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“I drink,” I explained, not wanting him to think I was a total baby. “But apparently not tonight.”
“Cheers,” Daniel said, clinking our glasses together.
I sipped my water, the carbonation popping against my palate. “Yeah, Renée wanted me to see her new show.” I didn’t normally babble, but something about Daniel made me want to talk. If I kept talking, he wouldn’t go away.
And if he didn’t go away, then I didn’t have to wonder when I’d see him again.
Daniel leaned toward me, soft-looking lips spreading into another smile. The rest of the club seemed to fall away. I resisted the insane urge to lean in and press my mouth to his. I wasn’t here for that.
Liar.
Daniel spoke close to my ear, “I’m glad you came. Like I said at the park, you’re always popping up when I least expect it. Like magic.”
I bit my lower lip, turning away to squeeze the sad lemon slice into my club soda. My fingers shook.
“So, how’ve you been since I saw you last?” He gave me his full attention, leaning close enough to block my view of Renée and the guys he’d come upstairs with. “That was, what? All of two days ago?” He grinned.
“Pretty good,” I said, distracted by the perfect way his teeth lined up. “Did I mention the other day that I graduated? From high school, I mean.”
But not from dorkitude, clearly.
Daniel took a sip of his drink, another smile tugging at the corners of his lips. “You didn’t. Well, here’s to one obstacle down.” He clinked his glass against mine again before taking another swallow.
My heart kicked wildly.
Daniel went on. “Congratulations. If you need any help navigating UT this fall—that’s where you said you were going, right?—just get my number from Barry or Robert, and give me a call.”
“Cool. Thanks.” Why had I brought up graduating? In the spring, he’d told me that dating someone still in high school was a line he wouldn’t cross. Reminding him that I’d graduated was as good as begging him to ask me out. And I wasn’t ready for that, was I? I was still with Adam. In a way.
Daniel glanced toward the stairs before putting his elbow on the bar and leaning his chin on his fist. “And how’s the boyfriend?”
It was like he could read my mind. Dizzy with a mess of conflicting desires, I slid my finger over the condensed water droplets on the side of my glass and tried to play it cool. “He’s fine. He’s in Italy.”
“So I heard. Is he coming back?”
He’d heard?
“I don’t know. I mean, he’s coming back to the States, but he’s going to Oglethorpe in Atlanta this fall. So he won’t be here in Knoxville much.”
“Oh.” Daniel’s lips curled into a cynical smile. “Well, they say absence makes the heart grow fonder.”
“Maybe.”
His eyes traveled over my face and down to my mouth. “But you’re still with him?”
I wanted to tell him I was free and clear. I wanted to say I didn’t have a boyfriend, and he was welcome to take hold of me right here and now and fulfill every last one of my masturbatory fantasies. Instead, I had to say, “Yeah. I’m still with him.”
Daniel’s smile fell, his eyes darkening sadly.
I wanted to take the words out of the air and go back to when he’d first sat down. Between the time at the park and tonight, I knew for sure that whatever spark there’d been between us this past spring hadn’t faded away. But now he glanced toward the group behind him, turning his attention from me.
“I mean, it’s a weird situation,” I went on, not ready to lose him yet.
“I get it.” Daniel met my gaze again. His expression wasn’t cold, but it wasn’t as open as it had been before either. “You’re with him, and he’s with you…when he’s not with her.”
I shifted on the barstool. It always sounded so sordid in actual words. “Right now he’s not with either of us, since he’s in a different country.”
Daniel shook his head, taking the last swallow of his drink and motioning for Barry to give him another. He glanced toward the staircase again, and his expression changed. I wasn’t sure if it was a good change or a bad one. It was just different.
