In a New York Minute(28)

“You have every time I’ve seen you. That’s, like, your thing, right?” He was somehow even more handsome dressed casually; not that I’d ever tell him that.

“I have other things.” He ran the back of his hand across his lips. “I was out for a run and decided to stop by to check on my—”

“Excuse me!” We were interrupted by a woman with short blond hair leaning back in her chair, waving us over toward her table. “I know you. Both of you!”

I tried to place her, racking my brain to remember everyone I’d attended class with in college, or maybe met during an internship somewhere. Did I work with her at Spayce?

“Subway QTs!” The woman next to her clasped her hands together as she shouted, figuring it out in real time.

“Oh my god,” shrieked the third member of their group. “Oh my god! I followed that whole thing!”

She lifted up her phone and took a photo of us.

“Can I take a picture with you guys?” the blond woman asked, and before either of us could answer she had chucked her phone at her friend and shimmied out from her seat. She wedged her body between us, slung an arm around my waist, and twisted her body to the side to get what I assumed was her preferred angle. I could smell the wine on her breath as she smiled.

I glanced over at Hayes, who was not looking toward the camera. Instead, his gaze was aimed toward where Lola sat in the corner.

“Hayes?” I heard a voice say at the same time as the woman holding the phone directed, “Look here!”

I froze with a tight smile on my face, in posing mode. “Okay,” said the woman behind the camera, handing the phone back to her friend for photo inspection and approval. Relaxing, I turned to see what Hayes had been looking at. He was still staring in the direction of the sweet-faced brunette in the corner with Lola. The one with the dimples that glowed. Dimples just like his. Somewhere in my brain, a warning signal sounded: Something was off.

“Hayes,” the voice said again, and now I could see it was coming from Lola’s date.

I shifted my gaze from Hayes to the brown-haired woman to Lola, who met my gaze with a “What the hell are you doing here?” look. I tried to respond with just my eyes, but it was hard to say “First-date rule! I was just checking on you!” with facial expressions alone.

I looked back at Hayes, who was staring at me, perplexed.

“Do you know Perrine?” he asked.

“Huh? No, I…”

“My cousin,” he said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. And then suddenly, it was.

“I think your cousin is on a date with my best friend,” I continued. They were walking over toward us now, maneuvering their bodies around the candlelit tables to get to us. Crap.

“What?” He swallowed, his voice incredulous.

“I’m not sure why you’re here,” I said, “but I’ve definitely been caught spying on their first date.”

“Oh my god, he’s not even facing the camera,” Drunk Blonde interrupted, squinting down at her phone. “Do you guys mind if we do another photo really quick?”

“Sorry, we’ve got to go say hi to our friends,” I said, and grabbed Hayes by the forearm, which was warm and firm under my hand. I steered him over to where Lola and his cousin were standing, a few feet away.

“Franny,” Lola said when I arrived, looking both irritated and amused.

“Hi.” I wiggled my fingertips in a wave and then smiled at Hayes’s cousin. She reached out her hand to shake mine. Her nails were short and painted a clean white, the same color as the pearl studs dotting her earlobes.

“Perrine,” she said, introducing herself, her voice calm and smooth. “I see you found my cousin. Again.”

I turned and caught him out of the corner of my eye, large and looming at my side.

“He likes to check on me whenever I go out with strangers. It’s very kind, and also totally obnoxious and protective.” She gave me a knowing smile, and I liked her immediately. “He’s like that.”

“I’m sorry, how did the two of you…?” I looked between them like I was trying to solve a two-thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle, trying to figure out their connection. “Wait, Lo, this is the woman you met in the New York News bathroom?”

“I’m sorry, what?” Hayes said, sounding like a clueless dad discovering what TikTok was for the first time.

Both women suddenly looked sheepish. “We bumped into each other before your segment,” Perrine said, offering Hayes a smile.

“Before we shared that memorable cup of coffee together,” I said to Hayes, who was still processing what was unfolding before us.

“I slid into her DMs,” Lola added with a wicked smirk, like it was the most natural thing in the world to do.

“When did you figure this out?” Hayes asked his cousin. He was chewing on the small red straw that must have come in his drink. I watched his long, tan finger tap on the glass, just below a slice of lime teetering on the rim. Water fizzed in his cup. We’d ordered the same thing.

“Right when we got here, it clicked,” Lola said, leaning in close to Perrine, their shoulders touching.

“It took us a second to put it together,” Perrine added. “We agreed that if we decided to go out again, we’d tell you both first.”