Chapter 15 James

Mid-day Sunday, James was giddy. Three days after the unequivocal success that was their first date, and after nonstop text conversations, he was finally hanging out with Liana again. Well, he'd actually seen her every morning for coffee at Panther Coffee, but he was finally having another official date. He'd neglected his gala-planning duties to prepare for the day.

He parked on the street in front of Deb's townhouse. He'd never been to Liana's house in high school, but Liana had told him in one of their never-ending text exchanges that her parents had divorced when she was 12, and she and her mom had moved to a townhouse in Pine Heights so that they'd be in the school district where her mom taught history. James hadn't had Liana's mom as a teacher; he vaguely recalled Mary Grace complaining that she was a tough grader, but knowing Mary Grace, anyone who didn't give her straight As was on her shit list. James decided not to let Mary Grace's opinion of Liana's mom influence his own opinion. Deb seemed perfectly pleasant during pickleball class.

James knocked on Deb's front door, and Liana answered, her legs looking far too good in black leggings. James had told Liana to dress for "extreme comfort."

"What does that mean?" she'd asked.

"Loungewear," he'd replied. "Bunny slippers encouraged."

While she'd apparently opted for sneakers — he couldn't blame her for not wanting to wear bunny slippers on a date — she looked both comfortable and fuckable in her spandex leggings and black tank top.

"Did I dress appropriately?" she asked him. "I honestly had no idea what that ‘bunny slippers' comment meant."

"You look perfect," he replied. "And that's for me to know and you to find out."

As they walked to the car this time, he rushed to open the car door for her, and she thanked him, looking somewhat bemused, as if she were biting back a comment about how it was the 21st century and she could open her own damn car door.

Getting into his car seat, he pointed to the two cups on the center console. "Panther Coffee. They're both black coffees, one iced and one hot. Which would you like?"

"Which one is for you?" she asked.

"Whichever one you don't want," he said. "Oh, and they're both decaf. I figured that since it's the afternoon, you've already had your one allotted cup for the day."

She again looked genuinely astonished that someone would take two seconds out of their day to remember something about her. "I can't believe you remembered. Thank you. And yes, it's decaf time. I'll take the iced coffee. Thanks so much."

He frowned, remembering that he'd told her he only drank hot coffee. He wondered if she only chose the iced coffee because she knew he wanted the hot coffee. Oh well. Too late now. And while he gladly would have drunk the iced coffee if she had wanted the other, he did prefer hot coffee.

"I know better than to ask where we're going this time," she said playfully.

"Actually, I'll tell you now," he said, and she opened her mouth in an expression of mock shock. Don't look at her mouth. Don't look at her mouth.

"Are you actually James? Blink twice if you've been possessed by an angry ghost."

"If I were possessed by a ghost, don't you think that said ghost would be able to prevent me from blinking twice?"

"Maybe he's only using you as a mouthpiece. Have you seen the newest Ghost Busters movie? The ice one, where the spirit has to use people's voices to manipulate his evil magic?" When he scoffed, she swatted her hand in the air. "Don't overthink it."

"Okay, Ms. Stay Puft Marshmallow Woman."

"Wow, that was a deep cut."

"Seriously, Abrams? Ghost Busters is a deep cut? A timeless classic of the horror, action, and comedy genres? I may be a dumb jock, but I'm not that uncultured."

"Fair enough."

"Anyway, Ghost Busters is actually a great segue into what we're doing today."

"Fighting ghosts?"

"Damn, now you're making me wish I'd booked a ghost tour. But no. Movies."

"We're going to the movies?"

"Nope. Even better. Instead of watching whatever's out and having to eat a weeks-old hot dog and greasy popcorn, we're watching what we want to watch and eating the snacks I've prepared. I've got a whole movie setup waiting for us at my place. Plus, I've got a fancy cloud couch, and so many warm blankets. Oh, and I have a cat. He's hypoallergenic, just in case you're allergic. Are you?"

"Yes, but just mildly allergic. I'm sure it'll be fine."

"Okay, cool. I mean, my roommate is allergic to cats and doesn't have a problem with him. But anyway, I thought we could go to my place and Netflix and chill. I mean, minus the chill part."

He panicked, realizing how that sounded. "Not that I don't want to do that with you. I very much want to chill — do everything — with you. Just not today. I mean, that's not why I'm bringing you to my place. God, I'm so sorry. You're beautiful, and I really want to — but just, on our own time —"

He was scrambling now, again convinced he'd ruined the day before it started. "I swear, I had very gallant intentions in having you come over. My intentions had everything to do with proving that a man is an idiot if he doesn't know how to have fun with you without leaving home. I was thinking of that guy who thought it was boring to stay home with you, and I wanted to show you that I don't think staying in with you is boring at all. But now that I'm saying this out loud, it all sounds like a ploy to get you over to my apartment to sleep with you, which, again, was not my intention. And I swear my roommate will be home, so it'll be totally safe. I mean, we won't be alone. She'll stay out of our way, in her room, but she's a woman and she'll be in the apartment. For your comfort. Oh, and there's nothing between me and her, in case you're wondering. We're just friends. Like friends friends, not friends with benefits. She's not into dudes, and — fuck, I'm rambling. Sorry. Is this all okay?" He looked over to her sheepishly.

To his surprise, she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "Calm down, James," she said soothingly. She held his hand. "This sounds perfect. Thank you. A chill day hanging out with you sounds really nice."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."