I stared at him, trying to decide if he was serious, then, realizing he was, shook my head. “Oh, that’s gonna end well.”
Landon chuckled. “In a wedding or a funeral.”
Colby shrugged. “Brandon seems cool with it. And Taylor and Matt are happy. Even if it doesn’t work out, it was worth a shot, right?”
Wait. Was this one of those times I should or shouldn’t read more into that comment? Colby had always been sort of the mediator in situations like this, so he was probably just doing what he did…but oh, how I really wanted that to be a message to me. Like he was secretly saying maybe we could give things a shot. Maybe I didn’t need to be “that friend” he hooked up with one time. Maybe I could be the girl worth dating.
Though right now I was just the girl overthinking everything.
I shook it off. “That’s true. Let me go grab your order before it gets cold.”
“Cool, thanks.” Landon sat on the bench and stretched his legs out.
And maybe it was wishful thinking but Colby’s gaze seemed to track me as I disappeared around the corner into the kitchen. I bagged the to-go boxes, then took them back to the guys.
“Here you go.”
Colby, who was still standing, reached for the bag and, yeah, we totally had one of those moments where our fingers brushed each other’s and all the warm tinglies rushed through me. But the question was: Did it affect him? And by first look the answer was a big fat no. Which meant it was as good a time as any to throw out Grandma’s invite and extend it to Landon to avoid one giant awkward breakfast.
“Oh, Grandma wanted me to invite you over for breakfast Sunday.”
Colby looked at me and a small smile began to form on his mouth.
“You too, Landon. If you can drag yourself out of bed before lunchtime, come over, okay?”
Colby glanced back at his brother, the smile fading. “Yeah. I’ll get him out of bed.” But when his smile reappeared, it didn’t look quite as spontaneous.
Landon tilted his head in my direction. “Hey, when it comes to your grandma’s cooking, I’ll get my own ass out of bed. No problem there.”
I laughed. “She’ll be thrilled to hear that.” I gave him a pointed stare. “Don’t let her down.”
“Never.” He stood and stretched, his shirt riding up a tiny bit around the waist, and no doubt he had the kind of body most girls would drool over, but I saved all my fantasies for his younger and—in my opinion—much hotter brother.
The two said goodbye, lunch in hand, and I pretended to be really preoccupied restocking menus but really it just gave me a chance to busy my hands while sneaking a peek at Colby as he walked away. And this was one of those moments I really missed my best friend.
I straightened, shaking off my thoughts once again, and untied my apron. Of course, now the question was did I go to Colby’s? He did say Taylor would be there, which might help. It wasn’t often girls hung out there. And though she was a little younger than me, she’d been around a few times with her brother. I didn’t know her well, but she seemed nice. I sighed and shoved my apron into my bag. This was Colby’s. I shouldn’t need to talk myself into this. But maybe a few days apart was what we needed. A little time to forget about what had happened. I rolled my eyes. Yeah, like that was possible.
“You okay?” Eddie had reappeared and caught me in the middle of my mental argument. Awesome.
“Oh yeah.” I waved my hand like muttering to myself was the most normal thing ever. “Just remembered I have an assignment due for school.”
“Well, now you have the afternoon off to work on it.” He smiled and patted my head as he walked by. Really it must just be a short girl problem, because everyone seemed to feel the need to reassure me like a child.
“That’s true.” I smiled. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Get your work done,” he called as I pushed through the doors.
Before the door swung shut, I shouted back, “Yes, sir.” Mostly because I knew Eddie hated being called sir, claiming it made him feel old. Not that he was young, but I guess he hung on to what he could.
I laughed as his expression fell. With a grin, I waved bye, and he shook his head then turned to head back to the kitchen. The problem with Eddie playing hostess was he tended to forget he was actually supposed to stay up front. Oh well, it was his restaurant.
As I walked to my car, I pulled out my phone and called Felicity. Her phone rang several times with no answer. I ended the call and slid the phone in my back pocket just as it chimed. I pulled it back out and read the screen.
Felicity: Just got to a photo shoot. Can’t answer now. What’s up?