The Design(51)

“Seriously?! He still calls you Cameron? God Gray, you sound like a high school principal,” Brooklyn complained as she tried to pry apart our hands.

Great, now I'll have enough fantasy scenarios to last a lifetime.

“Maybe your sister likes how I act around her, Brooklyn,” Grayson quipped with enough hidden meaning to make me blush.

“Alright enough, you two,” I said, letting go of Grayson’s hand and glancing toward the fifth person in our group: the blonde man.

“Oh, sorry for that embarrassing introduction. I’m Cammie,” I said with a polite smile.

Jason reached a hand around the blonde guy’s shoulders and tugged him closer.

“Duh, why didn’t we introduce you guys first? You’re the reason we’re here in the first place!”

“Oh my gosh!” Brooklyn said. “We’re terrible at this.”

I frowned, confused. Terrible at what?

“Cammie, this is Stuart, my accountant,” Jason continued. “We invited him today so that you guys could meet.”

Oh, Jesus.

Combined, Brooklyn and Jason had the subtlety of a screeching banshee. They basically sounded like they were my pimps. I smiled awkwardly at Stuart and shook his hand quickly, realizing that I’d majorly messed up. I’d completely forgotten about asking Brooklyn to set me up with someone. I guess I thought she’d never actually get around to it.

Welp, she had gotten around to it and now I was in for the most awkward happy hour of my life. It almost sounded like the punch line of a bad joke: so my sister, her rockstar boyfriend, the boss I’m secretly sleeping with, and an accountant walk into a bar...

Oy vey. Fortunately, Stuart seemed equally annoyed with the way Jason had introduced him. He stepped forward and straightened his shoulders, trying to smooth out the awkward transition. All in all, he was pretty good looking. He had clean cut blonde hair, a strong jaw, and cute, black-framed glasses.

“As Jason said, I’m his accountant,” Stuart said with a proud smile as he assessed me, much the same way I’d just done to him.

Wow, an accountant. Be still my quivering loins…

“Cool. So you like numbers?” I asked, trying to make polite conversation.

Stuart smiled and adjusted his glasses, but before he could reply, Grayson cut in, “So Stu, do y—”

“Uh, I actually prefer Stuart,” he replied.

“Stuart.” Grayson punctuated the end of his name with a touch of annoyance. “Do you think you can handle a girl like Cammie?” He asked the question with an innocent smile as he tipped his drink in my direction. Both of his dimples were on display, which meant that poor Stuart basically didn’t even exist to me anymore.

“Grayson! Jeez, cool it. Nobody likes a cranky fifth wheel,” Brooklyn chimed in.

I suppressed a snort and Grayson held up his hands in protest. “It was a joke. I just happen to know firsthand that Cammie can be quite feisty when she wants to be.”

At once, Brooklyn, Stuart, and I replied.

“What?!” I asked.

“And how would you know?” Brooklyn glared.

Stuart smiled. “I’m sure I can manage.”

Jason cut the tension by passing us a round of shots, which I pretended to take, but instead placed on the table behind me. I needed to have all of my cylinders firing during this hangout if I hoped to make it through. Having Stuart, Grayson, and Brooklyn in one room was a recipe for disaster.

“So Grayson, how do you know Cammie?” Stuart said, inching toward me in a clearly territorial move. His hand fell against the table behind me, so he wasn’t exactly touching me, but the message was loud and clear.

“She’s a friend,” Grayson answered, taking a slow sip of his drink while his eyes locked with mine. A friend? I quirked an eyebrow and smiled, knowing he’d be able to tell what I was thinking.

“Also Cammie works at Grayson’s architecture firm,” Brooklyn clarified with a peculiar glare in Grayson’s direction.

He grinned. “That too.”

“Oh, really? I’d imagine it’s pretty awkward seeing your boss out at a bar,” Stuart said, turning to me for backup.

Grayson’s blue gaze focused on me. “Interesting. What about you, Cammie? Do you feel awkward with me here?”

I was going to slowly and torturously murder him later. Like kill him using finger nail clippers so that it took one hundred hours. He deserved it. Also, sorry for the imagery, that’s disgusting.

I shrugged. “I’ve been to worse happy hours.”

The group laughed good-naturedly and I thought for a second that the situation might work out… and then Stuart decided to ruin the moment. He turned toward me and stepped closer so that we were cut off from the rest of the group.

Oh no he didn’t.

“So tell me about yourself, Cammie,” he said with a gentle smile.

Was I supposed to list off my horoscope or something?

“Oh, um, well,” I kept on mumbling as I tried to peer around him and catch Grayson’s eye.

Stuart moved with me and blocked my path, obviously aware of what I was doing.

“Have you always lived in LA?” he asked, filling in the silence for me.

I sighed and took a sip of my drink. If he wanted to talk, I’d talk to him. It wouldn’t hurt to be nice. I answered Stuart with bland details as he asked me question after question. All the while, I also tried to hear what Jason was talking about with Grayson.