“Eight o’clock, you said. Here I am, Toni.”
“Oh, God, well now we can’t go out. You’re too gorgeous to be seen with me.”
She gapes at him for a second. ” … I fucking /knew/ you would have an excuse. I knew this would happen.”
“Wait, what?” Toni questions, brow furrowing a bit. “No, sweetheart, that was a joke.”
The breath rushes out of her in a whoosh. It doesn’t help the way her stomach is turning over, especially now, and she’s so closed up and tense there’s no way she could have known without him saying.
” … Toni, for fuck’s sake.” Summer leans her forehead on his shoulder.
“I take it you can’t take jokes all too well anymore?” he chuckles, trailing a careful hand through her hair, before pulling back slightly to look her over. “You know, I get the feeling that you don’t trust me.”
“Oh, I trust you to be entirely yourself, Toni.” Summer shakes her head, slightly. “It’s me I don’t trust. You’re /you/, darling, and — oh, how do I even explain this?” She looks at him, and presses her lips together. “That particular joke — it’s not a joke to me, it’s — I’m not gorgeous, Toni, I’m short and skinny and sharp-tongued, and to be quite honest I’m over thirty years old and no one has ever asked me out on a date before.”