“Hey, babe,” he said, leaning in and giving Dani a little smooch. My eyes stayed glued to Andrew, until he finally spoke.
“Hey, guys,” he said, nice and casual, like he wasn’t a creep that had sent me dozens of weird texts.
“Oh yeah, you guys know Andrew, right?” Julio asked, but he looked slightly confused now, like he could sense the sudden tension. “He said you all volunteer together or something?” He asked, like he needed to clarify that information.
“Um, yeah,” Dani answered. “Actually, I left something in the car. Let me go grab it. Jordy, come with me,” she ordered, gripping onto my elbow and yanking me back out of the door with her.
Once we’d scrambled back to her car, well out of earshot, she gave me an exasperated look.
“What the hell ishedoing here?” She asked, glaring towards the house like it could give her an answer.
“How should I know?” I asked. “I guess they’re friends.”
“They must have met at some party or something,” she agreed. “But he doesn’t know about… all that stuff that happened with you,” she said apologetically. “He wouldn’t invite him if he knew.”
“No, I know,” I assured her. Julio had definitely been friendly the couple of times we’d hung out. “I didn’t think that.”
“You know what, let’s just go,” she said. “I know you said he makes you uncomfortable.”
I squirmed, feeling ridiculous and fragile and annoying. I hated the idea of ruining her plans of hanging out with her boyfriend. Just like Kieran and I, I knew their schedules didn’t always line up and make it easy.
“Well… I mean, it’s not like he can do anything with you guys there,” I reasoned. “It’s probably not a big deal.”
A probably not big deal that I definitely would not be mentioning to Kieran.
“Are you sure?” She asked, dark eyebrows raised.
“Yeah,” I said. “As long as you don’t, like, leave me alone with him to go have sex or something,” I tacked on.
She laughed before answering. “I guess I can keep it in my pants for one afternoon if you’re that needy,” she said, making a dramatic show of rolling her eyes.
“I have been told I can be kind of needy,” I said, grinning a little, trying not to show my nerves on my face. But it was true. Andrew couldn’t really do anything to me if we were in a group. Hanging out with two people I was friendly with was a far cry from a crowded party where he could pin me to a couch without anyone noticing.
When we strolled back inside, I could tell Julio was still kind of concerned by our initial reaction, so I forced a smile on my face as Dani explained she’d forgotten her phone in the car. I wasn’t sure if they believed us, but no one questioned it, so we all moved on.
It wasn’t as bad as I’d imagined. At least for the first hour or two, everything was very chill and we all just chatted about social events and pop culture and normal stuff. The weather was super nice, so Julio led us out to the little fire pit he and his roommates had made and used sometimes, and we all sat around it. They all had beer, Dani nursing a single bottle because she’d have to drive home after, and I had diet coke. Not only because beer was disgusting and the carbs would probably cause my blood sugar to spike, but also because if my dad suspected I’d even tried a sip of alcohol, he’d blow a gasket.
I started to relax, internally laughing at myself for even feeling nervous in the first place. I still didn’t like Andrew, but he seemed mostly normal, at least in the light of day and in friendly company.
At one point, Dani got up and went inside to go to the bathroom. About 30 seconds later, Julio dug his phone out of pocket, the screen lighting up with a call. He sighed.
“Hold on, it’s work. I have to take this,” he said, before answering it and walking off to one side of the yard, only about 20 or 30 feet away.
Immediately feeling awkward again, I glanced over to Andrew, who was already looking at me. He cleared his throat.
“Hey, uh… I’m not going to say anything weird. You don’t need to worry.”
His repentant tone surprised me, but I still didn’t exactly know how to respond. I wasn’t going to apologize if I looked nervous around him because that was his fault. When I didn’t say anything for a few moments, he shifted in his seat, giving me an awkward smile.
“I know I screwed up trying to get your attention. I’m sorry. Seriously,” he tacked on.
“What do you mean?” I couldn’t help but ask. I knew what he meant, but some part of me wanted him to elaborate on it. I found myself itching to grab my phone and text Kieran, but he was working, and he’d been standoffish when we’d last seen each other anyway. He probably didn’t even want to hear from me.
“Just…” He gestured widely with his hands. “The texts, and the thing at the party. I’m really bad at the whole flirting thing, or whatever you want to call it.”
“Oh,” I said. Being bad at flirting and being a total creep were, like, miles apart.
“I shouldn’t have blown up your phone like that. But I was really just trying to get your attention, and I didn’t know how,” he went on. “I really am sorry.”
