Free He Belongs With Me by Sarah Darlington

busy and I'm sure Brooklyn is hardly your style, but if you're bored and want to...”
    “Are you trying to invite me to come hang out?” he asked, his voice going crazy-low.
    “Yes,” I whispered back, “I guess I am.”
    Several long heartbeats thumped by while I waited for him to answer. Leo and I sure as hell had never 'hung out' before. “Okay then,” he said, though he sounded incredibly undecided. “I'll be there in an hour or so.” After those words, the line went dead.
    “Bartender,” I yelled with my next breath of air. “I'd like a double shot of tequila. Straight up.”
    The stereotypical bartender—a decent-looking guy with tattoo sleeves and a cute smile—stopped wiping out a glass and came right over to pour me a double shot. He then watched intently as I swallowed down the burning liquid. A shiver ran down my back as I felt the alcohol warm my chest. As I set down my empty glass, licking my lips, I noticed him still staring. Ordering two beers hadn't gotten a reaction out of him but tequila had.
    “Want another?”
    “Do I look like I should have another? I barely weigh a hundred and ten pounds soaking wet. Another would send me to the hospital.”
    He laughed. “Okay, let me know if I can get you anything else.”
    Even with a decent buzz, the next hour was the longest of my life. The bar grew busy and Steph couldn't keep me company anymore. The bartender and I exchanged a few more polite words, but mostly I sat alone, lost in my thoughts and battling the nervousness that had started breeding like bunnies in my stomach. What the hell was I going to say to Leo when he walked through that door? And why the hell had I even invited him here in the first place?
    The hour and a half mark came and went, and still no Leo. I got up to use the bathroom and when I came back, some jackass had taken my seat. The bartender and I had a little connection going, so it surprised me that he'd let some random person take it. I tapped the seat-snatcher on the shoulder, ready to give him a piece of my mind. Except the person sitting in my seat was Leo.
    “Oh, there you are,” he said as he turned to face me.
    With him sitting and me standing, we were exactly eye level. He looked nothing like his usual preppy self, which was why I hadn't realized it was him initially. His black hair had no product in it, giving it an unkempt, wild look, and his clothes were uncharacteristically casual—jeans and a black t-shirt. No stranger would ever guess that his bank account had nine zeros attached to the end of it. The black shirt gave his pale eyes a noticeably dramatic effect and I couldn't stop staring at him. A magnetic moment passed between us. I’d never been one to believe in love at first sight, or electric sparks, or any kind of destiny bullshit, but I couldn't deny that when my eyes connected with Leo's…it felt like I was looking at him for the very first time.
    My bartender friend came up, rapping his knuckles against the top of the bar, stealing Leo's attention away from me. “What did I tell you, dude? That seat's taken.”
    Leo’s demeanor changed in an instant and he glared at the guy. “It looks unoccupied to me. Why don't you do your job, stop bugging me about my seat, and get me the drink I ordered….do I have to ask you twice?” And just like that, Leo was back to being his oh-so-charming self. The guy should come with a warning label, saying, ‘Caution, will bite.’
    The bartender leaned over the counter, matching Leo's animosity with equal intensity. “If you don't lose the attitude and stop harassing the other customers, then I'm going to have to ask you to leave.”
    “I'm not harassing anyone.”
    “The pretty girl standing right next to you? That's her seat you're sitting in. Move now or I'm going to come over there and move your ass for you.”
    Leo left the seat in an instant, but I knew it wasn’t because the guy threatened him. “I didn't mean to steal your seat,” he said in one