Page 47 of No Rings Attached
“Now that we’ve established your devotion to each other, there is to be no fighting in public,” Glamma said, pointing at us.
“Unless it’s a sexy, flirty form of fighting.” Goldie piped up. “I remember that one time when Sam and I?—”
“Flirty fighting. Got it!” Drew interjected so fast I wondered if Goldie was about to share something more risqué than we wanted to hear.
“Rescue attempts are a must in fake dating,” Gladys offered. “You need a code word so that you know she needs to get out of a situation.”
“Code word?” I asked. “Uh, what’s something that won’t seem weird?” Why was my mind blank? These should be the easy questions to answer.
Drew grinned. “Peony. It’s your favorite flower.”
Giant butterflies swirled in my chest that he remembered my advice when he asked what kind of bouquet to get his mom for her birthday.
“How would we use it so it seems natural though?” I tried to sound normal, but this was getting more serious than I was ready for right now.
Seeming to sense the direction of my thoughts, Drew responded. “You could just tell me you love my big peonies.”
I shook my head and laughed just as he intended. I loved that he’d say something so ridiculous in front of his grandmother and her friends. “We can workshop that later.”
“Pet names!” Goldie yelled.
A mischievous gleam entered Drew’s eyes that looked suspiciously like Glamma. “How about Muffin or Pooky?” he asked.
I glanced at him from under my fluttering eyelashes. “I could see you as Captain Snugglybear.”
Gladys snorted, and the sip of water she’d just taken shot out her nose. “Damn it,” she muttered. “That hurt.”
Drew and I burst out laughing.
“Love Nugget,” he tossed out.
“Honeybutt,” I responded.
A competitive smirk tipped up the corner of Drew’s lips. “I bet I’ll find the right one first.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Oh yeah? We’ll see about that!”
Now that we had set the bar, we started throwing out random names trying to top each other.
“Puddin’.”
“Hot Lips!” he yelled over me and made a pucker face.
“Sugar Booger.” I laughed probably harder than warranted, but this was so much more fun than I thought it would be.
His body leaned into mine as he laughed right along. “Okay, Snookums.”
“Bub,” I added.
“Oh, my God. You two need to stop,” Martha laughed. “I’m going to pee my pants.”
My giggles slowed down. All the nerves that had swarmed my insides were now warm and fuzzy and made me want to run in the other direction were gone. Everything was going to be okay. Drew’s breath hitched again as he tried to stop laughing.
We made eye contact. It was like all those cheesy rom-com moments when the background noise faded and it was just us. He leaned in to rest his forehead against mine. His breath feathered against my cheek, and I had the insane urge to lean in and kiss him.
“Hi,” he whispered and swiped at my cheek where my tears of laughter still lay.
“Hi,” I whispered back. “Thanks for making this so much fun.”
