Page 16 of Lucy Loves Him Not
“I didn’t know you two were…When did…Nice,” Adam stuttered.
“We were just leaving dinner.” Victor gestured behind us toward the brick Italian restaurant covered in vines.
“I was heading to pick up a takeout order.” Adam nodded toward the door. His cheeks were flushed when he looked from Victor to me. “How was your, uh, dinner?”
“Great,” I said, plastering on a big smile. “We had a great time. You’ve got a good one here.” I elbowed Victor playfully. Not sure what I was doing or why.
Adam eyed our physical closeness. His body was noticeably rigid and eyes narrowed. He didn’t like it.
Probably he was worried I’d get Victor on my side.
“Good for you,” he said, looking straight into my eyes, almost like a challenge. I looked right back. My stomach had that feeling when you looked down from a great height, a flutter that spread through my chest.
There was a moment of tense silence. I looked toward the parking lot for my car, getting ready to leave and rustling the keys already in my hand.
“Hey, you know what? Lucy here was telling me she’d still be down to volunteer,” Victor interrupted the quiet.
Adam stepped back in surprise. “Oh,” he said. There were quite a lot of things he could say to this. I knew because I’d be saying them if the roles were reversed. I waited to hear any of the jabs he could say. He swallowed then said roughly, “Offer still stands.”
“You know my number,” fell out of my mouth.Why did I say that?
It was like I glitched when I was around this man, like my control center went haywire.
He took in a quick breath. “That I do.” Then he looked between Victor and me. “I’ll let you two get back to your date,then.” His gaze was a question mark, giving us the opportunity to laugh and say, ‘Oh no, this isn’t a date.’
Instead, I said, “Thanks, enjoy your takeout.” I began walking in the opposite direction down the sidewalk, Victor at my side.
Victor had a wrinkle between his brow as he looked down at me with curiosity. Even he could feel the tension crackling between Adam and me.
I had to admit, as I stole a peek over my shoulder and my eyes locked with Adam’s, whatever it was between us, was explosive.
Seven
Adam
Hi, Lucy. This is Adam. I wanted to see if you’d be willing to meet sometime today to discuss our conversation from last night per you volunteering?
Me
I’m free around lunch?
Adam
Meet at Coffees and Commas at 12?
Me
See you then.
Adam, quite annoyingly, was proving me wrong when I said he was trying to push me out of the festival.
No, instead, he truly was set on doing things the way the rulebook laid out, with him in charge of the creativity and decision-making and me volunteering for him, probably a couple of times here and there.
My cheeks blazed with shame at the idea of explaining to all the usual vendors and volunteers why I was no longer running the show, having to admit to these people I’d known for years that I was,gulp, demoted.
Yeah, the city realized I was running the festival into the ground and put this Adam guy in charge instead,I would say to their pitying eyes.
What if, I thought grimly,they all secretly nodded to each other that they’d seen it coming? What if everyone had known I was making a mess of things, except me?
