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“I’m sure you can,” I tell him, not moving from this one-room stall. “One thing—keep your hands to yourself. Okay?”
“Excuse me?” For once his nice-guy, smiley persona falters.
“Your hands. Keep them to yourself.” I stab at his chest with my pointer.
“I don’t know what you’re—”
“Don’t touch Meredith again. Got it?” I raise my brows, another silentgot it.“You don’t even know her and youwill nottouch her. Are we clear?”
“Got it,” he says through a grimace. “Can you leave me alone now? Or did you want to spill something else on me?”
“That’s up to you,” I say and walk away. And sure, maybe I am acting like a big dumb boy, but I don’t care. He’s going to keep his hands off of Meredith, or he’s going to go home drenched.
When I get back to the table, no one is talking and everyone is watching me. “Hey,” I say, a friendly grin on my lips. “Ooo, appetizers came.” Before I sit, I pause at James’ chair. “Oh, Annie, James needs you to swap seats with him. For some reason, he doesn’t trust me with a drink.” I smirk. “Not that I can blame him.”
Annie’s dark eyes flutter. “Whatever. But you know if you spill something on me, I’ll deck you, right Levi?”
For once, I give Annie Archer a giant smile. For once, I appreciate the way she does things. “I know it,” I say, lifting James’ drink and switching it to Annie’s spot.
42
Meredith
“Can I give you a ride?” James asks just outside the restaurant.
I’m not an idiot. I see Levi. He may stand to the side of me, but his head shakes at James.
“Ah—” James moans, his eyes looking past me, toward Levi.
“That’s okay,” I tell him, helping the poor guy out. No need to make him backpedal and retract the offer. “I’m not up for bowling either. I’m going to walk home.”
Annie’s already left this pathetic excuse for a date. She said she wouldn’t have time to bowl, and I don’t blame her. Wasn’t Levi supposed to be her date? The only time he looked at her tonight was to scowl.
Coco offered to take everyone bowling another time, saying that she’d like to get back to her girls anyway.
So, here we are. Levi giving James a not-so-subtle glare down behind my back.
“Right. Nice to meet you, Meredith,” James says, but his eyes are still on Levi.
“You too, James,” I tell him.
“See you some other time, Mr.Buttman.” Levi accentuates James’ last name, giving a little smirk as he does so.
“You are a giant child,” Coco says, the minute James is out of sight.
“It’s funny. I’m sorry.” He isn’t sorry—that’s for sure.
“It’s just a name,” Coco says. Her eyes flick over to me. “You really want to walk?”
“Yes. Go home. I’ll talk to you later.” I can see she’s missing the girls. “Thanks for setting this up.” I give Coco a quick hug.
“Yeah.Thanks,” Levi says. He’s on one tonight, every word has atone. “I’m walking too.”
“Good,” she says, giving him a pointed look before wrapping one arm around her brother’s waist and squeezing him in a hug. “If you think I arranged all this so that James would take her home, you’re a bigger dummy than I thought.” Sure, she whispers the sentence, but maybe my superpower is sonic hearing because I don’t miss a word.
Is that really why she set me up? To get us back in the same room together? Or to turn Levi into a crazy person?
Because he became a crazy person. Was hecrazycrazy? Or jealous crazy? I can’t decide.
