Page 69 of Not Dating Material

“Gotta say, you’re being weird again,” Seven calls, trailing after me.

“I didn’t offer to blow you in the bathrooms in front of all the guests, so I figure we’re a step up on my last restaurant date.”

Seven laughs and lifts his hand. “High fives for improvements.”

I high-five him, then link our fingers together as his hand drops. “So, you’ll do high fives but no pinky swears?”

Seven’s gaze is locked on where we’re touching. “Something like that.” He holds our hands up between us. “What’s this?”

“I’m holding your hand.”

“Yeah, that much I can see. But … why?”

“Because I wanna?”

He looks at me like I’m speaking another language. Then he huffs and starts along the footpath, tightening his hold to stop me from falling behind. My chest lights up with little I win fireworks.

“You’re such a grump.”

“And?”

“I like it.”

“Yes, it’s so much fun having my innocence stripped away as a kid, so now I assume everyone and everything is as screwy as me.” He says it so flatly anyone would think he was making shit up.

“Can … can I ask about it?”

“Nah. It’s a mood killer.”

“I can handle it.”

He turns those kind eyes on me and watches me for a moment. “Yeah, you’re probably right. But I don’t think I could. At least not tonight.”

I respect that. If he wasn’t telling me because he wanted to spare my feelings, you can bet your ass I’d push, but if it’s because it’s too much for him? I’m more than happy to let it go.

“So what fun are we going to have?” he asks.

A wicked grin crosses my face. “We’re going to mess with Xander.”

“We are?”

I nod. “You two know everything about each other, so I’m assuming he knows you don’t like places like that.”

“Ah, yeah …”

“And he made you go there anyway. Not cool.”

Seven shakes his head. “It’s really okay. We probably should have stayed and practiced.”

“Nope. You’re helping me, but I never want you to do something you’re not comfortable with. And so now we’re going to mess with Xander for putting you in that position and making me cranky with him.”

“You’re cranky with him?”

“Very.”

“We don’t even know it was him.”

I tug Seven to a stop. “Know of anyone else sneaky enough to go into our phones, message the other, then delete the message that was sent?”

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