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This time I do kick her under the table. She jumps in her seat as she winces and cuts her eyes to me. She mouths What the hell? and I glare at her. She's meddling and needs to knock it off. That ship with Griffin sailed many moons ago. I don't have any interest in dating anyone right now. I'm better off being single. Griffin has an entire life across the ocean. My life is here and I will not be doing long distance with anyone.
"That is very hard to believe," Griffin agrees with her before he turns his attention back to me. "Have you lost your charm, Aria?"
Now I look at him with my eyebrows pulled together, half glaring at him before I relax my facial features. "Never. I don't have the time to date anyone right now."
"Do you have time to maybe get dinner with an old friend sometime?"
A small smile pulls on my lips. "Are you asking me out, Griffin Carr?"
"Not on a date," he says with a wink.
"Well, in that case, I would love to have dinner with you."
Brynn laughs quietly to herself, but she doesn't say anything as she pulls her phone out of her purse and pretends to be busy on it.
"Perfect." Griffin glances at his watch and his mouth turns downward into a frown. "Shit. I'm sorry, Ari. I hate to run, but I’m meeting my mother at Freckled Hen for a late lunch."
"You don't have to apologize," I assure him as I rise to my feet as well. Griffin is about half a foot taller than me, so I still have to tilt my head back a bit to be able to look him in the eye. "Brynn and I were getting ready to leave anyway."
Brynn lifts her head up to us after she hears me say her name. For a moment, she looks confused, like she has no idea what is going on. I silently try to send her a message from my own brain, but obviously that doesn't work. I motion with my eyes instead and kind of tilt my head toward the door.
"Oh, yeah, right," Brynn says quickly as she ducks her head to hide her grin and collects herself. She straightens up, grabs her coffee, and then pushes her chair in. "I forgot we were planning on going shopping."
We weren't. We didn't talk about going shopping. I'm relieved she picked up on my hints and is going along with it. Brynn is usually good with that. If I ever need to get out of a situation, she always has a way out. Brynn is a problem solver—she usually has a solution for everything.
"What's your number?" Griffin asks me as the three of us walk to the door together. The sun ducks behind a cluster of puffy white clouds that hang above in the bright blue sky. Griffin stops on the sidewalk and turns to face me and Brynn. "I'll text you, that way you have my number and we can figure out what evening would work for dinner."
I tell him my number and he taps the digits on his phone screen. My own device vibrates in my purse and I pull it out to check the screen.
Unknown
Hey, it's Griffin.
"Got it," I smile at him before I save his number with his contact information. I lock my screen and put my phone back into my purse. "It was good seeing you, Griffin. I'm glad you stopped to talk to us."
Griffin nods. "Until next time." He grins sheepishly and looks at Brynn. "It was nice meeting you."
Brynn and I both bid him farewell and we stay by the front of the coffee shop as we watch him disappear down the street. He stops beside a sleek white sports car and drops down into the driver's seat.
"Looks like we have some shopping to do," Brynn says in a chipper tone as she links her arm through mine. "You need something cute to wear for your date."
"It's not a date, Brynn," I remind her at the tail end of a sigh. We fall in step beside each other and walk around the corner of the building as we make our way closer to where we both parked. "I'm not interested in him like that."
"Oh, I know," she says with a sly grin as she turns to look at me as we reach my car. She's parked in the parking spot directly behind me. "That doesn't mean you can't make this fun. Think about it… you've been all flustered because of Leo. This is the perfect opportunity for a distraction."
I frown as I slip my arm from hers and fetch my keys out of my purse. "I feel kind of bad. Almost like I'm using him."
"Girl, you're not using him if he's on the same page." She pauses for a beat, grabs her own keys, and unlocks her car door. “You were upfront with him. You told him you don’t have time to date anyone. Go to dinner with him, have fun, and just see where it goes. He's leaving in a month, so I don't think he's looking for anything long term either."
I stare at her for a moment as I realize what she's suggesting without coming out and saying it. "I don't know, Brynn…"
She puts her hand up. "Stop it right there. You're already overthinking it." She locks her car again and walks over to my passenger's side door and pulls it open. "We're going shopping. You're going to make plans with him and you're going to have a great time. You don't have to commit to anything other than dinner."
"Okay, no more overthinking," I agree as I offer her a smile and walk up to the driver's side. I get into the car and Brynn follows suit, both of us meeting inside. "I'm just going to go and have fun."
"That sounds like the perfect plan."
I turn the car on and put it in drive before pulling away from the curb. Brynn rattles off a few stores in the mall that she thinks we should stop at, but I'm only half paying attention to what she's saying. I'm driving on autopilot, heading in the direction of the mall, except I'm not thinking about shopping. I'm not thinking about dinner with Griffin.
