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“Bye, Stinton,” I called out. “It was sort of good to see you.” I needed to stop being so mean to him. I’d keep working on it.
“Same to you.”
I ducked my head in the kitchen and stuck my tongue out at him. He had his usual bowl of bran flakes and his crossword puzzle book out. As far as roommates went, Stinton wasn’t half bad. Someday, I hoped to meet this serious girlfriend of his.
Denver caught up to me at the front door and opened it for me. His shirt was off-kilter, and my hands so badly wanted to reach out and straighten it for him. But we were getting way too comfortable with invading each other’s space. I usually woke up several times in the night from dreams, or because I was too cold, or hot, or my shirt had bunched up, or because I needed to recite my grocery list for the next day. Last night? Solid. Solid sleep. Why?
Denver rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m sorry I fell asleep and didn’t get you home. That’s on me.”
“It’s okay.”
He searched my eyes, looking for the forgiveness he didn’t need to ask for.
“We’re good, Denver. See you Monday.” My phone started ringing, and I pulled it out. Four missed texts from Jenny. And now she was calling. Probably in a panic.
Chapter 26 – Denver
I shouldn’t have doubted Sadie when she said we were good and everything would be fine. It had been more than a week, and she hadn’t brought it up once. Sleepover-Shmeepover. Holding her against me with my face tucked in against her neck? Never happened. Sadie’s ability to keep me in the frenemy category was second only to her matchmaking skills. Zane couldn’t stop gushing about Avery or his gratitude for Sadie pointing her out at the club. They’d been on two more dates since.
“If I’m good at it, that just means I have to do more of it, don’t I?” She read his latest message and rubbed her palms into her eyes. Compliments made her grouchy.
“Or we could tell Marcel we need a break.”
“I don’t need a break. Is Zane done with us then?”
“For now. Which means we can say yes to the maze experience at the Science Center if this new guy decides he’s going.” I’d been assigned Colton a few days ago. He was one of those long-time users who had a thousand reasons why GoWithFriends wasn’t working for him. And now he wanted a BFF. Marcel told me to settle in. This wasn’t going to be a quick assignment like Hector or Zane.
Sadie shook her head. “Colton’s not going to the Science Center. I’m not sure why he applied or how he got approved. He doesn’t want to meet people. He barely talks in the thread as it is.” She hid a yawn and then almost knocked over her coffee trying to pick it up for a sip.
“Are you sleeping okay?” I asked. “You look tired.” As soon as the words left my mouth, I knew I was in trouble.
“You’re not supposed to tell people they look tired.” She yawned. “Even if they are.”
“You’re right. Beautiful as always.” She was. I saw her in profile all day long. The slope of her nose, the pucker of her lips, the curve of her neck. If I had any skill above stick drawings, I’d attempt to sketch her. And then hide the drawings somewhere safe because Sadie would HATE that.
She must have felt me watching her, because she shifted in her seat and pulled at the delicate chain around her neck, rubbing it against her fingers before letting it drop under her shirt collar again. It was a nervous habit of hers. When I reached out for it, she blocked my hand. “Nope.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t know. I just don’t want you looking at it.”
“Sadie.” I groaned and stretched. “You’re making me want to look more. And also less. It’s just a necklace. How mysterious can it be?”
She ignored me and continued vetting people who wanted to join GoWithFriends. We were familiar enough with our tasks to be able to do that, check on threads, and chat back and forth with Colton. Mostly, he wanted advice on what to say to women. I’d given him plenty of suggestions. Vague ones. It was expressly against my terms of service to feed him lines. Not only did I not want to play Cyrano de Bergerac; I wasn’t allowed to.
I asked him about the Science Center meetup on Friday night. He still wasn’t sure. I encouraged him to think about it. He said he would.
After staring at a computer screen for hours, heading down for dodgeball felt like a prison break. Sadie darted ahead of me, probably in hopes of catching me unawares. Now that we were officially friends, or whatever, she’d renewed her daily attempts to hit me.
Sure enough, as I crept closer to the dodgeball room, keeping against the walls and under windows, I could hear her quietly plotting with someone just inside the doorway.
“So, you’re going to throw, and when he looks at you, I’ll get him in the back of the head.”
Rob strolled up behind me. “I shouldn’t do this for you, but I hate Sadie slightly more. I’ll tell you right or left in a second.” While I waited outside the doorway, he walked in and took a panic hit to the chest.
“Right away?” he called out. “You hit merightaway?”
Very sneaky of him, but he was overdoing it. I jumped in behind him before he gave us away and used him as a shield for the next hit from the right. Then I grabbed a dodgeball from the floor and used it to block the next hit.
