“Great. Can’t believe I missed so much of the movie.”
“I was just thinking the same thing.”
He gave a single curt nod.
I narrowed my eyes. “What did Josh need help with?”
He glanced at me. “Huh?”
Blinking, I couldn’t help but feel a drastic shift in his demeanor.
What had just happened?
Matt had been easygoing and even playful with me a second ago, but now his attention was entirely focused on me, and there was something about his look that made my stomach churn.
Swallowing, I refocused my attention back on the television, and Matt turned his previously chatty energy back to his friends,who were talking about the differences between the uptown versus downtown restaurant they all liked.
Josh flopped back down on the couch beside me with a loud sigh, as if nothing had changed.
“Hey,” I said, nudging him.
He crunched on a fistful of popcorn. He barely glanced at me out of the corner of his eye. “What?”
I breathed out through my nose and shook my head. I looked between him and then toward Matt again. He didn’t seem to get the hint, and I … didn’t say anything.
Everyone quietly chatted like nothing had happened between the two of them when he mysteriously lured Matt away to the kitchen and returned with a personality transplant.
“Nothing.”
“Good movie?” He asked.
“Great,” I said, my voice tight.
twenty
By the timethe movie was over, I was more than ready to head home. For a moment I had been energized and happy being out and not on a date. That was until Josh’s nonplussed behavior along with erratic switch from interested to not interested signals Matt was giving showed up. Though, of course, Josh had nothing to do with that.
Of course not.
I barely spared Josh a glance on the way home. I wanted to be mad about whatever he must’ve said to Matt to make him stop talking to me so suddenly—since that had to be it! But, I was more confused than anything else. Why would he do that? I just didn’t get it.
I slung my coat, scarf, and purse over the hallway hook, and the thing chose that exact moment to rip clean off the wall.
I stared down at the mess on the floor—coat, scarf, purse in a heap.
Perfect.
I didn’t bother picking anything up. Just stepped over the whole disaster and kept walking.
I was done.
“Bri, wait,” Josh called behind me, sounding tired.
I closed my eyes for a second before I turned around, forcing a smile. “What’s up?”
Josh tilted his head a little, watching me. I waited for whatever it was he was about to say. “Don’t look at me like that.”
“Like what?” I asked, all wide-eyed innocence. “I’m not looking at you like anything.”
