Dandelion

Seven

Briar felt ridiculous. What was someone like him even bothering looking her way? Why was he being so nice? Why in the absolute hell did she agree to pizza with a stranger with her kid there? Was this even appropriate? Her heart was beating hard in her chest as her hands became clammy. She literally just met this total stranger earlier that day. Eli seemed to like him; he wasn't typically this chatty with people he didn't know. Briar couldn't take her eyes off of Greyson as he spoke to Eli like they were best pals. It was weird, but surprisingly it wasn't alarming. What was alarming was how she flinched without even meaning too. She knew that earlier scared her, but she was being unreasonable. Her imagination was playing tricks and there was no way he could be out; Detective Winters would have called her.

Lani had left the moment the game ended. She had to rush home to meet Mark. She wanted to make sure he had dinner before he rolled in and dropped dead from exhaustion. Briar chewed on her bottom lip feeling lost in thought when they finally came up on her truck. Greyson put the bag in the back as Briar unlocked the door. Right as she reached for the handle, Greyson beat her too it. She looked over her shoulder at him, face starting to burn. Greyson opened the door, Eli climbed right in. Their eyes remained locked, Briar's heart was sure to beat out of her chest, even in the dark, Greyson's eyes seemed honey colored.

"Uh, we're going to Dee's over on fifth. See you there?" His voice seemed nervous as he stepped back and cleared his throat.

"Okay, we'll see you there," she said and climbed in the truck. She looked over to see Greyson walking to a group of people. Her heart felt weird, she wasn't sure how to feel. This wasn't logical... maybe she was a little star-struck. Which meant she needed common sense to come crash her parade.

"Hey baby, get mama's phone out and call Nana. See if she wants to go get pizza," Briar told Eli who happily obliged. There was one person in the world that was more of his best friend than Theo and that was Briar's mother. Briar drove way more slowly than necessary and was thankful that her mother was actually in town already. The sun was setting later and later in the day, and she knew that by the end of April, the days wouldn't turn to night until eight. Briar pulled into the old part of Kinston where the past met the future. Old banks turned boutiques, old bars turned new and in some cases into restaurants, which included Dee's Pizzeria.  Her mom was already there, waiting by the front door for them. They parked and hopped out, Briar looked around before she swiftly walked up to her mother and pulled her aside.

"Briar? What's going on?" Her mother asked nervously. Briar was sure that Cordelia probably thought that she was freaking out from earlier still, and she slightly was, however, she needed her mother to be a reasonable voice in her head right then.

"Look, I need you to tell me that I'm insane. There's this man and he asked me out on a date, and I said yes, and I also agreed to get pizza with him tonight, problem is we just met this morning. This is crazy right? I just-"

"Greyson James?" Her mother said dumbfounded.

"What? How did you know?" Briar asked stupidly. Briar's gaze followed her mother's, causing her heart to slightly skip.

"Yep! He invited us for pizza," Eli cheered. Briar's heart raced as her face flushed. Cordelia looked at Briar.

"Greyson James asked you out on a date? And you felt the need to invite your mother out to crash it?" Cordelia smacked Briar on the arm, "child, I raised you better than that."

Briar hissed at the sting as she grabbed her arm. Cordelia walked past Briar and over to the group of people with Greyson. Eli and a little girl ran into Dee's while others followed behind. Cordelia, Greyson, and Briar lingered.

"Hi there! I'm Cordelia, Briar's mother," Cordelia said in a sickly southern belle tone. Briar pursed her lips together as she stuck her hands in her back pockets, feeling slight guilt. She refused to look at Greyson.