Page 17 of Stand By Me

And Mario wanted to ask, wanted to learn how this whole thing even worked back there—did he have to follow Jake everywhere? Did they ever run into any trouble? What would happen if Jake hadn't decided to come back home last year?—but it didn't feel like the right time to get into it, so he let it go.

"I'm sticking with 'impressive'," he said instead and grinned when Clay smiled.

"Fine. I'm not going to discourage you from being impressed by me, if you wish."

Aren't you?The words were teasing, a joke, but Mario had noticed that Clay was actually doing the opposite of trying to impress him.

Too late, Mario thought.Close to two decades late, actually.

As they were nearing the end of their tour, he got more and more nervous. He was running out of time to make his move—and he'd promised himself he would, come hell, high water, or any former White House residents.

Carina had laughed in his face when he'd told her that, but she'd agreed to keep Jake busy if needed.

Mario had nothing to lose at this point, really. Sure, he would mope a bit if Clay flat-out refused to take his number, but he could handle that. He'd moped after men half as interesting as Clay before, so at least this time it would be more warranted.

And then he would get over it, because that was what he did. He got over stuff and moved on.

But—and he was afraid to even think it in case he would jinx it—it could also work. He could actually go on a date with Clay. He could maybe build something with him.

Besides, his teenage self would kill for a chance like this, so he had to take one for the team now.

There were still two other guys with them who probably didn't want to witness Mario being awkward, though.

Then, Eddie paused and turned to Todd.

"I have to—We have to go check something."

"What?" Todd frowned. "We have everything we need."

"No, I just remembered something we missed in the previous hall." Eddie looked at Clay. "Go on, wait for us in the lobby. We'll be right back."

Then he all but dragged Todd away, muttering something to him that had Todd glancing back at them with wide eyes before he and Eddie disappeared behind the half-open door.

"Is it safe to leave them be?" Mario asked.

"Yeah, I think so. I've been warned Eddie can be stubborn, but he apparently always means well." Clay turned to Mario. "You heard the boss. Come on."

The foyer was busy, with a few group tours gathering there at the same time, which meant nobody paid any attention to the two of them.

Okay, Mario told himself as he straightened his back.Now or never.

"So," he said and already had to push back a grimace.Great start. "I guess you won't be needing my help anymore, but I thought—" He pulled out his phone. "I could give you my number if you ever wanted to, I don't know, get a drink or something. Dinner, maybe."

Oh, God. Kill me now.

The few seconds it took for the corners of Clay's lips to start twitching almost gave Mario a heart attack. But then Clay offered him a grin and pulled out his own phone.

"Great. I'll definitely text you about that 'something'."

Mario was pretty sure his own smile was visible from space, but he didn't care.

"That's… That's good."

Better than good, really.

The butterflies in his stomach agreed.

CHAPTER SEVEN

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