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“Yeah. The bridge.”
“Hm.”
“Hm?” I start to ask what he’s judging, because he’s definitely being a Judgey McJudgerson with that tone, when I suddenly remember all the drinks I consumed. I stop immediately and gasp. Or maybe I gasped and then stopped.
Regardless, he’s a step ahead of me and he turns, a wrinkle between his brows. Instead of being two or three frown lines going up and down between his brows, he just has one super prominent one. I want to touch it.
“What’s up?”
I open my mouth, close it, and then it’s my turn to frown. At the moment, all I can focus on is that frown line.
“You need something?” Jake the Bartender—
“Oh, yes! Jake the Bartender,” I mumble, more to myself, because maybe if Isay“bartender” so I canhearit, I won’t forget what came to mind.
“Yes, Sophia?” His frown line is gone and now, his brows are raised. The emotion on his face went from concerned to humored, just like that.
Whispering, I lean closer to him, darting my eyes back and forth to make sure no one can overhear. “I didn’t pay my tab.”
He chuckles and reaches for my elbow, pulling me along to continue walking. “I covered it. Don’t worry.”
I take a few quick, short steps before continuing at a normal gait beside him. “But... No, Jake.”
“But, yes, Sophia. Don’t worry about it. It’s done.” Again, he drops my elbow and I huff out a breath at the loss.
We walk beside one another in silence, the road noise and nightlife our soundtrack. The bridge has a lip on the pathway that I usually remember...
But do not tonight.
“Shit,” Jake says, reaching out to catch me before I can land on my face—because I didn’t have the wherewithal to remember to take my hands out of the sweatshirt pockets. “You okay?” He pulls me back to stand tall, moving my body so I’m standing in front of him.
Gosh, he’s even prettier up close.
It’s dark, but I think his eyes are a light brown. Like the amber glass bottles that so many people were tipping back tonight. His nose has a slightly flat ridge, as if he’d been hit in the nose at least once.
Tipping my head, I can’t stop myself from asking about it. “Did you break your nose?”
He lifts a hand and immediately touches the flattened part. “I did. When I was eighteen. Are you okay?”
“Oh. Yeah. You did ask that, didn’t you? I’m fine,” I smile up at him. I’m starting to understand why people like to get a little past tipsy.
You feel like you’re floating.
You don’t have a single care in the world.
And I needed that tonight.
To not have a single care.
Because after hearing about Josh...
“You know... I hate your species. No, hate’s a strong word. I dislike. No. Nope, hate’s a better word,” I correct, starting to move off the bridge, but apparently back in the direction we came from.
Jake’s hand hooks in my elbow, turning me back around. “This way, Soph.”
“Oh. Yeah. Okay. My place.” I change directions, cautiously stepping back onto the bridge and avoiding the lip that caught me last time. “Are you coming to my place too?”
He keeps his hand loosely hooked, as if guiding me over the bridge. “Just walking you home.”
