Page 21 of Flirting Lessons

Avery turned to walk away. And then she remembered something Taylor had said the other night.The thing about flirting with people—and about making friends, for that matter—is that you have to put yourself out there. Which is hard! But also worth it, because you don’t get anything if you don’t try.Ugh, fine. If this crashes and burns, it will be all Taylor’s fault.

She turned back to Beth.

“Um, is everything okay?”

Beth had been staring at the ground. She looked up at her with tears in her eyes.

“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be such a buzzkill. I’ll be fine, it’s just that…” She shook her head. “Sorry, you don’t want to hear all of this.”

Avery sat down next to her.

“I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t want to hear it. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, though.”

Beth turned to face her.

“No, that’s not it. It’s so stupid, I mean, I feel stupid about it, it’s no big deal, even though it feels like one. It’s just that Greta and I keep fighting about what we want our wedding to be. And it’s not even like the normal fights that people have, because I know what she would want and she knows what I would want. I keep insisting that it’s fine for us to just elope at the courthouse because I know she doesn’t want a big wedding or to deal with her family because her mom will want to take over, and she keeps insisting that it’s fine for us to have an actual wedding because she knows I really want my family there because I’m so close to them. I feel like no matter what we do, one of us is going to be miserable, and that’s not what I want for our wedding, you know? And she just texted me to tell me about the discount she gets to have for big events at her hotel, and it made me sad all over again.” Beth wiped her eyes. “See? So stupid.”

Avery patted her on the back. Awkwardly, yes, but at least it made Beth smile.

“It’s not stupid. Of course it’s a big deal; weddings matter to people. It doesn’t make you stupid to care about it.”

“I wish she would just let us elope! I know that’s what she wants to do! She mentioned a long time ago, before we even started dating, that the only way she’d want to get married is for only her and her partner to know about it ahead of time, so she wouldn’t have to deal with all of the stress of her family and other people and everything. And I know she still feels that way. She’s being so stubborn!”

Avery pressed her hands together. The event planner in her turned on. There must be a solution to this.

“So, it’s just that she doesn’t want people to know in advance?”

“Yeah. I thought maybe a compromise could be we could elope,then have a party later, but I know she’d say that I’d be sad that my family wasn’t there for the actual marriage, which is true, but I could get over it! But I bet her mom would try to take over planning the party—especially once she knew we’d eloped—so I didn’t even bring that up.”

“I have a better idea,” Avery said. “What about a surprise wedding? Sort of an elopement, sort of a wedding—you tell everyone that it’s an engagement party, or birthday party, or something, to get them there. No one knows in advance, your families are all there, you have snacks and champagne, you both go up to the front of the venue with whoever is officiating, and boom, the party turns into a wedding!”

Avery bit her lip after she finished talking. She’d forgotten for a second that she wasn’t talking to a client who had asked for her opinion, but to Beth, someone who she barely knew. Would it upset Beth that she was butting in, giving advice?

“Um, Ilovethis idea,” Beth said. “Oh my God, especially since Greta’s birthday is on Christmas Day; we could make it a New Year’s Eve wedding, and I’d tell everyone she’s finally having a big birthday party so they have to come.” She stood up. “I have to go home right now and see how she feels about this before I get too excited. And even if she doesn’t love it, thank you for this, you’ve given me hope that we can figure this out.” She threw her arms around Avery and gave her a hard hug, and then took off for the exit.

“Thanks again!” she shouted when she was halfway there. “Meet you here on Wednesday?”

“Okay, see you then!” Avery shouted back.

Later that same night, Avery got a text from an unknown number.

Beth

Hi! this is beth, from the garden—i got your number from james, I hope that’s ok? I just wanted to text because greta loves the surprise idea, and we can’t thank you enough! want to meet at the plant store tomorrow to buy some plants for our bed???

Avery smiled down at her phone. She wasn’t sure about this hobby thing, but maybe, just maybe, she’d found a new friend.

Four

“Guess what?” Avery said whenshe got into Taylor’s car on Tuesday night.

“What?!” Taylor opened her eyes dramatically. Avery knew Taylor was gently making fun of her, but the smile in her eyes took the sting away.

“I, um, went to the garden on Sunday,” she said.

Taylor’s fake excitement left her face, replaced by a big, and real, smile.

“You did it! That’s awesome. How did it go?”

---