After dropping some butter in the pan, I turned around to awkwardly kiss the top of her head. “You’re going to protect me from the pushy women of the Internet?” I chuckled.
Her lips tightened, as her shoulders seemed to fold inward slightly as if she were trying to disappear. “I didn’t mean it like that. I swear, I’m not the jealous type, I just…”
“I know,” I said. “I’m just teasing. I don’t quite know what I’m doing with that stuff anyway. And maybe you’re right – if people think they can get too personal with me, then I guess my posts aren’t coming off as professional.”
“It doesn’t have to be permanent,” she said. “We could try it for a few weeks, and see how it goes.”
“I really appreciate all of your help,” I said, putting together my infamous three cheese grilled sandwich with spinach and yellow pepper on thick whole wheat bread.
She turned around to look at what I was doing, and laughed. “Grilled cheese sandwiches?”
“Yes. I’ve never made them for anyone other than the band, and they’re too good not to share.”
Corina’s eyes darted to the clock, and I could tell she was conflicted.
“Listen,” I said casually, “If you’re taking over my social media, and doing so much work on my project, wouldn’t it make sense for you to work from here today?”
“Really?”
“If you want to, sure.”
“I could work here until quarter to noon, if it’s all right with you that I borrow your laptop. Then I have a lunch meeting, and I can go to the office from there for the rest of the day.”
“Sure, whatever works.” I slipped our sandwiches onto plates, setting them on the table. Raising an eyebrow, I attempted to look stern. “Who is this lunch meeting with? Anyone I should be worried about?”
Damn, she was so beautiful when she giggled at me.
“My girlfriends and I have a very important lunch meeting almost every Thursday,” she said. “You don’t have to be worried, but I’m pretty sure your name might come up.”
I poured us some orange juice, then sat down beside her, leaning in for a swift, light kiss. “I don’t know why it feels so good knowing you’re going to tell your friends about me,” I murmured near her ear.
Her fingers fluttered around her coffee mug. “Yes. I mean, it’s going to make this even more substantial, somehow.”
She looked so shyly nervous that I wished I could relax her somehow. “Corina, we are real. Just because it’s fast doesn’t mean it’s not solid as a rock.”
She nodded, biting that perfect pouty lip. “I know. I’m just used to thinking things through, and researching, and analyzing. No matter how many books I’ve read, nothing quite covers this feeling.”
“We’ll make a brand new language for it, my sweet angel,” I said, leaning in again to kiss her cheek. “Now eat while the cheese is still melty or you’ll ruin the entire effect.”
Her nose crinkled when she laughed. She had a tiny scar on the thumb of her left hand. She dug her toe into the ground strangely when she was thinking of what to say next.
And this beautiful, smart, wondrous vision was my girlfriend.
9
_____
Corina
It had been almost a month since Brynn told us about Owen, and nearly two months since Jenna had met Andrew.
I thought I would have felt proud when it was my turn to share that I had a boyfriend. Yet for some reason my hands were clammy and my shoulders felt tight.
; Walking into Riverside Restaurant was always like entering another world. The old-fashioned black and white checked floors made you feel as if you had just gone through a time machine. Between the music on the jukebox and the smell of fresh coffee and scrambled eggs in the air, my shoulders always lowered slightly as I walked into the safe, cozy space where my friends and I caught up.
Sitting down beside Jenna at our usual booth, Brynn came in just a minute later, so that I slid into the center.