He says it so quietly that I want to pretend like I didn’t hear him but I can see the honesty in his eyes and I don’t want to hurt him.
“Okay,” I whisper and his eyes widen.
“Okay?” he asks and Sayler leans forward, her whole body hanging on our every word.
“Okay, I’ll go to dinner with you.”
“Really?” he asks, sounding surprised but happy.
“Yeah, does Monday night work for you?” I ask with a laugh.
“Yeah, yes,” he says right away, pulling out his phone. “What’s your number?”
I rattle it off as his friends join us and Harvey gives me a smile.
“You said yes?” Rooney asks as he stops beside Rooney and I nod. “Are we still going to Seven?”
“Yes.” A tall man standing slightly apart from the group says and Rooney eyes him for a minute.
“Alright then,” Rooney says slowly.
Sayler only has eyes for Rooney as he orders his food and I try to give them some privacy as I box up the food and hand it off to her.
I want to say more to Harvey and as if he heard my thoughts, my phone buzzes in my pocket and I pull it out to see a message from an unknown number.
UNKNOWN:You look beautiful.
I look over my shoulder,biting back a grin when I meet Harvey’s eyes.
CORALINE:Thanks
I addthe kiss face emoji and hit send before I slide my phone back in my pocket, wash my hands, and get back to work.
A few more customers walk up and so we say goodbye to the guys and get back to work. As I work, I wonder if I’m more excited and nervous for the interview with Max or for my date with Harvey.
NINE
Harvey
I’ve never beenthis nervous in my entire life. I know that it’s just a date, and while I’ve never actually been on a date before, they never seemed this freaking scary. I guess maybe I should have paid more attention to the tips that Rooney, Ames, and Gray were trying to give me last night.
We went to Se7en after we left The Culinerdy Cruiser and even Banks came out to hang out with us. I have a feeling that Rooney called him and told him where to meet us because he showed up at our table with a grin on his face right as the other guys started to tease me about Coraline.
Cat, Max’s daughter and the manager of Se7en, even joined us for a round and as soon as I saw the way that Ender was looking at her, I figured out why he wanted to go to the club so bad.
I’m supposed to be picking up Coraline in like fifteen minutes and she lives a few blocks away, so I take one last look at myself in the mirror before I head for the door. Luckily for me, Rooney is at work so he’s not here to give me shit before my big date. I mean, he’s still been texting me, but those I can ignore.
I try to give myself a pep talk the whole way over to Coraline’s apartment. She lives a few blocks away from me, close to Eye Candy Ink. I manage to nab a parking spot right out front and I jog up the stairs to the fourth floor and knock on Coraline and Sayler’s door.
I dry my palms off on my dark jeans as I wait for someone to answer the door. I don’t have to wait long and I swear I almost swallow my tongue when I get a look at Coraline.
She’s dressed in a pair of black leggings that mold to her legs and lush hips. She’s got a lacy tunic with a pale pink tank top underneath and it gives me just a hint at the curves hiding beneath. Her pale blonde hair is pulled up into a high ponytail and she’s got something dark and smoky on her eyelids that only make her blue eyes seem bigger and bluer.
“Whoa,” I whisper and Coraline laughs.
“Thanks, you don’t look so bad yourself,” she says as she steps out into the hallway and pulls the door closed behind her.
“Ready to go?” I ask her, reaching over and grabbing Coraline’s hand in mine.