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At least fifteen times today I’d opened up a message to tell Sophie that I wasn’t coming over. That I couldn’t do this little sapphic mentor thing with her.

And then I’d found myself mixing some fruity drinks and pounding my elbow on her door at exactly the time I’d told her I’d be there. I couldn’t really explain why I had walked into her apartment and was going along with this. Curiosity?

I guess?

Sophie was obviously stressed out about this, shifting on the couch and taking constant little sips of her drink and fiddling with things.

“How about we start with conversation?” I wasn’t going to tell her this, but I might have looked up a few things online so if she didn’t have a full plan for this, I had something to say. A direction to go in.

Sophie nodded and set her drink down. “Okay.”

“Do you want me to go for it?” I asked.

“Yeah.”

She really needed to chill out. I wanted to put my hands on her shoulders and tell her to take at least ten deep breaths. But that would require me to touch her and I wasn’t going to do that.

“Before we do that, how about we just kind of…shake it out.” I raised my hands and shook my hands and wiggled my shoulders, feeling like a fool. I knew I looked like one, but she followed my lead and did the same.

“Listen, you’re going to be fine. You’re not being graded on this. If you strike out, then that just means it wasn’t the right person for you. People will be drawn to you if you’re secure in yourself.” There was a difference between knowing who you were and putting up a confident front to hide your insecurities.

Sophie nodded and then I realized she had a notebook. She was taking notes. That was so damn cute.

Her handwriting was a messy scrawl, but that was cute too.

“Let’s pretend we’re at a bar and you see me, and you want to approach me.” I picked up my drink and sipped it. “What would you say?”

Sophie opened her mouth and then closed it. “Can’t I just…wait for someone to approach me? Do I have to do all the work?”

I snorted. “I mean, you don’t have to always be the one going up to people, but I think it’s a good place to start. Even if you don’t use it, you’ll still know that you could.”

She let out a long breath. “Okay. That makes sense.”

Sophie stood up and walked a few steps away and then came back.

“Hi, um, is that drink good?” She stopped and looked down at me and shrugged.

I decided to go along with it. “It is. I’d definitely recommend it. Are you here with someone or are you flying solo?”

“Oh, um, I’m here by myself.”

I put my hand out. “I’m Reid. Would you like to sit down? I’d be happy to order you one.”

Sophie sat and her eyes were intent on my face.

“Yeah, that sounds good,” she breathed.

“And scene,” I said, slashing my hand between us. “That wasn’t a bad first try.” It hadn’t been. I’d expected much worse.

“I just…I feel like I tell myself what I’m going to say ahead of time and then I see someone, and I forget everything.” She clutched her hands in her lap. “I’m kind of a disaster.”

“You’re not a disaster, Sophie. You’re just a late bloomer. I know that sounds like an insult, but it’s not. You’re just figuring things out later than some people do. There’s no shame in that. Some people are so scared of stepping out of their comfort zone that they never even try. You’re trying.”

Her cheeks went pink instead of red and she bit back a smile.

“Thanks,” she said.

“Do you want to try again? Or we could just talk?”