A frown wants to claim my forehead but I fight it. I’m not sure how we went from being inches away from kissing to suddenly back to being nothing but mates who hang out again, but it’s left me feeling a bit disoriented.
“Or do you want to get rid of me?” they add, and I see now they’re putting the ball back in my court. It’s the perfect opportunity for me to tell them to feck off good and proper. But I don’t want to. It’s actually the last thing I want to do. I want to hang out. I want to get some food. And yeah, I want to finish my Cheetos.
“Are you buying?” I ask.
Their smile practically takes over their whole face. “As long as you don’t mind that epic chicken kale salad again.”
I tut, but more to school my smile than anything else.
“Go shower. You reek.”
Loncey shakes their head. “Finish your Cheetos, orange ‘stache.”
I wait until they’ve disappeared into the changing rooms before I bring my fingers to my mouth, but I’m not checking for Cheeto crumbs. I’m tracing the curve of my smile, and possibly, possibly imagining my fingertips are Loncey’s lips.
Chapter Thirty
Loncey
“Thank fuck,” I say, reading the message.
Maeve’s head swings to me, making her blonde waves swirl out around her. “What?”
“Jessica is back at home. Mom managed to convince them she didn’t need to stay overnight.”
“Oh, that’s good news,” Maeve says. “So good, I think we should ditch this place and go get another Elvis burger.”
“No way. We’ve been in this line for over ten minutes. We’re invested now.”
“This is sunken cost fallacy if ever I’ve seen it,” Maevetsks.
“Listen, I know you weren’t brave enough to try it last night and played it safe with a salmon rice bowl, but this salad is worth trying. Even when my sister has like zero appetite on like her worst days, she devours this chicken and kale salad, with mango salsa. That’s how she likes to shake it up. That should convince you that it’s worth it.”
Maeve chews on the corner of her lip. “Let’s get her one. That salad, I mean. Let’s order takeaway and bring her one.”
“You want to meet my sister? And my mom?” I feel my eyes widen.
“I want to make sure your sister eats a meal today. Sounds like she needs her strength.”
Yes, I want that too. I really fucking want that.
“Are you sure?”
“I swear to God, Loncey, if you ask me one more time if I’m tired or if I want to stop hanging out with you, I will shove your face in this chicken kale salad you love so much. One with mango salsa and all!”
I hold my hands up. “Message received. I get it. You don’t mind hanging out with me.”
Maeve smiles at that and it’s one of those secret smiles she doesn’t give the camera or a room full of people she’s giving a keynote to. It’s a smaller smile and yet it has more in it. More warmth. More affection. More connection. More of the kind of tenderness that I’m starting to think she only shares with those she cares about.
*****
An hour later and we’re pulling into the driveway of my mom’s house and my car smells like the chicken salad I love so much. Maeve’s just about stopped grumbling about how she’s going to be eating healthy food for dinner for the second time in as many days – although this time she ordered twisty fries and garlic bread sides – and she’s quick to undo her seatbelt, put the mask I gave her on her face, and get out of the car after we come to a stop, taking our bags of food with her.
Looks like she actually wants to do this.
I’m a little slower unclicking my seatbelt and exiting the vehicle and it’s because I’m surprised by her eagerness. And I’m definitely reading more into it than I probably should.
Maeve is just being kind and polite. Maeve is a good person. Like me, Maeve had had enough of the conference and likely the hotel. She just wants a change of scenery. She probably just wants to spend time with people other than me.
