Max snapped her out of her inappropriate thoughts.
“Hi, sorry,” she said. “How are you?”
“I’m good,” he said, although he drew out the word and Stella could her the twinge of humor in his voice. “And how are you?”
“Fine, good, great.”
“That was a lot of adjectives,” he said.
She could imagine him full-on grinning now, and she felt her face heat. She didn’t know what was happening to her. Why was she suddenly nervous?
“Right, well, I’m a writer, so you know that’s par for the course I think,” she said.
“Sure,” he said, and she was positive there was a hint of a laugh behind that word. “So what’s up?”
“Are you still at work?” she asked. “Do you wanna grab a drink with me and my friends?”
“I am still at work,” he said. “But I should pack it up, so I’d love to grab a drink with you and your friends. Where should I meet you?”
“Oh, hm, good question.”
Stella turned back to Effie, who was watching her with curious eyes.
“Where do you want to go?”
“Miti Miti,” Effie said automatically.
“But that’s in Brooklyn.”
“We live in Brooklyn!”
“I can go to Brooklyn,” Max cut in.
Stella jumped. She probably should’ve muted her phone, but it was too late now.
“Are you sure?” she asked. “That’s going in the opposite direction of your apartment.”
“True,” he said. “But I don’t have to go home after.”
“What do you—” Stella cut herself off as what he said clicked. He wanted to go home. With her. To her little apartment. Where Chelsea also lived.
Stella had never been in the position to bring someone home before, and she was blanking on the protocol. Usually Chelsea just sent her a text saying she was going to have company over, and besides the sounds that she could sometimes hear through her noise-canceling headphones, Stella rarely ever noticed them.
Stella was not confident she’d be able to sneak Max into and then out of the apartment. Despite that, she heard herself say, “Okay.”
“I mean, if that’s okay with you,” he said. “I can always get myself home.”
“No, no,” Stella said quickly.
Effie was watching her with a tilt of her head, which made her look like a cat who knew too much. Stella turned again so her back was to her friend.
“We can figure that out later,” Stella said. “But we’re going to head to Miti Miti now, and you’ll meet us there?”
“Sounds like a plan,” Max said.
“Okay, cool. See you soon.”
“See you soon.”
