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Erica

Ooh yes. who all is there?

Guess she wasn’t too busy tonight.

Taylor

Liz, callie, nadia, dani, rex. but callie is already on avery’s other side and isn’t budging

Who would she bet on? Taylor ran through the group in her mind.

There was definitely a strong probability Liz would try to grab her seat back. However, Dani had already very casually asked Taylor if Avery was single. She was warm and bubbly, so that would be good for Avery; it was really easy to talk to her. Rex, no—they were never interested in people as femme as Avery, so they definitely wouldn’t jump up to go sit next to her. Though Taylor kindof wished they would; Rex was calm and low-key—they’d probably be a soothing presence for Avery. Nadia was a wild card—she also wasn’t into femmes, but shelovedgossip, so she might try to get some info out of Avery just for fun.

She smiled to herself as she thought of that quick mental rundown of her friends. It had reminded her of all their good qualities and the reasons why she was friends with this whole crew in the first place. Sure, they gossiped about her; she also gossiped about other people all the damn time. And to be fair to them, she’d probably gossip about herself, too.

She mentally apologized to them; they probably had no idea she’d been a petty bitch about them tonight. Still, she’d put her money on either Liz or Dani to be the one who had leapt from her own seat to sit next to Avery. And since Liz had started the night sitting next to Avery, Taylor was pretty sure that when she turned around in about thirty seconds with the pitcher of margaritas in her hand, Dani would be sitting next to Avery.

Taylor

I’ll go first: i’m betting on dani

Erica

Ooh, interesting, i’m betting on liz

Sofie handed her the pitcher, and Taylor tipped her well. Then she turned around to go back to the table and almost laughed out loud. Yep, there was Dani, sitting next to Avery, chatting animatedly with her. And look at that. Avery was chatting animatedly right back.

Taylor

I was right. dani

Erica

Damn it. that was going to be my other choice.

By the time Taylor got back to the table, the trivia was in full swing.

“Interstate highways in America that go west to east always end with what number?” the announcer asked over the mic.

“Zero!” Avery said, as did Dani. The two of them grinned at each other.

Taylor didn’t contribute much to trivia; she’d never particularly been good at it. Also, she didn’t understand why people would want to ruin a nice relaxing night out at a bar with a series of tests. But she’d had a feeling that this would be a good venue for Avery. She’d been right.

“This famous English breeder of roses developed over three hundred rose varieties during his lifetime,” the announcer read.

“I know this one,” Avery said. “David Austin. Peoplealwayswant his roses for weddings.”

“Avery, you’re so good at this,” Dani said, practically trying to sit in her lap. “You should come join our trivia team every week.”

Taylor barely stopped herself from rolling her eyes. Yes, Avery was good at this, and it was good to see her blooming under the flattery of Dani and Liz and Callie and everyone else, but could they be any more obvious about this?

Avery looked away for a moment, and Taylor could see her start to withdraw a little. Oh no, was this too much for her? But then Avery turned back to Dani, looked her in the eyes, lowered her lashes, and then looked back up at her.

“Thank you,” she said. “It’s good to be able to put the random information I’ve learned throughout my life to good use. I’m glad you appreciate it.” She grinned at her slowly. “Do you want to know what the eleven most common allergens are? I know that, too.”

Dani burst out laughing, and Taylor let herself grin. Avery was having fun with this. AndTaylorneeded to stop being such a bitch, once again.

Their team came in second, which made everyone at their table cheer loudly—apparently it was the first time they’d come in the top three in months.