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She’sabout to learn something about guys.
* * *
18
LEO
After meanderingalong the one-and-a-half mile long High Line, stopping to admire the views as well as sneak looks into all the apartment windows a stone’s throw away, we start to go our separate ways.
“See you guys at work tomorrow,” Ethan says, heading for the closest subway station. “And thanks for joining, Ava.” He waves over his shoulder and is gone.
Jasper, Ava, and I head back toward their apartment, which I only live a few blocks away from, the streets quiet and peaceful thanks to the late hour. I love the city like this.
“So, Ava, I’m guessing this is better than anything else you had planned today, eh?” asks Jasper.
“Oh, I don’t know,” she says.
Jasper stops in his tracks. “What?”
The smirk on her face reveals she’s joking, but she continues with it. “Hotdogs and the High Line are fine. Ya know, a way to pass the day,” she says in a bored tone.
Jasper is on to her and continues playing along. “Hotdogs and the High Line are awesome. As is hanging out with me and my boys.”
He bangs his chest.
I jump in. “Ava, if it was so bad, we just won’t ever invite you again. No problem.”
She pouts, her lower lip extended in the most adorable way, and opens her eyes wide. “Really, Leo? You’d do that?”
Holy shit. Is she flirting?
I keep walking and shrug. “There are lots of women in New York who would love to spend the day with three dates, eating hotdogs, and walking the High Line. But if that’s not your thing, I get it. I mean, I’ll be sad, but I get it.”
Okay, I’m throwing the flirt back at her. See if she catches it. “Just tell me this was more fun than your other plans. The ones we talked you into cancelling.”
She wrinkles her brow, and I wonder if I’ve tipped her off. Said too much.
No. Impossible. No way would she think we’ve gone through her laptop and know about her… issue.
I’m not sure how we can help her without letting on what we know. As it is, I’m feeling kind of like a dick for being so disingenuous. I’m not a deceitful kind of guy. I wonder if we’ve entered territory we have no business being in.
We get to the corner where I peel off for my place, and the three of us stand there for a moment, while I figure out how to say goodbye to Ava.
Do I just walk away? Shake her hand? Hug her?
What am I to her, anyway? What are any of us guys to her?
Friends? Not exactly.
Coworkers? Not exactly.
So, I puss out with the most non-goodbye I can think of.
“See you later,” I say, and turn to go.
But before I can, she plants a fast kiss on my cheek. “Thank you for a fun day, Leo. I have a feeling this was all your idea.”
Gulp.
