasn't upset.

Her smile broadened. "I had to tell Ali."

"That's good news?" He'd thought they were trying to keep this thing under wraps so he wasn't sure why she'd be happy that the circle of people that knew had expanded.

Her eyes twinkled as she nodded. "Yes, because I was nervous to tell you that I let the cat out of the bag, but since you did too, you can't be mad at me."

"You think I'd be mad at you for telling Ali that we're dancing at the talent show?"

Her tone was matter-of-fact as she said, "You are pretty grumpy."

"I'm not grumpy."

"Do you remember when that meme of Grumpy Cat was going around?"

He knew where she was going with this.

"How many people posted it on your wall side by side with a picture of you?"

He did remember that. And he had to admit the similarities were pretty spot on.

"That's just my face."

She patted his arm, and her tone was overly condescending as she placated him. "I know, buddy. It's okay. Some people have RBF, you have RGF."

"RBF?" What was it with all these acronyms?

"Resting bitch face," she grinned.

Ah, he saw where she was going with this. "And RGF is resting—”

“—grumpy face." She cut in, clearly proud of herself. "Yes. You, sir, suffer from RGF. It's okay. I hear one in ten men experience RGF. I think there might be a pill for it." She pretended to be putting great thought into something then snapped her fingers. "There is, it's called a chill pill."

Even when she was giving him a hard time, or especially when she was giving him a hard time, all he wanted to do was push her against a wall and kiss her senseless. He inhaled slowly through his nose, resisting the urge to do just that as she bopped past him with a satisfied expression on her face.

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