This is almost better than a Birdie-launch hug. Almost? Fuck, I want her in my arms right now, but I need to have a little fun first. I deserve it after fifteen years of blue balls.
“What in the hell is so funny?” Birdie demands, her body slanting toward me as it vibrates with fury while she holds her chin up high and her face is flushed with the force of her anger.
It’s so damn hot I almost forget why I’m laughing.
Almost.
“Oh, I just find it amusing you remember May 24, 2018 as the date I blocked you and stopped talking to you.” I smile, rocking back and forth on my feet.
Birdie scoffs and rolls her adorably clueless eyes at me.
“Considering that’s the date it happened, I don’t really see why you’re so amused that I remember it.”
Cocking my head to the side, I give her a smirk.
“Well, because it’s also the date you made things social media official with Backpack Douchefuck with a super sweet picture of him kissing your cheek in front of a fountain.”
“It was a waterfall,” Bodhi pipes up from behind me.
“Are you sure?” I ask him, glancing back over my shoulder.
“Oh, definitely. Remember how the sun was shining right on the water spray and that magical rainbow behind them as the water crashed to the rocks?”
“That’s right!” I snap my fingers. “The trees were so green and lush. It was a beautiful day.”
“Perfect day to make things official, I’d say! Well done!” Bodhi claps, both of us turning our heads to look at Birdie, who is an alarming shade of green that almost matches the carpet.
“Do you need to sit down? Take a minute?” I ask, still tamping down my need to laugh as I reach out my hand to Birdie, and she smacks it away.
“You’re lying,” she mutters, looking away from me to Tess. “Tell me he’s lying.”
Tess is already furiously scrolling through something on her phone, and I continue rocking back and forth on my heels, whistling softly until Tess finds exactly what I know she’s looking for.
“Oh shit. He’s not lying,” Tess says, looking up from her phone with wide eyes before looking back down at the screen. “You posted the picture of the two of you in front of Saffron Falls with the caption ‘He asked again, and I finally said yes! We’re officially dating!’ that morning.”
I continue whistling to myself until Birdie’s eyes slowly come back to mine and her mouth is dropped open in shock. I’m not exactly sure if she’s put all the pieces together yet, but it doesn’t matter. At least I got this shit off my chest and she can stop walking around acting like she’s the only one who got hurt that day.
“Probably why your relationship tanked, huh?” I ask with mock sincerity and an understanding nod. “Guys don’t really like it when you can’t remember your anniversary.”
I hear Wren giggle from her end of the bar and know from the way Birdie gasps her sister is going to pay for that later.
“You…. I…. You told me you didn’t care,” Birdie finally says, stumbling over her words, since her brain is probably on the verge of exploding. “I asked you if you cared if I started dating him, and you said no and that you were okay with it.”
Wiping the smile from my face, I pull my hands from my pockets and advance on her until Birdie can’t back up anymore and her back is pressed into the edge of the bar. Leaning toward her, I rest both my hands on top of the wood on either side of her, caging her in. Her breath hitches when I hold my face a few inches from hers, trying to slow down my rapidly beating heart and not crash my mouth against hers so I can finally fucking know what she tastes like.
“You told me you were okay with it,” she whispers again, and I die a little inside when she nervously licks her lips, and I’m so close I can see every little taste bud on the tip of her tongue.
Closing my eyes, I loosen my stiff elbows and lean closer to her, sliding my nose against her cheek, breathing her in until I get right by her ear.
“Yeah, well, it turns out I wasn’t fucking okay with it.”
Her breath hitches again when I throw her words back at her.
Pushing off the bar, I pull back from Birdie and turn away from all the shocked faces staring at me. Birdie needs time to let what I just said process and hopefully for everything to click inside her head.
And I need time to release the painful throbbing in my cock after being that close to her and not kissing her.CHAPTER 11Birdie
“Skip the foreplay.”“I am the worst friend ever. I can’t believe what an idiot I was. How did we not see this?” Tess sighs dramatically, taking a big sip of her cherry slush while she sits straddling the bench of our purple picnic table.