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The small smile on my face can’t be stopped. I like that this is important to him.
He adds my number to his phone just as Riggins comes over with their food. Camden takes his previous seat on the stool as I’m passing out their dishes. He hasn’t stopped staring at me, and it partly scares and yet excites me.
After grabbing my tray and asking if anyone else needs anything, I turn to Camden. “I’ll, um, talk to you later?” It comes out more as a question.
“I’ll text you,” he says with a promise in his eyes.
Once I check on another one of my tables that have finished their food and have been nursing the buckets of beers I brought them earlier as they watch some sports game on the TV, I head back to the bar. Emree is there and raises an eyebrow when she sees me.
“What’s got you all smiling?” she asks.
I hadn’t even realized I was smiling. I contemplate telling her because I know Emree will make a big deal about it. But seeing as she and Conrad are kind of together, she is bound to find out. “You are not going to believe me,” I tell her.
“Try me, babe.”
“I have a date,” I tell her quietly.
Her mouth drops open. “No. Way,” she says. “Blaire, I am so happy for you. Who is it? Where is he taking you? It is a he, right?” Giving my lack of any dating history or really any interest in anyone, her last question does not shock me so much.
“Yes, it is a he. It’s Camden.”
Her eyes go wide, and she is clapping and jumping up and down.
“And I don’t know where he’s taking me. He just said it would be fun.” Just talking about it excites me. There is a small bundle of nerves in my stomach, but I try to push past it.
“Oh, Blaire.” Emree sighs. “I am so happy for you. See, I told you that boy was flirting with you.” She winks and nudges my shoulder before grabbing some drinks Riggins dropped off.
Maybe she was right all along and there was some sort of flirting going on between Camden and me. I have been so shut off from forming any kind of connection with a guy in the past, I don’t even realize when one actually likes me.
After four years, perhaps I’m finally able to open myself up and put my trust in a boy’s hands. I just hope he doesn’t crush it, and me, in the process.
11
BLAIRE
Unknown Number:Morning, Gray Eyes. Are you free today?
Since I woke up, I have been staring at the text message I can only assume is from Camden. I am free today, but now that bundle of nerves that was in my stomach last night after I agreed to the date has taken over my body and pushed the excitement down.
Four times I have typed out a different response to him from the truth, that I am free, to a lie, that I have work. I can’t do that to him, though. It feels wrong. Taking a deep breath, I type out a message to him.
Blaire:Good morning. I’m free today.
The bubbles that indicate he is typing appear within seconds.
Camden:Get ready and dress in something comfortable and casual. We’re having our date today, Gray Eyes.
Blaire:Where are we going?
Camden:If I told you, it would ruin all the fun. Get dressed and I’ll pick you up at 11.
Glancing at the time, I have two hours to get ready. I jump up and grab my towel that I left hanging on the back of my desk chair and head for the bathroom. While I wait for the water to get hot, I check on Emree and realize she isn’t in her bed.
Grabbing my phone, I look at my other messages to see if she told me she was staying out. We got off at different times last night and she unfortunately had the closing shift at Whiskey Joe’s. There’s a message that came in around two in the morning, well past when I got home and fell asleep. She let me know she was going home with Conrad and would call me in the morning when she woke up.
The bathroom is filled with steam and the water is at a painfully hot temperature. Just right. I undress and step into the shower, letting the hot water cascade down my body. The heat helps to relieve some of the tension in my shoulders with the thought of going on my second date ever.
My mind flashes back to my first date. I was sixteen and Harvey Galloway was the son of our town’s police chief and his mom was on the board of many notable charities with my mother. Our families had been friends since we were kids and we became close by proximity, even though we drifted apart in middle school when girls became gross to Harvey and his group of friends.
