I happily sipped my water and felt myself start to relax as Ashley sweetly calmed me down.
“How was your day at work?” I felt selfish; I had been taking up so much of our time lately with my own issues.
She shrugged. “Eh. It was fine. It was pretty slow today, so I’m glad I’ve got tonight off. I’ve been needing my June time.” I grinned at her. Ashley’s personality was fun and flirty, but she had a heart of gold and cared deeply for the people she loved.
As we ordered more drinks and caught up on the week, the bar began to fill. There were hardly any seats, and the poor waitress was running wild. In an attempt to help her out, I walked to the bar myself to order us two new drinks.
I smiled at her as I was squeezing through the crowd of people in the open area. I looked down at my feet, trying to navigate and not step on anyone’s toes; however, this caused me to run right into a wall. Ashley’s and my drinks spilled onto my white shirt and I looked up to see not a wall, but six feet of my new favorite view. Grant Dawes.
He caught me with a firm hand on my elbow and helped straighten me up. “Hart? Are you good?”
I took my eyes off him to see Beau and a few other random men I didn’t know behind him. My cheeks flushed and I suddenly wanted to crawl my way to the bar and hide behind it.
“Yeah, I’m sorry I wasn’t looking. I was just trying to get these drinks to our table.” I gestured over to Ashley, but she was looking at her phone, not realizing my predicament.
Grant nodded and looked down at my chest. His eyes widened, and his face began to turn red. He turned his head to the wall.
“You, um. You spilled your drink on you.” Forgetting I had even done that, I looked down and saw my white T-shirt is now completely see-through and my black bra beneath is revealed. I crossed my arms over my chest, embarrassed and ready to leave.
“Oh gosh. I’m gonna go. I’m so sorry about bumping into you; y’all have a good night.”
“Wait—” I walked away before Grant could say anything else and headed toward Ashley. I shook my head and placed the drinks down.
“So, what did you think of the new bar—what happened to you? Did someone do that?” She pointed at my shirt, and I shook my head no and grabbed my keys.
“No, I just ran smack into Grant, and I spilled my drink all over me, and now he and all his friends saw my bra. So I’m ready to cringe to death in peace at home and never leave my apartment again.”
She frowned but gave me a side hug, avoiding my wet T-shirt, and I made my way to the parking lot.
Walking down the sidewalk, I used my arms to cover up as much as possible, hoping to avoid any unnecessary attention.
“Hart! Wait up.” I heard Grant’s voice behind me and came to a halt, he did a quick jog to catch up.
I turned to face him, still blushing and holding my boobs in the crevices of my elbows.
He nodded his head to my shirt. “I can fix that. I’ve got a shirt in my truck, come with me.” I nodded silently and followed him, not wanting to drive home in my beer-covered top.
He opened the passenger side door and reached to the back of his truck to pull out a large gray T-shirt that said Go Bears on the front. Is this from his high school he didn’t get to finish? I don’t ask any questions, just grab the shirt in gratitude.
“Thank you. I’m sorry if I embarrassed you in front of your friends.” He shook his head, avoiding looking down at me.
“No, I couldn’t care less what they think.”
I looked around and saw no one else in the parking lot, but I was still too conservative to change shirts out in the open. I point to the truck. “Can I change there? I really don’t want to walk in there like this again.”
“Yeah, sure. I’ll stand out here and make sure no one’s looking.” I thanked him and he guided me into the passenger side, with the door open. Grant stood directly behind me as I began to take the shirt off.
Maybe it was the adrenaline or possibly from Ashley rubbing off on me, but I had a feeling in my chest that I actually wanted Grant to look. I wanted him to notice me and not see a teacher, a client, a friend, a whatever. I lost myself in the idea as I began to strip my white shirt off, laying it on the truck’s floor.
He must have heard the movement of my clothes and felt uncomfortable because he initiated making conversation.
“I thought you didn’t go out much.”
“I don’t really, just had one of those days and told Ashley I had to get out of the apartment tonight.” He made a humming noise.
“What about you? What are you doing out?” I could hear him fumbling with his keys.
“Beau insisted we all go out to celebrate him getting his subcontractor license.”