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I growled, and Denver gave me a weird look.
“It all makes sense in my head,” I mumbled.
“I bet it does.”
After Denver got officially dumped by his date, I pulled up a private message in the app, and sent him the question I already knew the answer to.
Hey, wanna go out with me tomorrow morning way too early?
He glanced at me before typing.
Sure. My date just cancelled. Your timing is impeccable.
I bit back a smile, but it died the second I glanced back and saw Wendy watching us. We’d stopped ignoring each other. I’d forgotten about her, and it was way past time to take care of her gossipy, listening ears. Denver wasn’t the only one good at messing with people.
“Hey, Denver?” I asked.
“Yeah?”
“Did your sister ever agree to that alien abduction interview?”
To his credit, Denver only paused for a moment before his eyes sparkled with all sorts of mischief. “No. I’m so sorry. I know how your UFO fan club was looking forward to talking with her. You’re the president, right?”
“Yep, that’s me. You know how I like to be in charge of things.” Oh, he was so dead. Sure, he’d been happy to play along with me, but only if he got to add his own rules to this stupid game.
I didn’t dare glance back at Wendy again, but in my peripheral, I could tell she had her head cocked towards us. Her chair squeaked when she leaned back, probably to hear us better.
Denver nudged me and dropped his voice enough to make it seem like he didn’t want her to hear. “My sister thinks it was all just a vivid dream. Did it feel that way for you? You know, when the aliens took you up?”
He had a pen sitting in front of his keyboard. I stole it and clicked a few times while I tried to hold it together. I wasn’t just fighting the urge to laugh. I was also fighting the urge to pinch him right on his perfect bicep. I bet it would hurt more with less loose skin to grab. Man, those things were tight.
“I wasn’t abducted by aliens.”
“Mmm-hmm. Did they tell you to say that?”
“Yes, Denver. Except for the one I dated. He thought I should be free to say whatever I wanted to.”
“You dated one of them? Was he hot?” Denver stared me down, daring me to laugh first. No way. I was going to sell this hard.
“He was so hot. And he had a beautiful soul. They put him in prison for helping me.”
“Alien prison?”
“Yeah. Alien prison. It’s a sore subject, so back off, okay?”
“Okay.” Denver reached out and expertly stole his pen back. “You shouldn’t pen-click. It’s bad for your sinuses. My dad is a TV doctor. So, he knows these things.”
We kept the B.S. going for the rest of the day. To the point where Rob, who never listened to music while he worked, stole Wendy’s earbuds. She didn’t even notice.
Chapter 18 – Denver
I’d been on a lot of dates. Some good. Some bad. But nothing had prepared me for this one. I appreciated the dark and quiet of the morning while I drove to pick up Sadie for our newsraiding date.
Today was going to be weird. The only question was how weird. I was dressed in a pale-pink tie, a brown dress shirt, and light cream-colored khakis. After a long debate, the group had decided the best way for us to recognize each other was if we all dressed up as Neapolitan ice cream. It was better than the bell bottom idea, so I couldn’t complain too much.
When I reached Sadie’s door, I texted her, and then waited on the newCome Back with Pizzadoormat. I wondered if that was Jenny’s doing or Sadie’s. Jenny was the decorator, but it had Sadie’s snarky humor all over it. Two minutes went by. No Sadie.
I really hoped she was at least out of bed. I sent another text with a snooze emoji.
