Yet I hesitated.
Me, of all people, I shouldn’t act like such an idiot. Not when I was studying philosophy in college and my course was all about questioning the things we take for granted about the way society did things.
“All good, Grace. Don’t get distracted when you have a sharp knife in your hand. You take care of yourself. Or at least have someone do it for you.”
“Thanks, Brandon.”
“Maybe it should be me taking care of you?” I asked, trying to be subtle and sly about everything instead of just bluntly approaching her like a man with balls.
“Uh, ummmm...” She stopped cutting potatoes. After stammering, she nibbled on her lip.
What’s on your mind?
Noah turned around and got between us. “I asked you to ease up on her.” He looked at me with annoyance in his eyes.
Okay, bro, I’m not trying to steal anything from you.
“What’s your problem?” I asked.
“Guys, it’s no big deal,” she said, vocally getting in between us. It’d be a bit much for her to separate us physically. “He was just being nice, Noah. You don’t have to stick up for me.”
Noah took her hand, which caught her by surprise. “How about you come over to Franco’s after we finish up here, Grace? I’ll show you a man being nice.”
Well, shit. If my own little brother hadn’t just gotten in the way and gone and shown me how to ask a girl out.
She giggled, staring at the grasped hand. “Franco’s?”
Sibling rivalry sparked up inside me. I would have supported my little brother going for it, but since he cut me off, I felt like he’d launch a war. The battle to win Grace’s heart. Or at least an hour of her time in the afternoon in a coffee shop.
“Franco’s? Kinda cliche, Noah. Why not Hibiki Grill? Those guys cut up and cook your food in front of you. It’s cool.”
“Ooo, actually, that does sound better,” Noah said. “Want to head there with me after we finish up then, Grace?”
“Guys, uh...” She seemed overwhelmed and confused by our sudden attention.
I kinda felt sorry for her. I didn’t mean my dumb game to cause her a bunch of anguish. So the empathetic idiot I was, I slid in and uh, saved her from the problem I caused.
“Yeah, that sounds fun actually,” I said, throwing my arm over her shoulder, as well as Noah’s. “You, Noah, and I, grabbing a nice fancy late lunch at Hibiki Grill.”
“Wait, what, all three of us?” Noah cocked an eyebrow as he glared at me.
“That’s what we were getting at, weren’t we? We were discussing going out to lunch together, right? A nice friendly afternoon?”
“That, uh, sounds wonderful,” the slightly relieved Grace replied. She was a clever girl and noticed the easy exit out of a date when I presented it to her. Good on her.
“Yes,” Noah said, clearly annoyed. “A friendly lunch with my brother and Grace. That’s exactly what I meant.”
“Good, good, then it’s settled. Hibiki Grill.”
“Sounds fun. Uh, I got potatoes to cut right now, though,” she added, before breaking away from me and chopping those potatoes like life depended on it. I had never seen anyone so intensely focused on vegetable cutting before.
“Uh, brother,” Noah patted me on the shoulder and began guiding me away from the production line. “I need to have a word with you. Let’s just talk about work.”
“Yes, your carrots could stand to be cut smaller, but they’re fine, I assure you, Noah.”
“Not about that. Really not about that.”
With some distance, and out of Grace’s earshot, he stared at me, the fury in his eyes so very clear.
I patted him on the head. “What’s the matter, little brother?” A card I always pulled to try to disarm him. Sometimes it made him smile. Other times it stoked him up to mad as hell.
“The hell are you doing, bro? Really? Cock blocking my chance with Grace?”
“You don’t own her.” I poked my finger at his chest. “I’ve had an eye for her for a while.”
“Then why didn’t you ask her out before, huh? Why now of all days?”
“I’m the boss, Noah. I wanted to wait until she graduated, so I did not hold an extra-curricular credit over her head. I wanted to make sure she could walk away from this without losing anything.”
He grunted, hands on his hips, fists balling. “But I planned on asking her out after we finished school. I was waiting to be free of her mother’s thumb for my grades.”
I paused and realized where he was coming from. He had eyes for her too. After all, who wouldn’t? And he’d also had a good reason to wait.
But I tried to put my out of the box thinking degree to good use. “All right then, we both got what we wanted. What’s the big deal?”