Page 13 of By Your Side

“Oh wow, I think that your admirer might be here, Molly.” Bob points towards the door.

“It’s Millie…” I start to remind him, but the words quickly fall away from my mouth as I see what Bob is looking at. Lance is here, the only admirer that I could possibly have, but today is different. Today he has a massive bunch of flowers in his hand and he’s holding them out as if they are for me. “What the…?”

My heart leaps up in to my throat, it blocks my air ways making it hard for me to breathe. The sensation of breathlessness leaves me dizzy, so I have to grab on to the bar to keep myself standing up right.

“Hello, Millie.” Lance’s smile is much too wide. He has nerves zig zagging through my entire body. “How are you today? I hope you have a vase to put these flowers in because I forgot to bring one…”

“Erm…” I start to panic. I grab a beer glass and put some water in it on instinct. “This should do until I can get them home.” I take the flowers from him, noticing that my hands are shaking as I do. “What are these for?”

“A beautiful woman deserves beautiful flowers,” he replies quite seriously. “And since you serve me drinks all the time, I thought that it was time I did something for you. I hope that you like them.”

“Right, sure.” I nod as if I know what’s going on even though I really have no idea. “Thank you. It’s nice to be appreciated even though I am just doing my job here. Shall I get you a drink?”

He nods and I begin pouring, but I dart suspicious eyes his way the entire time. When I see the flowers once more, I feel a well of emotion flooding through me. This is nicer than anyone has done for me in a very long time. And it feels genuine as well. Not like Dante in the beginning which was too over the top and constant. That would definitely be a red flag to me now. I would never make the same mistake again.

“Sorry, have I done something to upset you?” Lance eyes me curiously as I hand the drink over. “You look…”

“No, nothing.” I shake my head hard. Lance hasn’t ever seen this side of me before, no one has. Not here anyway. “It’s just…” I offer him a one shouldered shrug. “Thank you for the flowers. They are really nice.”

“Sure, no worries.” He takes a giant swig before he talks once more. “So, you aren’t annoyed about the story?”

“Story?” Oh God, I start to freak out. I might puke my guts up. “About what? About who?”

“About me.” My blood pressure lowers considerably at those words. “About me and Ashley. There is something leaked saying that we’re dating which isn’t the case at all. I hardly even know her.”

“So, the flowers are some kind of guilt thing?” I don’t know how to feel about that. “Why?”

“Not a guilt thing,” he reassures me quickly. “It just made me sad to think of you reading the story and assuming that I’m with Ashley when you know how much I want to take you out on a date.”

“Oh!” Now I really am stumped. This time, him asking me out on a date feels a lot more natural and real as well. I almost was to turn around and say yes for the first time ever which is unexpected. “Right, I see.”

“So, as I’m sure you can imagine, today was a nightmare at work.” As he seamlessly changes the subject like he always does when he can sense that I’m uncomfortable which I normally love, but today I’m disappointed. I kinda want him to talk about the fact that he wants to date me some more. I kinda need to hear it. But he continues on as if this is the right thing to do which normally it is, so I can’t blame him. “Ashley was a nightmare, making snide comments all day, basically suggesting that we should act like we’re together for the media.”

“Right, I see.” I furrow my eyebrows at him. “That’s normal in the media, isn’t it?”

“To pretend to be with someone? Sure, but that’s not me. I’m much more authentic than that. I’m never going to be the guy who tries to get famous for anything other than my skill set.”

God, he’s so different to anyone I have ever met before. Especially Dante. He’s such a wonderfully sweet guy who lays everything out in front of me honestly. I can feel his genuine nature shining through with every single word, and while my judgement might not have been the best in the past, I can feel like I know much better now.

If I was to go on a date with Lance, if he was to become my boyfriend one day, then I just know he wouldn’t treat me badly. My gut tells me as much. But I’m still too scared to step over that line. I’m frightened of what will happen if I’m wrong again. I’m even more scared about being right. Since I have had to run once before I know how much harder that is to do that once roots have been planted…

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