Page 15
“No. You have to love me.”
“I don’t have to do anything.” Nat sniffed, then gestured at himself dramatically. “Do you think I’d be out here at this godawful hour on a Tuesday morning—”
“It’s actually, like, two in the afternoon—”
“—jogging for my health if I had to? If someone told me I had to do it?”
“I mean…” I made a face. “We are kind of only doing it because everyone says you have to. So… yes? I think?”
“No, I do it because I—” Nat paused, brow creasing with confusion. “Wait.”
“There’s the smoothie stand.” I nodded at the cart up ahead. “Should we actually, like, jog until we reach it?”
“What? No way.” Nat shuddered, reaching up to delicately touch one of the fat opals dangling on a long drop chain from his earlobe. “These earrings are too heavy for me to actually run with them in. They’ll stretch out my earlobes. I am not having saggy earlobes by the time I’m thirty, Klaus. Come on.”
“Okay. Yeah, totally. Good point.” I sagged in relief, then swung my arms a few times to stretch them out, craning my neck from side to side. “I feel like we’ve walked really far already, anyway. My thigh muscles definitely feel tighter. Do yours?”
“Uh-huh, yeah.” Nat nodded emphatically. “I’ll probably have cramp later. I’ll have to take a long bubble bath. Maybe eat some ice cream while I’m in the tub. I think eating something really cold while lying in warm water, like, shocks your muscles into not hurting anymore or something?”
“Really?” My brow wrinkled. “Where did you hear that?”
“Not sure.” Nat waved a hand. “Online somewhere. Sounds legit.”
“I mean yeah, it does. I’m sure there’s science to back it up.”
“For sure.” We reached the smoothie cart, and the guy manning it—his name was Josh—smiled wryly when he saw we were next in line.
“Hi, you two,” he said in a dry voice when the customer in front, a young human woman with her kid, walked off, smoothies in hand. “How was your jog?”
“Feeling a little winded, actually.” Nat clutched his side and winced, then dropped into a half-hearted lunge. “Bit of cramp. Better do some stretches.”
“I’m sure.” He seemed to brace himself. “What’ll it be this week?”
“I’ll have a chocolate and vanilla smoothie,” I told him with a big smile. I liked Josh. He was cute. But I’d never had much luck dating humans. “With almond milk. Oh, and throw in some peanut butter this time, Josh. For health,” I added to Nat. “Healthy fats.”
He nodded sagely. “Great idea. I’ll have the same, babe,” he told Josh.
The human quirked a brow as he reached for two cups. “I know I say it every week, but maybe one day it’ll stick. You know what you order is a milkshake, right? Not a smoothie?”
“Cacao and vanilla are both fruits,” I shot back. “So are almonds. And peanuts.”
“Actually, peanuts are legumes,” Josh said brightly. “And almonds are the seeds of a drupe. I’m getting my degree in nutritional science.” He gave us a sheepish smile.
“So Klaus is right.” Nat pointed at him in triumph. “There is literally nothing but fruits and veggies in our smoothies. Legumes, drupes, fruits… Honestly, there’s probably too much fibre in it.”
“I mean, no, there’s definitely not ‘too much fibre’ in your chocolate vanilla milkshake,” Josh deadpanned, then sighed. “It doesn’t matter. You can drink whatever you want.”
“Thanks, babe,” Nat said absently, checking his phone. He shoved it back into his studded black fanny pack and looked at me expectantly. “So, manicure after this? As a post-workout treat?”
“For sure. Ooh, and let’s stop at Deo’s. I should’ve bought some cake from there last night instead of going to the bar with Clarence,” I added in a sullen mutter. “But we’ve walked really far today, so we deserve it.”
“Totally.”
“Long one today, was it?” Josh asked before turning on the blender to mix our smoothies.
“I mean, we walked across the entire park, Josh,” I told him earnestly.
Josh’s mouth twitched as he poured our healthy smoothies into two cups. “Good job.”
