Perfect

HARRY
My heart must have been racing at a speed of a million beats per second. My eyes glanced from one booth to another, from one table to the next, from the floor to the bar and back to the floor again but there’s no sign of her. It was wishful thinking, I tell myself. I’m a moron and nothing more, acting like a teenager about the whole thing. Of course she didn’t come. Why would she? No sane person would go out with a mess like me.
“She’s here,” Niall says and suddenly everything in the club comes alive again. I have trouble breathing but at least I haven’t completely died and went to heaven.
And then I see her and I might as well have been dead because she looks like the most beautiful creature on the planet. Now I know what people mean when they say out of this world. It’s like she’s surrounded by a halo, that shines brightly on her clear eyes and her radiant skin and I can see every smudge of makeup on her skin and every detail of her face is etched into my brain. I will never forget that moment for as long as I will live.
And then, almost without knowing it I’m standing right in front of her and looking down at her pure, innocence that always takes me by surprise. “Jamie.”
“Harry,” she looks surprised. “I didn’t know you were going to be here.”
“Really?” I say. “Didn’t Kate tell you?”
“Kate?” Jamie looks confused and turns to Kate who shrugs and kisses her boyfriend.
“Zander and I remembered something we had to do,” Kate says, and winks. “Bye you two! Don’t forget to have fun!”
They leave and I realize she’s been tricked into coming here.
Which leaves me a bit strapped for words to be honest.
Thankfully, Jamie breaks the silence. “I’m sorry about whatever Kate told you,” she says. “They think I need help meeting men. So they do this sort of thing once in a while. I should have guessed when Kate kept insisting that I go with them!”
“If you want I can drive you home,” I say, feeling disappointed. Kate should have told me she was doing this but then again I was the one who had forced her to talk to her friend.
“No,” Jamie says, looking up and I realize that she’s smiling. “It’s fine. Really. We can hang out, I guess.”
“You’re sure you’re not forcing yourself into this?”
“No forcing, Harry. I want to be here. Honest.”
I relax.
A little.
“That dress looks great on you,” I say. “I knew it would.”
Jamie looks clueless again and I realize I should have kept my mouth shut. “Wait,” I say. “Kate didn’t tell you about the dress either.”
This time her smile is sardonic. “Again, my fault for not guessing it sooner.”
“Jamie,” I say. “I’m so sorry, you must be hating me right now.”
“I don’t hate you!” she says. “But I could smother the life out of Kate right now.”
“Well,” I say. “So long as I’m not the one in danger.”
She looks serious at first and then grins. “Right.”
“So,” I say, holding out my hand. “Would you like to dance?”
She looks like she’s giving it a lot of thought before she finally takes my hand. “Sure,” she says. “Why not.”

Notes