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“Invite her out for your birthday,” Jake suggested again. “Friends go out for each other’s birthdays. You’re not making any assumptions or declarations by including her. Me and Tommy aren’t even bringing chicks, so it’s not like there’s go
Da
You like being around her. Stop wasting time you don’t have.
He hadn’t seen what he was doing as wasting time, but Jake did have a point. His days were numbered, and he wanted to spend as many of them with her as he could, friends or otherwise.
Stop wasting time you don’t have.
Da
Jake gave him a flimsy salute before he shoved the rest of his sandwich in his mouth.
“By the way,” he garbled around his mouthful. “I’m not bringing a girl, but I might still try to get a blow job in the bathroom. Leah doesn’t need to know that, though.”
And just like that, Jake was back.
Da
Da
You free this weekend? We’re hitting up Dave and Buster’s for my birthday.
He hit send and exhaled, putting the phone on the table before he picked up his pizza.
A minute later his phone vibrated with her response, and he stopped chewing as he swiped the screen with the side of his finger.
Happy birthday! And definitely. Call me later.
He smiled, clearing the screen before sliding the phone back in his pocket.
No more wasting time you don’t have.
“I’m not going in that thing,” Leah said as she took a sip of her beer, and Jake scoffed.
“Oh come on. It’s a game!”
“Yes, it’s a game. A 4D game where you lock yourself in a confined space and not only see and hear but also feel the monsters attacking you if you don’t kill them fast enough. No thanks.”
“What are you, eight?” Jake said. “It’s not real.”
“Then you go in!” Leah said through a laugh.
Jake smirked, resting his elbows on the table as he leaned across it toward Leah. “Care to make this interesting?”
She put her beer down and mirrored his position, leaning toward him. “Always.”
Da
“Okay,” Jake said, sitting up and looking around the table. “Okay, so…”
“He’s got nothing,” Tommy said with a laugh, and Da
His arm came down from the back of the booth, wrapping around her shoulders, and she brought her hand to his knee under the table.
From the second he had picked her up that night, he could tell something was different. Not only was the awkwardness between them gone, but any hesitation, any sense of restriction, had completely vanished as well. On the ride down, she had reached over the console and held his hand. And several times throughout di
On the surface Da
“Got it!” Jake finally said, gri
“Dude, those are fucking Firehouse wings,” Tommy said. “What are you doing?”
“Upping the ante,” he said before he reached into Tommy’s plate of nachos, pulling two jalepeno peppers out of the cheese and placing them on the top of each piece of chicken, like a cherry on top of a sundae.
“Is he go
“You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do. Tell him to fuck off.”
“Swear jar,” she said, and Da
“We each eat this. Whole thing. One bite. Whoever drinks first, loses. And if you lose, your ass goes in Dark Escape.”
Da
“So, we’re not allowed to drink anything,” she clarified, and Jake smiled.
“Not unless you want to lose.”
Her shoulders rose as she took a deep breath, and then she exhaled in a rush. “Okay, let’s do it.”
“Seriously?” Jake asked.
“Yeah,” she answered with a smile. “Why? Were you all talk just now?”
Da
“Nope,” he said a beat too late, picking up the horrifically enhanced buffalo bite, and Leah did the same, holding it out to him.
“Cheers,” she said, tapping hers to Jake’s, and then they both popped them into their mouths.
For the first few seconds, they chewed in silence, but then it started.
Jake’s face turned beet red as he began to chew faster in an attempt to get it over with, and Leah pressed her fingertips to her lips, blinking rapidly as her eyes began to tear.
Da
She shook her head. “I’m good,” she managed hoarsely, and then she closed her eyes and swallowed hard.
Across the table, Jake was banging his fist against the side of the booth, his eyes clamped shut as he tried to force himself to swallow.
“Woo!” Leah exhaled, her eyes watering heavily as she reached for the spoon in front of her, and then she leaned across the table, dragging it along the mound of sour cream on the top of Tommy’s nachos.
Da
Holy. Fuck.
He glanced across the table to see if the others had been watching her—if they were reacting to what she had just done—but Jake had both fists clamped in front of his eyes, breathing like he was about to give birth, and Tommy had his head thrown back against the booth, laughing hysterically.
He turned back to see Leah staring up at him. Her face was flushed and her eyes were still glassy, but she certainly wasn’t feeling Jake’s pain.
“What?” she asked softly, and Da
He opened his mouth but closed it before he could formulate a response, and the corner of her mouth lifted.
“Are you kidding me?” she said through her smile.