Page 23 of Just for Fun
“Dating?”
My voice comes out at a higher pitch than intended, and I watch as the smile disappears from her face.
“Not real dating,” she assures me. “I’m talking about theHolidates. I…”
My head drops back, and I let out a laugh. “I’m an idiot, and you should get used to me acting stupid because I have no idea where my head went for a second.”
Zara stares at me with understanding, but I can tell that the excitement from earlier is no longer there. I had her a little loosened up, and now I managed to ruin the mood.
“I completely understand,” she says in her very proper way.
She looks away and clears her throat a couple of times, her shoulders back and fingers interlocked on the table.
“No, seriously.”
I stretch an arm across the table, with my hand stretched out for her to grab. But she doesn’t.
“I think you are adorable, and I would date you in a second if this was a real thing.”
That was supposed to be a way to save us from awkwardness, but instead, I only managed to make it worse. Her cheeks are now flushed, and she has a hard time looking me in the eye.
Unsure of what else to do to make her feel comfortable again, I bring us to the reason of our meeting tonight, which is what she wanted to do anyway.
“Okay, so you need me for a Fourth of July party, correct?”
Zara lets out a small sigh of relief, which I pretend not to notice.
“Yes,” she confirms. “Since it falls on a Friday this year, it’s nice not to have to worry about going to work on the next day.”
I frown at that. “I’m pretty sure most people take the day after off as well when it falls on a weekday.”
“That’s a ridiculous waste of vacation time,” she argues. “Besides, businesses depend on others showing up for work.”
“What is it that you do?” I ask, totally expecting her to say she’s a doctor or some other position that saves lives.
Zara sits up straighter and looks at me with a slight air of superiority.
“I am an accountant,” she says.
A snort of laughter escapes my chest no matter how hard I try to stop it.
“I’m pretty sure people will survive if their accountant takes time off on the day after a holiday.”
She is definitely offended. “I’ll have you know that I take my job very seriously. And I sure hope that if you ever need an accountant will be just as serious about taking care of your books.”
“I do have an accountant. No complaints.”
I have no idea why I’m still running my mouth about accountants. Also, I will say that her being one fits the overall image she tries so hard to project. After all, accountants are not famous for how much fun they are.
“Back to your point…” I pause and wink at her, loving the way she blushes and looks away when I do. “It is a good thing it’s on a Friday. We can party into the night and not worry that you have to work the next day.”
Her eyes widen in shock. “Party into the night?”
“Oh, I assumed it was that kind of party.”
Now I’m thinking I should’ve asked what kind of friends she’s got. If they’re anything like her, it’ll probably be some boring number. In that case, we’ll be done with it in two hours tops. This would be a great deal.
“It’s a party thrown by my brother’s friends,” she says. “Apparently, they are scared of asking me out, so my brother dared me to find a date to show up with. We were actually supposed to go spend the weekend with my mother. But now she wants to do her own thing. She’s never done that before. And she has a date. I didn’t know she was even considering dating…”
