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Ben scrunched his nose. “And what about me? I had to listen to you practice your guitar when you knew two chords and listen to your voice cracking through puberty.”
I chuckled. “No lines for you either.”
He snapped his fingers. “Too bad I didn’t record you back then. I could’ve made a fortune either in blackmail or selling off the recordings to your fans on eBay.”
“I would have paid good money to hear that,” Tali said.
“What money?” Ben asked.
She grinned at him. “Well, maybe not money. I’d pay in Gamelan lessons and lasagna.”
He rocked back in his chair, laughing. “Shit, Jude, has your girl told you she’s a Gamelan master? From like day one, she picked up the sticks and played a little tune while the rest of us Neanderthals sat there drooling.”
My arms curled around her shoulder. “Think you failed to mention that.”
She slipped her arm between the chair and my back, her hand finding a spot beneath my T-shirt. “I’m very humble. But I’ll just say our teacher informed me she’s never had a student pick it up as fast as I have.”
Ben coughed, “Teacher’s pet,” and Tali threw a chip at him.
“Maybe you should play on our album,” I said.
Her hand moved up my back, then down again, settling by the waistband of my jeans.
“Maybe. I’m very busy though, so I can’t possibly commit.”
I kissed the side of her head. “I know that about you. You’re impossible to catch.”
She turned to face me. “Really? I feel like you got me.”
“Only sometimes. And not nearly enough.”
Ben cleared his throat. “I’m heading out, leave you two lovebirds alone.” He raised his brows. “See you later, Tals?”
She nodded. “See you, Benny.”
He saluted me, then sauntered off.
“I think he’s giving us private time,” Tali said with a small smile.
I swiveled sideways in my chair, my legs on the outside of hers, gripping her hips. “I really missed you, Stripes.”
She sighed, laying her forehead on mine and cupping my neck with both hands. “Me too, Jude. I did get a paper written that I’d been putting off, but the sad thing is, I would have rather been procrastinating with you.”
“You can get your shit done with me. Bring your books over, I’ll just stare at you creepily from the corner.”
She giggled, soft and sweet. “But I want to stare at you creepily too.”
“Well, shit. This is a conundrum.”
“I love that you just used ‘conundrum.’ It sounds so wrong coming out of your mouth, which is why it’s so right.”
The corner of my mouth hitched. “You like that? What about fiddlesticks? Does that get you?”
She let her head loll back like she was in rapture. “Keep going.”
“Discombobulate.”
Her chest heaved.
