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“Well, I think I’m gonna go grab us all some coffee,” Connor announced, reaching down to touch my shoulder and then pulling back as if he suddenly remembered that it was something that he probably shouldn’t do. I sighed, missing the warmth of his hand, and nodding as I turned in my seat and looked out of the window once again.
I thought of back home, and what my dad might think of Connor. Would he even like him? Would it even matter if he did? I realized that it did matter to me. I wanted my dad to like being around Connor as much as I did. I wanted to be able to talk about Connor as if he were a part of our family and one of us.
Even as the thoughts circled around in my head, I quickly realized how ridiculous they would have sounded if voiced aloud. Connor wasn't my actual boyfriend in any context, and it didn’t matter what anyone thought of him, not even me. This was all for show, for the show and in a couple of months, it would all be over. Games of Love was just a reality show. I really doubted that Connor and I would even remain friends after everything was said and done between the two of us. Maybe it was better that way. It was disappointing that we had gotten so close, but I could deal with it.
While lost in my thoughts, I hadn’t noticed Alex leaning over the table in front of me his hands nearly touching my own. I gave him a polite smile and he grinned showing all of his teeth. I tried to move my hands back a little and Alex huffed in the sort of way that I knew meant he wanted to talk to me now that Connor was gone. I dreaded the conversation and tried to find a way out.
“Man,” Alex laughed loudly, sitting back in his seat. I was glad when he moved his hands away from mine and I sat back as far as I could without being obvious about it. “I bet you’re glad this is all for the show, right? I mean, I can’t even imagine being in your shoes.”
“I’m sorry? What do you mean by that exactly?” I asked him slowly, feeling a little confused by his abruptness.
“You and him, that’s what I’m talking about,” Alex nodded in the direction that Connor had left us raising an eyebrow skeptically as he looked back at me. “I mean I really feel for the poor woman that actually dates the son of Elias Lennox. The apple really doesn’t fall far from the tree, huh?”
Annoyance bubbled up inside of me, both for Alex and for this imaginary woman that was apparently going to date Connor in the future. “You don’t know what you’re talking about, okay? You don’t know him. Just leave it alone.”
“I know guys like that,” Alex told me self-importantly, nodding. I hated when someone assumed that they knew more than I did when usually they didn’t. “It never ends well with the women they date,” he continued, shrugging his shoulders.
“Connor’s dad is an asshole, I know that, but that has nothing to do with him,” I said, struggling to control my rising anger. “He’s not like that at all. He’s not his father’s mistakes. It’s unfair of you to assume.”
“No, you’re wrong about that, Sadie,” Alex told me seriously, staring at me with an unwavering expression that I couldn’t quite place. “Men like that always become their fathers in the end. It’s inevitable, like everything else.”
I stared at him with my mouth open, ready to argue my point, when Connor was suddenly in front of us holding three coffees and three brown paper-wrapped cinnamon rolls. He plopped the food down and pulled something out from under the crook of his arm. It was a fuzzy blanket and he wrapped it around my shoulders before passing Alex his coffee. I gave Alex a look that said, See? he’s different, and he just huffed back at me, reaching for his coffee with an air of indifference.
Connor sidled in beside me in the seat, handing my coffee over and unwrapping my cinnamon roll for me.
“Are you warm now?” he asked, pulling the blanket closer around me and tucking in the sides so that I was cocooned in warmth.
I nodded in answer, sipping at the hot drink, and letting it warm me from the inside out. Connor’s thoughtful gesture brought a happiness that I wanted to keep forever. It was like sunshine and bright days, golden and forever peaceful. I didn’t even look at Alex, and Connor glanced between the two of us, his pale, blue eyes narrowed in suspicion.
“What happened? What’s wrong with you guys?”
“Nothing happened, we’re fine,” I told him quickly, looking away from them both. He probably assumed that Alex had tried something, and I could understand why. The last thing I wanted was for Connor to assume about some kind of romantic tension between us.
