“Uhm…hi, I’m Grant,” I wave to the two women in front of me, a bit nervously, but it’s a wave.

They are silent, one of them, a woman with large breasts and even larger eyes, flicks her blond hair away from her face before ignoring me completely, sipping on what looks to be coke in a glass cup. The other, a much shorter, younger Asian woman is staring at me in a predatory way.

A hand clamps down on my shoulder, and I stiffen in surprise rather than discomfort as I realize that it’s Peter. He pushes me lightly to the booth seat, across from the women.

There’s food in front of us—it seems that Peter’s friends already ordered—and I pick up a fry, wondering why we had to go to a fast food restaurant, and nibble on it tasting salt as Peter started up introductions.

“So!” He says, face bright as always, gaining the attention of us all. “Grant, they know you well—“

“Because he has a horrible habit of making every single thing about you.”Interrupts the blonde.

Peter mouth quirks. “Something like that. The one who just spoke is Macy.” Macy rolls her eyes, going back to her drink. I have a feeling she’s a hard one to please. “And the other is Jackie.”

Jackie gives me a smile, reaching over to take my hand in a firm grip. Her hand is tight on mine, and a watch as her eyes turn an even darker shade of brown.

_Not her too!_

The only reason I agreed to this meeting was to keep Peter happy. I didn’t know that there would be this much of backlash.

“I cannot wait! We’re all going to have so much fun together!” Peter claps his hands then steals one of my fries. “I will warm you though,” he takes some more fries and shoves them all into his mouth. His next words are muffled by the potato. “Grant here is super shy. I call him my Little Mouse!”

He gives me a quick peck on my forehead, wet and crumby, and scoots closer to me. I give a grin, not at all happy at the moment.

His friends are staring daggers at me….

***

**That Night**

“Wait right here, everyone!” Peter strides into the kitchen of our apartment—well, almost, I’m still moving in. “I’ll be back with the popcorn.” Macy opens her mouth, but closes it when Peter says, “And yes, Macy, I’ll get you your Pepsi.”She shuts her mouth with an annoyed expression on her face, but she looks pleased enough.

It’s quiet without Peter talking up a storm. Jackie is studying me again, and Macy is ignoring me, scrolling through Netflix to find a movie.

“Sooo…Grant….”

I turn to Jackie, a little too quickly by the look she gives me. “Uh! Yes?”

“Where’d you meet, Pete?” A simple question that requires an elaborate answer. Okay Grant, you can do this.

“We met at ComicCon, actually.” My face heats up thinking about our first interaction together. Macy turns to me, intrest on her face. I can not mess this up now. “I was going to go get something to eat when a man came up to me. Dark-skinned, bright eyes, and an even brighter smile on his face.” I smile myself. “He said, ‘You dropped something, sir.’ And I asked him what. That’s when he pulls out my signed addition of my favorite manga. ‘Uh, it seems to be _Cardcaptor Sakura_?’

“I had blushed and snatched it away from him—you know, that manga is for kids. ‘Thanks,’ I responded, then I turned away to leave. ‘I like that one too, well the anime anyway.’ He said, stopping me in my tracks. I had said really, or something close to it, and then we started talking. Mostly Peter, of course, but after that he had asked for my number, and then invited me for dinner.

“And now,” I take a deep breath, “We are where we are right now.”

Macy and Jackie look at each other for a moment before Jackie gazes into my eyes with her knife glare. She leans back with a sigh. “I suppose it’s fine if you two really do like each other,” I yelp when she grabs the front of my shirt, pulling me roughly toward her, “But if you as so much break a peice of his heart, I _swear_—“

“Jackie let him go, Peter will be fine.” Macy, who is strangely my savior in the case, calms Jackie down, giving me back my breath and my ability to stop myself from peeing my pants.

“Alrighty!” Peter walks back in at the right time, plopping in between me and Jackie—the man’s an angel, even if he doesn’t know it sometimes—with a bowl of popcorn and a Pepsi in his hands. “Here’s the popcorn and here’s your Pepsi, Macy.” Macy takes it with a thank you, then clicks on the remote to start whatever movie she picked.

Peter tilts his head to the side, seeing my still frightened face. He strokes my chin softly, passing the popcorn bowl to Jackie—who has her eyes to the tv—to hold my face in his hands. “You okay, Little Mouse? Were the girls being mean to you?” He says this in a whispery voice a mother might do to calm her fussy baby down; for some reason I don’t feel offended, rather comforted. Peter pecks me on the nose. He leans his forehead against mine. “Don’t worry, they won’t mess with you.”

I shrug. My face feels to warm to be real. “If you say so….” I think everything’s actually going to be okay. It’ll be hard to win Jackie over, but Macy seems fine. I’ll be alright.

Then Macy ruins the moment with a few words.

“So how big is Grant, anyway? Must be ginormous if Peter hasn’t been tired of you yet.”

Nevermind. It might be even harder than I imagined to win these two over.