The Assignment

It surprised me that she’d left her dinner to come over.

“Just a little fender bender,” I said.

She looked over at the front of my vehicle, which was dented. “Shit.”

“I know. It sucks.”

“You just happened to crash your car in front of where I was tonight?”

I realized how this looked, but offense is the best defense. “What are you getting at, Aspyn? That my being on this road wasn’t a coincidence? It’s the main road through town. You can’t get anywhere without passing through here.”

“No, I wasn’t suggesting that. It’s just weird that it happened right in front of where I was eating dinner. That’s all.”

Running my hand through my hair, I said, “Sorry to burst your bubble, but I wasn’t stalking you.”

I sure as fuck wasn’t going to admit that she was the reason I was so distracted. This entire situation could’ve been avoided if it weren’t for my…curiosity.

“You should go back to your date,” I told her. “There’s nothing more here to see.” I immediately regretted my sharp tone.

Her mood softened. “I’m sorry if you thought I was insinuating that you were spying on me. That would, of course, be ridiculous. I was just surprised to see you, that’s all.”

Just then, Aspyn’s date walked over. He was a tall, skinny guy, wearing a suit jacket that looked two sizes too big for him.

“What the hell is going on?” he spouted.

Right off the bat, I didn’t like his attitude—at all. My fists tightened.

“I told you,” she said. “This is a friend of mine. I was just checking to make sure he’s okay.”

It surprised me that she’d referred to me as a friend—considering how hard she’d tried not to accept my efforts in that regard. Maybe I’d made more progress than I realized. Anything was better than “that dude who made me miserable in high school.”

“A friend?” The guy lifted his brow. “You looked like you were arguing.”

“We weren’t,” she said.

He placed his hands on his hips. “Well, I think it’s pretty rude to leave a date to go talk to another man.”

Is this asshole serious?

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” I spat. “She just told you she was checking on a friend.”

“He crashed his car,” she added.

He looked between us. “Yeah, well, regardless, I think it’s rude that you’ve been standing here chatting it up while I’m over there.”

Aspyn looked around like she was readying herself to flee the scene. “I’m sorry you feel that way, but—”

“Don’t apologize to this psycho,” I said.

“You like that word, don’t you?” She flashed me a sarcastic smile and turned to him. “I don’t appreciate your attitude, Brian. You have no right to tell me what’s right or wrong when we’ve only just met. Moreover, you have no right to raise your voice to me or my friend.”

Second reference to friend. Boo-yah.

She reached into her purse. “Here’s a twenty to cover my half of the drinks.”

The loser actually took the money from her before shaking his head and walking away in a huff.

I couldn’t help calling after him. “You should use that money toward a suit that actually fits, asshole. What, were you playing in your daddy’s closet? Fucking loser.”

“Jesus…” she muttered.

Aspyn and I stood in silence for a few moments.

“I’d ask you how your date went, but…”

She rolled her eyes as her hair blew in the breeze. “Very funny.”

“Okay, you have to admit, this whole thing kind of is funny.”

“Actually, you crashing your car in front of the restaurant was the best thing that happened. I was looking for a reason to escape that miserable date.”

“Well, then I took one for the team. Maybe this is the first step toward me getting into your good graces.”

“If a car accident is step one, I’d hate to see the next level.”

“One might say I started the process…with a bang.” I chuckled.

“Indeed.” She laughed.

Damn, she has a pretty smile. And she looked so nice tonight, dressed in a green dress that hugged her curves in all the right places. Goofy scrubs be damned. I think you have some competition.

I sighed. “Seriously, though, what a loser.”

“Yeah. His reaction to my coming over to talk to you wasn’t the only red flag. He was getting all touchy-feely earlier when we were waiting in line for a table. To be honest, I should’ve just said I was feeling sick a while ago.”

I swallowed my anger. “Well, if you had ditched him, this awesome spectacle wouldn’t have occurred. Now I have an interesting story to tell my grandfather when I bring him breakfast tomorrow.”

“He’ll get a kick out of this for sure.”

I cleared my throat exaggeratedly. “I noticed you used the F word to describe me.”

She wrinkled her forehead. “I did?”

“Not the F word you usually use.” I laughed. “You referred to me as a friend. Twice, actually.” I shrugged. “Not that I was counting or anything.”