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“Girls, this is Barry Hale,” Xolani introduced. “Barry, these are my friends, Justine and Anika.”
Barry said, “I know Anika.”
“You do?” Anika seemed surprised.
“You’re in Hybrid, right?” he asked.
Anika nodded and smiled brightly, like she was thrilled to be remembered.
He added, “How could I not know you? You’re the one who did the interior for the L4. E.V’s using it as template for our next drop.”
“Oh girl.” Impressed, Justine turned to Anika. “I didn’t know you were that famous.”
Anika blushed. “I’m really not.”
“Don’t listen to her. She’s a star.” Xolani grabbed her purse from the seat beside Anika. She pulled out the charger and held it out to Barry. “Here you are.”
Her matter-of-fact tone and expression gave the impression that she expected him to take his charger and skedaddle.
But Justine wouldn’t let that happen. “Okay, why are you two trading chargers?”
“Not trading. Giving back.” Xolani shortly explained, “I borrowed his charger but forgot to return it.”
“Really?” Justine tapped the seat beside her, drawing his attention to her long, colorful nails. “Barry, sit down. Tell me how this charger saga really went down.”
“She’s told you the whole story.” Barry said, “There’s really not much else to it.”
“Let me be the judge of that.” Justine tapped the seat again. “Sit.”
Barry could’ve easily refused the request, but something told him that if he left now, this might be the last time he saw Xolani. Despite his resolve not to pursue a romantic relationship with her, he was still reluctant to part with her.
Barry took the offered seat. “What else do you want to know?”
Xolani gave him a look, like she couldn’t believe that he’d sat down. But she didn’t ask him to leave. Instead, she took the seat opposite Justine but next to Anika, then raised her hand to order drinks for them.
Barry didn’t like that Xolani was so far from him, but what could he do? At least they were at the same table, and he could still see her.
“So you guys started as seatmates, then found out you were coworkers?” Justine summarized when Barry gave her a recap of how his charger had found its way into Xolani’s hands. Justine looked at both of them in awe. “I think this is Mother Nature’s way of telling y’all to date.”
“No,” Both Barry and Xolani answered at the same time then looked at each other.
Even though Barry had said ‘no’ too, he was incredibly disappointed by Xolani’s swift refusal. Interestingly enough, she seemed disappointed with him too.
“No?” Justine asked. “Y’all don’t want to date?”
Neither Barry nor Xolani answered. They just stared at each other, trying to guess what the other was thinking. Xolani’s gaze held unasked questions, like she wanted to know why he didn’t want to date her. Well, he was curious too. Why didn’t she want to date him?
Xolani turned back to her friend with a smile. “I guess I’m not his type.”
She was definitely his type. If it wasn’t for the coworker thing, he’d be on her like butter on bread. But he couldn’t say that.
“It’s not about type,” he hedged. “I’m just not in the right headspace right now.”
That wasn’t a lie. After the disastrous end to his last relationship, he’d decided to stay single for some time. If he hadn’t met Xolani, dating would never have even crossed his mind.
Justine was unconvinced. Her eyes narrowed. “What do you mean_”
Anika’s phone rang, interrupting the interrogation. When she saw who it was, panic suffused her expression. She showed the phone’s screen to Justine and Xolani. Barry saw the name on the screen too. It was ‘Mom’.
