Because we didn’t know each other at all, right?
So why did it feel like we kind of did?
“So on-brand for my girl.” She lifted the cup and took a long drink before saying, “Ooh—but so good. Do I have time to get a malt?”
I said, “No,” and at the same time both boys said, “Yes.”
Nekesa stuck out her tongue at me, and I glanced down at my watch. “Well, be fast. I don’t want to be late.”
“Such a Protostar,” Theo teased, and I couldn’t believe he was self-assured enough to mock me when we’d only just met.
“Takes one to know one,” Nekesa said, “Mr. Private School.”
“Did you really just say that?” Theo said, giving Nekesa a flirty smile. “Miss Public Education?”
“I think I did,” she said, grinning.
“Looks like someone upped the attitude since we last met.” I watched as Theo tilted his head and gave her an appraising look. “I’m not sure if I’m scared or if I like it.”
“Oh, you’re scared,” Nekesa replied, meeting his gaze before turning and walking to the counter to order.
“I think I’m both,” Theo said, laughing as he followed behind her. “I’m scared and I like it.”
As soon as they were out of earshot, Charlie said, “Those two are so gonna hook up.”
“You are so wrong,” I quickly snapped at him. Even if she was being a little flirty, that didn’t mean she was going to cheat. “She’s got a boyfriend.”
He gave me a level stare before saying, “So what?”
“So she’s super happy with Aaron, that’s what.” Typical Charlie, assuming the worst. “Theo’s just an old friend.”
“An old friend who looks at her like that.”
I followed his gaze over to the counter, where Nekesa was laughing loudly about something. And, okay, Theo was staring at her.
Pretty intently, actually.
He was staring at her as if she’d just told him the most wonderfully shocking thing he’d ever heard in his life. His eyes were very nearly sparkling, for God’s sake. Still, I said, “He’s looking at her like he thinks she’s funny.”
“Trust me, if those two start working together, they’ll be banging it out in under a month.”
“You’re disgusting,” I said, not at all shocked by his cynical assumption. It was exactly what Charlie in the plane would’ve said, as well as Charlie at the movie theater. He might have changed in some ways, but his penchant for assuming the worst remained the same.
“I’m right, though. Even if she’s happy with Aaron the Great, those two have entirely too much fun together for it to stay platonic.”
“So you still subscribe to the same idiotic theory about friendship?” I wasn’t sure why I was even posing it as an inquiry when his opinion was obvious.
“It’s not a theory, Glasses—it’s a fact,” he said, stretching out his long legs under the table. “And coworkers are the worst, too, by the way, because they don’t realize they’re becoming ‘friends’ until that ‘friendship’ turns into attraction, which ultimately becomes a hookup.”
“That’s a trash theory.” I watched just over his shoulder as Theo and Nekesa laughed together as they stood in line. He’s wrong, right? I said, “I guarantee you, no matter how much those two might work together, nothing will happen between them except friendship.”
“Care to make a wager?” he asked, his eyes twinkling with excitement even as his mouth stayed in its patented snarky half smile.
“On what?”
“Gimme your phone,” he said, holding out his palm.
“What?” For some reason, I pulled it from my pocket and handed it over. “What are you doing?”
“Putting in my number so we can work out the details of our bet later.” He glanced toward the counter. “Shhh—here they come.”
He finished entering his number before dropping my phone onto the table.
I stared at my phone as if it were a loaded gun, because, What the hell? Suddenly I had Mr. Nothing’s phone number—definitely wasn’t on my new-job bingo card for today—and also he wanted to make a bet on my friend’s fidelity.
I was getting whiplash from all the WTFs.
“You guys ready?” Nekesa gave me a weird look, and I knew she’d seen Charlie messing with my phone.
I snatched it up, feeling like I’d been caught misbehaving.
“Yep—let’s go,” I said, standing up so fast that I knocked over my chair. It landed with a crash when it hit the tile, and I wanted to disappear when all heads turned toward me.
Shit.
As I bent to pick it up, it occurred to me that this job might not turn out to be the mindless fun that Nekesa thought it would be.
CHAPTER TEN Bailey
“Mom?”
I walked into the apartment and closed the door behind me. My mom hadn’t planned on going anywhere that night, so the silence meant that she was probably asleep already.
Which was kind of a bummer, because I’d been looking forward to the brownie batter party, but also a relief because if she was asleep, that meant there was definitely no Scott underfoot and I would have the place all to myself. Mr. Squishy came over and rubbed against my calf before dropping flat onto his back and rolling from side to side.
“Hey, Squish.” I stepped out of my shoes, then rubbed his fluffy belly with my foot before he got spooked by a nonexistent something and ran down the hall.
“Freak.” I went into the kitchen, opened the fridge, and took out a can of RC and a can of Diet Rite. I was wide awake after my weird day of training and kind-of-fun evening with Nekesa and Aaron at the bookstore, so I was excited to just stretch out on the couch and mindlessly binge-watch The Bonk. I grabbed a glass out of the cupboard and a bag of Doritos.
I was just pushing the door to exit the kitchen when I heard, “Bay, is that you?”
I gritted my teeth, stopped, and dropped my snacks onto the counter as if they’d been burning my hands. The cans tumbled into the sink. “Yes.”
“Come here, will ya?”
I breathed in through my nose before going into the living room. I wanted to scream as I saw Scott all stretched out on the sofa with only the muted television lighting the room. He was lying on his side, watching football in his stupid white crew socks.
Why can’t he keep his damned shoes on?
“Where’s my mom?”
“She went to bed.”
So why the hell are you still here? He was giving me a sleepy half smile, like he’d been dozing before I showed up, and his obvious level of comfort in our house made me clench my fists so tightly that I knew I’d have crescent-shaped marks on my palms when I escaped to my room.
“Your mom said you’d be home by eleven.”
I blinked and my cheeks got warm. “Yeah?”
He glanced at his watch. “It’s past eleven, Bay.”
Bailey. It’s fucking Bailey. I tucked my hair behind my ears and said, “We, um, got a little carried away at the bookstore.”
“Don’t worry—I’m not going to tell your mom.” He gave me a smile that I think was supposed to be warm and adulty. “But you should probably get less distracted next time so she doesn’t worry, don’t you think?”