Page 5 of Dating Your Grumpy Neighbor
Emmett walks over to the steps and sits down next to me. His silence is driving me crazy. I just wish I knew what he was thinking.
EMMETT
She doesn't appear to be crying, but I can’t just walk away now. I’m not good at any of this—emotions. Something of which was brought up to me by my former fiancée after she left me at the altar.
“This is really important to you?” I ask, needing assurances that what I’m about to do isn’t for something she doesn’t care about.
“I practically grew up with Jane. And even though we’ve kind of grown apart in the last few years, I’d still love to see her get married. Even if that means I have to face my critical family.”
Here it goes.
“I’ll go with you as your date if you want,” I blurt out, knowing if I don't say it quickly, then I might chicken out.
Felicity stiffens next to me, and I wonder if I've overstepped with my offer.
“You’d really do that for me?”
I shrug. “It’s obviously important to you, and I'm afraid if I don't offer, you'll find some other guy on that dating app that could be a real crazy person.
“How do I know you aren’t a crazy person?” she asks. “I mean, it’s not like you’ve ever really spoken to me until tonight. I wasn’t entirely sure that you could speak.”
I shoot her a look, but instead of conveying intimidation like it usually would with anyone else, she chuckles. The soft melodic tone is sweet, and it pairs well with her bright sunshine smile. Without meaning for it to happen, I feel something flicker in my chest that I thought was long gone and never coming back.
“I can do a lot of things that might surprise you,” I tell her, and I don’t miss the way she squirms next to me as she attempts to hide her widening grin.
Flirting with her wasn't part of my plan at all here, but there is something about Felicity that brings it out of me. She’s a beckon of light that, for the first time, I find myself gravitating towards out of the darkness that I’ve been living in.
