Page 25 of See You Next Tuesday

“Hey!” Kyle shouted.

“Sorry, man!” Gabe used the oar to push off. He let the kayaks get a little ways ahead before he started rowing again, then turned back to Anya. “You were saying?”

“That you’re a bullshitter?” Anya raised her eyebrows.

“That wasn’t the interesting part.” He flashed her his ridiculously handsome smile, and she let out a frustrated noise.

“This is exactly what I’m talking about!” she huffed. “I ask you a real question, and you give me this fake flattery and flirting—”

“You think me saying I’m intimidated by you is flattery?”

“I don’t know what it is, but I know it’s not true,” Anya emphasized.

“Why isn’t it?” Gabe looked down, pulling at the oars. “Ever since I met you, I’ve felt like, I don’t know, like everything I have to offer, you’re not interested in.”

“What does that mean?” Anya frowned.

“You don’t like me,” Gabe sighed. “And I hate it. I hate when anyone doesn’t like me. Kira said that to me and she’s totally right, because she’s always right.”

“Everyone likes you, Gabe,” Anya said softly. “What do you care what I think?”

Gabe bit his lower lip. She wished he wouldn’t do that when she was trying to focus on their conversation.

“I was trying really hard to impress you in New Hampshire,” he said. “And in Ohio, I thought I was running this great program—I thought I was killing it, my first time on senior staff. Then you show up and immediately tell the team everything I didn’t think of.”

“So that’s why you were so nasty to me?” Anya asked. “Because I embarrassed you in a meeting?”

“No, Anya.” Gabe sighed. “It just, I don’t know. It got under my skin that you thought so little of me. It still does.”

“I didn’t.” Anya shook her head. “I mean, I don’t.”

Gabe looked up at her. “Now who’s the bullshitter?”

They were nearing the entrance to the bay. There was a full moon, and the water’s surface was shimmering in the moonlight, but Anya couldn’t see any bioluminescence.

“Then at Char Bar you were totally right about why I’d taken the job,” Gabe went on. “It made me feel small. And I messed up. I said those awful things to you—things I didn’t even believe, to be clear. I was lashing out, and I was out of line. I’m really sorry.”

The apology hung in silence for a moment. It was the most sincere Anya had ever heard him be, and it made her feel like she owed him the same in return.

“I think, um—” She swallowed. “The thing with guys like you…”

“What kind of guys?” He raised an eyebrow.

“Guys who were popular in high school and played baseball for fancy colleges and are beloved by everyone?”

“Monsters.” Gabe nodded. “Continue.”

“Historically, guys like you are interested in me as, like, a person they could use to do their homework.”

“Like your old boss?” Gabe asked.

“Jesus, you really remember everything.” Anya felt flustered.

“Says the girl who knows what sport I played in college,” Gabe countered.

Anya hoped it was dark enough that Gabe couldn’t see her blush. “I don’t know how I— Kira must have mentioned it.”

“Did you…” Gabe looked down, like he was trying to figure out how to word something. “Did you want me to be interested in you in a…different way?”