Page 12 of The Status Situation

“Mark,” she gasps when I reach them. “Wha-what are you doing here?”

I lift my eyebrow and shove my hands into my pockets to keep myself from reaching for her like I really want to do for some reason. “I told you I’d be here when you got off work. We have a date, remember?”

She blinks rapidly, her gaze bouncing between her friend and me. Fuck, she’s cute when she’s flustered. “I didn’t— I thought— You were serious?”

“I was,” I reply. “I am. I don’t say things I don’t mean. Besides, weren’t you the one who started all this by making it official on social media? If we are going to make this work, we should at least take some time to get to know each other.”

“You know,” her friend chimes in, his voice laced with humor, “he’s got a point.”

“Thank you,” I tell him, grateful for the support. I hold out my hand, knowing that, if he’s important to Maria, it would probably be wise to get on his good side. “I’m Mark, by the way. The social media boyfriend.”

He shakes his hand while beaming at my Maria. “Darius. I’m the gay best friend and roommate.”

That knowledge shouldn’t reassure me, but it does. “Well, Darius. Would you mind if I stole Maria for a bit?”

Darius, bless him, practically shoves Maria into me. “Please, be my guest!”

I decide then that, at some point, I owe this man a beer. He’s clearly on my side with this whole thing, and the more people I have in my corner, the better. I still don’t know why I’m so drawn to her or why I want her so badly. I hardly know her! But I do want her, so much so that I haven’t been able to think of anything else all day.

“Hang on,” Maria says quickly, her voice trembling a bit. “We really don’t have to do this.”

Both Darius and I look over at her, and she shifts nervously, pushing a bit of hair back behind her ear. I can tell she’s nervous, but she straightens and squares her shoulders in an attempt to appear confident.

“I get it, okay? Changing my status to say that we are dating was a really stupid thing to do, and I’m sorry. I was drunk, feeling down and sorry for myself, and I was desperate to get Darius off my back about my love life. Or lack thereof. He said that he would drop it when my status changed on social media, because everyone knows that means things are serious, and I got this insane idea of changing my status to meet his terms. I had every intention of changing it back this morning since there’s the whole required waiting period or whatever, but then I woke up with this ridiculous hangover, and I completely forgot, and⁠—”

I can’t help but smile because she’s rambling. Judging by the thick pause and the way her shoulders sag, she realizes it too.

After a moment, she sighs and pulls her phone out of her back pocket. “Look, I’ll just— I’ll change it back now, let you off the hook. That way, we can stop all this.”

Before she can even unlock the device, I cover it and her hand with my own. “Or, you can leave it and go out with me tonight as I suggested.”

In any other situation, the surprise on her face would be comical. “W-what?”

With a shrug, I take a chance and step closer to her. “It takes balls to do what you did, Maria, and I’ll admit, I had every intention of showing up, using your drunken idea to get Sean off my back, and then never seeing you again.”

“What changed your mind?” Darius asked curiously. I can tell he’s getting a kick out of watching this situation unfold, and I can’t blame him. I doubt this kind of thing is a common occurrence.

“I met you,” I say, not taking my eyes off of Maria and talking directly to her even though Darius asked the question. “I saw you, face-to-face, and I realized how lucky I’d be to have someone like you in my life. I’m a big believer in fate, you know. So, go out with me tonight. Let’s see if there’s anything to this.”

Maria looks over at Darius as if looking for his approval or input. To his credit, he nods enthusiastically.

“O-okay,” she stammers, a small, legitimate smile forming on her gorgeous mouth.

Returning her smile, I hold out my hand, and she takes it with a giggle. It’s the most beautiful sound I’ve ever heard, and as I lead her back to where my car is sitting, I make a mental note to try to make her giggle more often.

Like the gentleman I am, at least on the outside, because the thoughts going through my head are anything but gentlemanly, I open the passenger door for her. “Thank you,” she says softly as she steps around me to climb in. However, before she does, she pauses and looks up at me. “Are you sure you want to do this, Mark?”

It takes an awful lot of willpower not to kiss the shit out of her right here, out in the open, just for doubting me, but I barely got her to agree to go out with me. I don’t want to scare her off already, not before I find out what it is about her that turns me into a horny, possessive teenager.

But that doesn’t mean I can’t tease her a bit.

I take a couple of steps forward, boxing her in between my muscular chest and the car. I lean down until my mouth is only centimeters from hers, my nose brushing against hers. She gasps, and I know that she’s expecting me to kiss her again. I love that I have that effect on her.

“Get into the car, Maria.”

Her cheeks turn an adorable shade of pink as she chews on her bottom lip. “Okay.”

Her hesitation makes me pause. I straighten. “Unless I’ve misread things, and you don’t want to go out with me.”