The Personal Shopper

I tap my chin pretending to think, and she just raises her eyebrow at me and crosses her arms over her chest. I laugh. “Yeah. I am going to head over to Doug and Becca’s around dinner to watch the game.”

Ava gets a big smile on her face. “Oh sweet. If she’s having guests over, Becca will make her famous nachos. Count me in.”

I smile back at her. “Duh. Why do you think I am going over there in the first place?”

Ava laughs and then throws on her yoga pants and grabs her shirt. I look at her for a second and to the shirt in her hand. She just smiles at me.

“What? Did you think you were getting this shirt back? No way this is mine now.”

I laugh. “Are you going to make me have to sneak into your apartment at night to get all my clothes back.”

She just looks back at me. “Yes.”

“Well, good thing I have a key then.”

She walks over and places a kiss on my lips. I try to deepen it, but she pulls away. “Gross. Morning breath.” I just roll my eyes at her. “Fine, you can make it up to me later.”

She grabs her phone off the nightstand and then heads toward the door. “I’ll be home around 4. What time are you leaving? Did you want to ride together?”

I look at her with fake surprise. “What? You want people to see us driving together?”

She rolls her eyes. “Oh get over yourself. I’ll be over at 4:30. We can leave then.”

I smile back at her. “Sounds good. See you then.”

???

We pull up to Doug and Becca’s place, and I instinctively reach for Ava’s hand as we walk to the front door. She just swats my hand away and lowers her voice. “Be cool.”

I roll my eyes at her. “Do you really think Doug cares?” But after I say it, I wonder the same thing. I mean Doug has been my best friend for a long time. Will he think it’s weird if I start dating his niece? Will he be mad at me?

Ava just shrugs. “I already told you. I just don’t want my dad to find out. I don’t know why you aren’t more worried. It’s your job on the line. Why am I always looking out for you?”

I give her a big cheesy grin. “Because you love me.”

The words are out of my mouth before I can stop them. Ava’s eyes widen a little, she stares back at me. I try to back track but my mouth doesn’t want to work. “I…”

Luckily, just then Becca opens the front door. “Oh good you’re here. I’ve been cooking for the past two hours, and I am starving.” We laugh and follow her in. I blow out a breath as I follow both of them. I was just joking around with my comment. If I had said something like that before, it wouldn’t have been a big deal. Now though. Things are different. We’ve only been on one date, but I can’t help it. I love Ava. I’ve loved her for a long time.

Things seem normal again once we are inside, and Ava is back to joking around with me. Hopefully we can both just forget what happened on the porch, and we can discuss that at a later date. A much later date.

Becca didn’t disappoint with her amazing game day nachos. Me and Doug are heading back into the kitchen to get seconds and refills on our beers. Doug hands me a beer from the fridge. “So when are you two lovebirds going to stop all this sneaking around and just become official already?”

My eyes bug out at him. “What? How did you...There’s nothing...We’re not…”

Doug laughs and pats me on the back. “C’mon man. Did you really think Becca would keep that secret? She was practically jumping up and down with excitement the night she found out.”

I look down at the floor and then back up at him. “And you?”

He gets a huge smile on his face. “I was jumping up and down with her. We probably have to buy a new bed now after all the jumping.” I laugh, and he adds on, “That girl has been in love with you for as long as I can remember. It’s about damn time.”

I laugh again but shake my head. “Why does everyone keep saying that? She doesn’t seem too in love with me. She won’t even admit to being my girlfriend.”

Doug just laughs. “Yeah, probably because you broke her heart the last time she confessed her undying love for you.”

My eyebrows shoot up. “Yeah, that never happened.”

Doug looks back at me. “Bro, Becca told me about that too. You really need to understand she doesn’t keep secrets.”