“Probably.”
I grabbed the phone and answered it without looking at the caller ID.
“Hello?”
“Hey, brother.” Josh’s voice filled my ear, and I blinked.
“Hey,” I said. “I didn’t expect to hear from you today.”
“I thought we could plan dinner,” Josh said. “You said I could meet this mystery girl sometime soon.”
As he spoke, memories from the party came flooding back. Josh texting me about meeting my new girlfriend. Julie agreeing to meet him. Me agreeing to the whole thing.
“Oh,” I said. “Right.”
“So,” Josh said. “What about tomorrow night? Does that work for you guys?”
“Um.” I looked at Julie nervously. She was watching me closely, a confused frown on her face. “Do you want to have dinner with my brother tomorrow night?”
“Sure,” Julie said, looking a little surprised. “It’s fine with me.”
“She said yes,” I told Josh.
“Great!” Josh said. “Well, I’ll text you the details.”
“Sounds good.”
We said a quick goodbye, and I tossed the phone on the bed. My arousal was gone and in its place was a huge ball of nervous energy. I was sure this dinner was a bad idea, but there wasn’t anything I could do about it now.
“You okay?” Julie asked.
“I’m fine,” I said too quickly. “Just still fighting this damn headache.”
Julie nodded and grabbed her muffin again. She nibbled on it slowly as she stared out of the half-open window. I watched her for a few seconds and realized I wasn’t the only one feeling nervous about dinner.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“I’m a little nervous,” Julie said with a sigh. “Meeting the brother. It’s kind of a big deal.”
I took her hand and squeezed it. “We don’t have to do this if you don’t want,” I told her, trying to keep my voice even. I’m not sure why I even agreed to it to begin with.
“Are you sure?” Julie asked. Her voice was soft. Shy. I’d never heard her like this before. It was adorable and made my entire body soften.
“Of course,” I said.
She considered for a moment and I held my breath.
“No, I want to,” she finally said.
I let out a breath. “Everything will be fine,” I told her. “I promise.”
Julie smiled and nodded. We finished our breakfast and lazily made our way out of bed. We showered and got dressed, ready to head downstairs to check out. The whole time, I tried to get my own nerves under control.
Despite my assurance that dinner would be great, I didn’t feel confident at all. Josh and I were still trying to build a brotherly relationship. He’d never once met a girl I was seeing. I didn’t know how I was going to handle this complicated situation, but I knew it was time. Dinner was planned. There was no way of getting out of it.
“You ready?” Julie asked as I pulled my shoes on.
“Yup.” I smiled and jumped up to grab our things.