"Exactly."
"It's bullshit, by the way," Chris continued. "Complete and total bullshit. You are one of the least off-putting people I've ever met, and I have met some genuinely off-putting people, including my own brother, who once…"
"Chris," Jenna said.
"I'm just saying."
"You're rambling."
"I'm contextualizing."
Adriel almost smiled. The corner of his mouth moved involuntarily, and Chris caught it and pointed again.
"There it is. See? Charming. Completely charming. Your mother is wrong."
"She's not entirely wrong," Adriel said. "I do hold back. I know I do."
"There's a difference," Jenna said carefully, "between holding back because you're broken, which you are not, and holding back because you've been taught to expect the worst, which you have been. Those aren't the same thing."
Adriel said nothing.
"Speaking of which," Jenna said, and something in her tone shifted, lighter now. "Are you going to tell him, or am I going to have to?"
Adriel looked up. "Tell him what?"
"About the situation."
"There is no situation."
"Adriel." She tilted her head. "You have had a situation for approximately three months and you have told me approximately forty percent of it and I have told Chris approximately thirty percent and he is now deeply invested and has opinions."
Chris raised his hand. "I have opinions."
"I don't… it's not…" Adriel stopped. Looked from one of them to the other.
He picked up his beer. Took a long drink. Set it down.
"His name is Landen," he said. "He's my boss."
Chris closed his eyes briefly. "Of course he is."
"He kissed me. In the archive at work. I panicked and ran. He'd called me pretty and I…" He stopped. "It's a thing. The word pretty. It's a whole thing." He gestured vaguely. "And then he came to my apartment. And we…" Another gesture. "And then he stayed. He stayed the whole night and in the morning he made coffee in my kitchen like he lived there and kissed me goodbye and went to work, and then at the office he walked past my desk and handed me a file and his fingers…"
He stopped.
The bar carried on around them. Someone at the counter laughed at something. The jukebox shifted to a new song.
"His fingers?" Jenna prompted.
"They just lingered. For a second. And he sort of looked at me and it was…" He pressed his lips together. Felt his face go warm. "It’s stupid, I know..."
The silence lasted approximately two seconds.
"I'm sorry," Chris said, "he made you coffee. In your apartment. In the morning."
"Yes."
"And kissed you goodbye."
