Page 95 of Grumpy Darling

“I’m not—”

“You totally are. I just can’t quite put my finger on which one. What do you think, Paige?”

She stole a glance up at me. “Uh, mountain lion?”

“No, too scary.”

“Raccoon?”

“Too small. But he does have the bags under his eyes.”

Paige allowed herself to study me a little closer before her eyes lit up. “Panda?” she said, hopefully.

“That’s it,” Matt agreed. “A panda who’s run out of bamboo. Not something you want to mess with.”

“Here...” Paige said, grabbing a granola bar out of her bag and handing it over. “Always got to have something on hand for the hungry panda.” Our fingers barely brushed before she jerked them away. With a sigh I opened the bar and took a bite. It did make me feel slightly better.

“So, what did he want?” I grumbled, taking another bite of the bar.

“He?” She looked confused until I nodded toward the door. “Oh, Damien?”

I hated the sound of his name on her lips. “Yes, him.”

“Uh.” She was avoiding eye contact again. “He was just saying hi...”

“Looked like a little more than that,” Matt said, raising one eyebrow.

“Yeah, uh, maybe.” She tucked a stray hair behind one ear, her focus on pretty much anything but me. “He may have asked me out again.”

“Again?” I tried my best not to choke on my granola bar.

“Well, I didn’t really answer him last time.”

“Interesting,” Matt jumped in, saving me from having to respond. “What did you say?”

“Uh, I said yes. We’re going out on Sunday night.” She turned to me, but kept her gaze low. “Sorry, I guess I’ll have to skip Darling family dinner. Although with my mom coming back Sunday, Amy probably wasn’t expecting me anyway...”

“Don’t worry, I’m sure that’s fine.” I was doing my best to sound unbothered. But now the date was confirmed I was starting to sweat. “It doesn’t leave us much time to prepare, though. How about Friday night for our practice date?”

She shifted awkwardly in her seat, and her eyes darted to Matt. He was now talking to a girl on his other side, but Paige still leaned in close and lowered her voice as she replied.

“Tomorrow? You still want to help with that? What did you have in mind?”

There was plenty on my mind, but it was a little hard not to second-guess myself when she still seemed so fixated on Damien. I’d stayed up late last night, trying to come up with the perfect practice date for Paige. It was my one last chance to win her over. But reality was starting to sink in. She was going on a date with Damien, and she was excited about it. My whole reason for coaching Paige had been to make her realize she had feelings for me, but it was starting to look like my plan had backfired.

“I’ve had a few ideas,” I replied, trying my best to ignore the doubts gnawing at me. “So, are you free on Friday?”

“Oh. Um, yeah, I can do Friday night.” She was blushing, but there was also a look of anticipation in her eyes. I couldn’t keep up with her today. One moment she was tripping over her own feet, the next everything seemed normal, then a moment later she was embarrassed and coy. Damien must have really rattled her.

“Okay then, it’s a date. But if you call me a hungry panda again, I might have to reconsider.”

She was smiling again now. “But it’s such a cute nickname for you.”

“I don’t want a cute nickname.”

“Need something more manly, huh? How about grizzly panda?”

“No, I don’t think—”

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