Text from Claire: hey
Holy crap, this text popping up at this exact time made me nervous as hell. My mind started racing. Did I invade her privacy? Is this going to ruin our friendship? Does she see me as a creep?
I eventually decided that maybe it was a coincidence and that I should keep the conversation with her short and let her lead to feel her out.
Me: hey, what’s up?
Claire: nothing. What’re you up to?
Me: at work til 4:30, why?
Claire: Are you going to Jason’s party later?
Thank goodness. It was a confidence. I breathed a sigh of relief at this point that I wouldn’t have to face the music, at least not yet.
Me: yep, I’m going. Are you?
Claire: I’m going but I need a ride. Are you drinking tonight?
Me: maybe a little. I can pick you up and Uber from my place? (My place was closer to the party, rides would be cheaper)
Claire: sounds good :) what time?
Me: can’t remember what time we said we’d meet in the group chat but we can figure that out later
Claire and I made small talk until I got back to work and we agreed on a pickup time. I then remembered that I was convinced that she was ‘Heather’ and got nervous all over again. Before our agreed pick up time I spent more time than usual grooming and cleaning myself. I picked out the nicest but most casual clothes I had, as if I were trying to impress a date.
7:45 came around and I picked up Claire from the address she gave me. She was waiting in her lobby when I pulled up.
Instead of heading back to my place, I decided to stay sober for the night and drive to the party. I needed a clear head to interpret all of these signals she was sending. Claire started looking at herself in the mirror of my passenger seat. Playing with her hair and poking at her lashes. Then I noticed the tattoo. It was almost as if she was exaggerating checking herself out in the mirror as an excuse to flash her tattoo at me. As if she knew and wanted me to say something.
I said nothing.
Claire was looking great as always. That night she was wearing a faded pink top with a somewhat low neckline. She wore some very tight light blue jeans and shorter white open-toed heels.
“You okay?” she asked.
I snapped out of yet another trance I was in. I realized now that I had to act normal. I was not being my usual fun and flirty self with her today.
“Yeah, yeah I’m good.”
Before we could get into it, we arrived at Jason’s house for his party.
“Why don’t you be a proper gentlemen and open my door for me.” she said playfully.
“Yes ma’am,” I retorted.
“Ma’am? ew. I’m younger than you.”
Her ordering me around got me worked up and I was now dealing with a semi in my pants.
—-
The party itself was pretty uneventful. We started out at another friends house and then moved over to our local Dave n busters rip off. The entire evening Claire was a little more flirty than usual, challenging me to games of pool and the like, being extra competitive and touchy.
Another friend of ours, Matt, took notice and tried to get in on some of our games. Claire repeatedly shrugged him off.
As the night was winding down, I noticed that the energy had remained unchanged between the two of us. It was nearly 11pm and we were both acting as if the night was young.
Another one of our friends, Laura, came down to our end of the table. “The girls are going to another bar. You’re coming, right?”
“I think I’m gonna call it a night. I can’t drink much more,” Claire said.
Maybe I had missed it, but Claire hadn’t had much to drink. Maybe one or two total.
“OP is going to drive me home whenever we’re all done here.”
Was this Claire taking charge again? Or was it just assumed that I would be her ride since I drove her here in the first place? Either way, I was committed to that at the very least.
Laura ended up rallying the remaining girls and left shortly after. We left at the same time, saying our goodbyes and giving hugs in the parking lot.
We approached my car when Claire slowed her pace a little.
“Door,” she commanded. Her tone was less playful than it was earlier.
With our friends still within seeing distance, I was hesitant to get the door and have them see me do it. It would spark questions, rumors, and I hadn’t even figured out what was going on yet. All I knew was that her firm tone made me hard. I walked to her side of the car, opened her door and held it while she climbed in, shutting it gently behind her.
As I drove her home, we began joking back and forth about the evenings events and playfully arguing over who was the overall winner. When that conversation died down, we sat in silence for a few minutes.
“So did you like what you saw on my Twitter profile?”
—-
Part 2 coming soon.
Source: reddit.com/r/gonewildstories/comments/12c1sh8/chapter_12_i_found_out_my_friends_secret_and_it
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