Page 119 of On His Team

I lift my hands. “I just gave him movie tickets.”

She takes the rest of her coat off slowly. “Rowan.”

“He wanted to go.”

Her whole face lights up, and she turns toward the coat hooks before I can enjoy it too much. “That is so sneaky.”

I laugh. “I gave a guy tickets.”

She laughs and says, “You evacuated your house.”

I look at my laptop again. Gianna stops beside me and leans over my shoulder until her chin nearly touches it.

“You’re doing homework.”

“Trying.”

“You invited me over to watch you do homework?”

I turn my head enough that her face is right beside mine. “No.”

“Thank God.”

She reads four lines anyway. Her hair is still damp at the ends, and it brushes my arm when she shifts closer. I stop looking at the screen.

Gianna notices. She straightens, then she opens the refrigerator, takes my water bottle off the second shelf, drinks from it, and puts it back exactly where she found it.

I stare at her. “That’s mine.”

She shuts the door. “You’ve shared saliva with me.”

I lean back in the stool.

She walks over to the stove and immediately lifts the lid off the rice.

I reach across her and take it from her hand. “Don’t touch it.” I put it back.

She ignores me and peers into the pan with the chicken instead. “What are you making?”

“Chicken, rice, green beans.”

“Did you make enough for me?”

“I knew you were coming.” I say it without thinking.

Gianna goes quiet.

It lasts long enough that I finally look over.

She’s staring at me with this soft expression I’ve started noticing more often lately, the one that comes right before she says something stupid to cover it.

“You’re getting dangerously good at this.”

“Cooking?”

“Having a girl over.”

I laugh. “It’s you.”