Followed ✓

9

Val stifled an excited squeal, "Really? I mean...great. We'll meet you out there?"

"Yeah," he said. "Let me go say something to the people I came with."

She nodded, and Andrew disappeared into the crowd. Tugging me toward the back door, Val began to chatter excitedly about how she couldn't believe that she met Lincoln Shepherd and now he was actually going to hang out with us. Her words went in one ear and out the other, and I pulled my arm out of her grip before we stepped outside.

"You go ahead," I told her. "I forgot something. I'll be right back."

Before she could say otherwise, I slipped back into the crowd and headed in the direction Andrew disappeared. He was wearing a navy blue button down, making it harder to find him in the dim lighting of the bar area, so I stood on my tiptoes in an attempt to locate him by his dark hair and height. Unsuccessful, I squeezed behind two couples nursing expensive-looking cocktails, and suddenly there he was.

"You okay?" Andrew asked, grabbing my forearm lightly to steady me since I nearly ran right into him.

"Yeah," I nodded. "I just wanted to apologize. I didn't know you were here. I'm not stalking you or anything, and you don't have to join us. Val is just really enthusiastic, and she used to love watching you in that show..."

Andrew laughed, cutting me off, "Cait, it's okay. Really."

"I'm sorry," I repeated, flushing pink.

"Stop apologizing." Motioning to the table of people leaning toward us, clearly interested in our conversation, Andrew grinned, "These are my friends."

I lifted a hand in an awkward wave as they all smiled back at me, and I recognized several of the guys as Andrew's cast mates from the show Val loved to watch. I was surprised to see them hanging out together years after the show ended, but for some reason it made me happy to know that they were still friends. It was almost like it was a testament to Andrew's personality if his old coworkers wanted to stay in touch with him even after they were no longer paid to pretend to be friends.

His hand was still wrapped around my forearm, and he pulled me away from the table a bit to give us a bit of privacy and took a step toward me. Suddenly, everything about him was invading my space. His height, his scent, his very personality, and - instead of feeling uncomfortable - I felt oddly warm.

"Listen, if you don't want me to join you and your friends, that's fine," he said softly. "I can tell your roommate that something came up and that I need to leave."

Surprised that he'd do that for me, I shook my head. As much as I wanted to avoid running into him, I know that having drinks with Lincoln Shepherd would be the highlight of Val's year - probably her decade - and I didn't want to be the one to take that away from my roommate.

"You don't have to do that," I replied sheepishly. "I just wanted to apologize for any weirdness and to explain why I said I didn't know you."

He shrugged, "It's complicated. I get that."

"It's very complicated," I muttered under my breath, before smiling up at him. "I did tell her about you though. My roommate."

Lifting an eyebrow, Andrew looked confused, "You did? But I thought..."

"Yeah," I admitted. "I, um...I told her about Andrew. I didn't really know how to explain the whole Lincoln thing, and I know how much she likes you, so I--"

"It's okay," he reassured me as he smiled, the full brilliant force of it lighting up his face. "Really."

Dropping his hand from my forearm, we moved back to his table of friends and I rubbed the place where his hand rested with my other hand. I could still feel it. The pressure of his hand against my skin, the way his thumb brushed against the bare skin near my wrist when he released my arm. It sent a ripple of electricity up my arm, my skin erupting into goosebumps, and I resisted the urge to shiver.