Page 57 of Here's to Tomorrow

“Hey, Hudson! Fancy running into you here.”

Fuck. Me.

Perry’s standing at the end of our table and I’m fighting the urge to either hug the guy because the website and graphics he sent me this morning were fucking amazing, or to punch him. That whispering in her ear shit still has my blood boiling. I have no idea what’s going on between the two of them, and no idea how they know each other, but damn if it doesn’t piss me right the fuck off.

I peek over at the bar and finally make eye contact with Rae.

She smiles. It’smysmile.

I feel like I can breathe for the first time in minutes.

“Hey Perry, didn’t expect to see you here,” I say with an edge to my voice. He doesn’t know me well enough to know what I really meant, but Tucker does and I get a good kick to the shin for it. “Tucker, Gaige, this is Perry, the website dude. Perry, these are my employees.”

“Just your employees? Well fuck you too, man,” Tucker says in jest. He extends a hand to Perry, who shakes it. “Tucker. Please excuse this asshole. I’mwaymore than an employee to this dude. We’re totes besties.”

“Totes besties? The fuck? God, you two are douchebags. Gaige. I’m the attractive, funny, and very, very best friend of Hudson here.”

You know how on that showHow I Met Your MotherBarney and Marshall fought for nine seasons over who was Ted’s best friend? Welcome to my life for the last seven years.

“You wanna join us for some burgers? This place is pretty damn good,” I offer. I almost feel like a dick for secretly hoping he’ll say no and leave.

I like the guy as my designer and all, but I’m not sure I can be around him and Rae.

“Sure. Just let me go tell my girl. I saw who your waitress was and you don’t want that shit skanking up your table, trust me.”

His girl? Rae?

Yes. Of course it’s Rae.

I watch as she laughs again from behind the bar and then says something to the bartender, who looks over at our table then smiles back at Rae and nods. Then she’s following Perry over to our table, holding my stare the entire way.

Internally, I’m panicking, because I have no clue what I’m going to say to her. I didn’t text her all day, which was probably a dumbass move on my end, but only because she said she was spending girl time with Maura. Now I’m rethinking that because what if I should have contacted her, told her how much I loved our date?

Because holy hell was it everything I could have hoped for. It took everything I had not to wrap my hands up in her silky locks and smash my lips against hers for hours.

“Hey Rae, good to see you again.”

“Tucker, always a pleasure.” She turns to me. “Long time, no see. Or text. Or call. Or anything.” She winks, and I know I’m off the hook.

“Hey, Gaige, do phones work both ways?” I ask with a smirk, still holding eye contact with Rae.

“Yes, I do believe so, Hudson.” I can hear the smile in his voice.

“Huh, fancy that.”

Rae bumps my shoulder. “Touché.”

“I see you all have already met,” Perry says, taking a seat. “I feel a bit out of the loop then. I only know Hudson.”

“Quick rundown: Tucker sucks at video games, Gaige is quiet, and Hudson is a total smartass and proposes on the first date. You’re all caught up. Congrats,” Rae tells Perry, giving him a pat on the back.

“Proposing, huh? You’re moving a bit fast there, bud.”

“To be fair, Tuck, she was technically the first one to propose, on the group date. Did you forget already, Rae?”

She lifts her hand to her forehead. “Oh my,” she mocks. “How could I possibly forget? Hey, you know what, thanks for ditching me on the first date by the way. I had such high hopes for us, Tucker.”

He chuckles. “After I ditched, I realized my mistake in leaving you with this tool. My deepest apologies. Can I make it up to you?”

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