I have a friend who has a decent natural edge, part of which comes from his outward honey badger, not-giving-a-fuck ness. However I think that I have been stepping on his toes of late, though he claims he doesn't care or mind.

Last week, he (S), I, another guy and two girls (L and C) hung out at S's house. He had intended to just hang out with L at his house (wow, now that I read that, I was an idiot to not think he was interested), but L invited C, so S invited me and the other guy.

Well I asked S if he was interested in L and he said no, so I said, what the hell, and I flirted/kino'd L that night. Ended up driving her home, though some random stranger following us at 1 am kinda broke the mood.

Anyway, forward to tonight. I ask L if she wants to go watch the Perseids with me tonight (out in the country, dark and alone, lying on a blanket under shooting stars; you know where that leads) and she says she's down and says that C is interested. I say, sure she can invite C. So in order to avoid a third wheel, I invite S.

Anyway, planning occurs, and then I ask L if C is coming and she says she invited C and S. During that time I had been texting S and he hadn't mentioned talking to L.

So I think we can agree that S is interested in L and L is probably interested in S as well. I feel that I should make it up to him for messing him up last time. However, if I just ask if he wants me to occupy C so he can take L, I doubt he will tell me outright. So how should I make it clear that I am winging for S.

TL;DR: I need to make clear for my passive friend that he gets to call dibs first tonight.