Page 83 of Looking for Group
He had a nice laugh, with a slightly uncertain edge to it, which made Drew feel strangely protective. Then he realised he was staring and smiling and probably looking like an idiot. “Shit, sorry, you were talking about running, and I completely derailed you with that stupidBastionreference.”
“Oh, I thought you were trying to invite me back to your room.”
They eyed each other nervously, trying to work out how far was too far. Drew thought,Screw it, and decided this wasn’t it. He was on a date. With a boy. And the boy was flirting with him, and that was okay. “Yeah, I only bring the pirates out on special occasions.”
Kit faffed with the wooden pokey thing they’d given him with his mocha. After a moment or two he looked up a bit sheepishly. “Sorry, that’s really nice, in a piratey kind of way, and I don’t know what to say. I don’t think I’m very good at this.”
“What, you mean…” Drew made a really unhelpful hand gesture.
“I don’t know how to say this without making myself sound completely pathetic and desperate, but I’ve never actually been on a date before. And I think I’m having a good time, but I’m still as nervous as hell.”
“If it helps, I’m definitely having a good time.”
Kit ran a hand through his hair, making it go all fluffy. “It’s easier behind a keyboard. You’ve got more thinking time so you can sound way cleverer than you are, and you can sort of take more chances.”
“Like how?”
“You’ve got this…wriggle room, I guess? I think because it’s hard to know exactly what someone means, if something goes wrong, you can pretend it didn’t. But now I feel like I’m sitting here with this big flashing sign over my head saying ‘I really like you,’ so if I put my foot in it or I say something embarrassing, then I won’t be able to course correct, and you’ll be right there, staring at me, and thinking, ‘Wow, this guy is a loser.’”
For a moment, Drew just gazed at him, a little bit stunned. Nobody had ever been quite that open with him before. It struck him as weirdly valiant, and made him feel kind of warm and smooshy and a little bit embarrassed. “Honestly, Kit. I’d never think you were a loser.”
The next thing he knew, he’d reached out, and there he was, holding another guy’s hand over the table. He looked down, and thought,Oh. Because it was fine.
Kit’s strong, elegant fingers tightened around his. “So, I’m doing it right, then?”
Drew smiled. “Yeah.”
They kept chatting for a while, still holding hands, until Drew got self-conscious and panicked that he’d come across way too intense.
“Um, is this okay? I mean, this is an okay thing to do? Withlike…” He tried to gesture, but since he was already holding Kit’s hand all he did was kind of jiggle it like a mouse.
“It’s really okay.” Kit smiled at him. “If I’m being a bit odd it’s because I probably am a bit odd, but also because I’m still a bit scared you’ll decide this was a terrible mistake.”
“I’m honestly happy we did this, and I’d really like to—” Unfortunately, at that moment, Drew’s phone bleeped at him. He glanced at it in horror. “Shit. On the subject of terrible mistakes, we’re both supposed to be raiding in about fifteen minutes.”
Kit’s eyes went very wide. Which, Drew couldn’t help noticing, made them very pretty, but this really wasn’t the time. “Oh my God, we suck.”
They both leaped into action, untangling their hands, sweeping up their various belongings, pulling on their coats. They gazed at each other in panic.
Drew flailed. “I want to stay stuff and I’m pretty sure this isn’t how to end a date, but I don’t want to let the guild down.”
“No, it’s fine. See you in Crown of Thorns.”
“We’ll do this again, right?”
“Absolutely.”
They crashed into a hasty, awkward, clumsy approximation of a hug. One of Drew’s hands went into Kit’s armpit and Kit bashed his shoulder into Drew’s chin. But that was sort of where they were so they went with it, and Drew clutched and Kit squeezed—and he couldn’t quite tell in the panic, but he was pretty sure Kit’s lips brushed against his cheek.
Then they ran for it.
Chapter Eight
Back in his room, Drew tore off his dating T-shirt and flung on his raiding pyjamas, started boiling the kettle for a Cup-a-Soup and logged onto Ella.
Guild Message of the day: Still do not ask Tiff about her date.
[Guild][Solace]: Hi????
