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“He didn’t say he was.”
“Don’t tell me you’re still fighting?” Her brow furrowed with concern. Having someone else interested in my personal life felt strange. I appreciated that she cared, but I also found it disconcerting that I was no longer able to dismiss any emotions I wished to avoid. She always asked how I was doing. How Oliver was doing. If we'd made up yet. It was annoyingly endearing.
"I wouldn’t call it fighting,” I said. “We just don’t talk much anymore. It’s not that different from how we’ve always been.”
She groaned. “Yes, but you made so much progress since moving here. Wasn’t that the whole point? To get to know your brother?”
I sighed. “Maybe we did get to know each other, and that’s what has made it abundantly clear that we’re better off as indifferent acquaintances.”
She shook her head. “I don’t believe that for a second. I saw you two after that hike and at trivia. I remember when he was always dragging you on some adventure. You secretly liked it. I could tell.”
“Did not.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Oh, are you five now? You know you were having fun with him.”
I sighed, relenting. Iwashaving fun with him. But now our divide seemed even wider and more impassable than it had been when I first arrived.
“He doesn’t want anything to do with me.”
“Have you tried talking to him?”
“About what?”
She let out a frustrated breath. “I don’t know. Maybe start with an apology.”
“For what?”
“Oh my god. You two have some of the worst communication skills I’ve ever seen. If this is any indicator of our future fights, I’m dreading what’s to come.”
I snaked my hand around her neck and kissed her nose. “We’re different. I would bend over backward to make things right with us.”
“Well, maybe you could just try leaning back asmidgeto make things right with Oliver.”
I paused. “Maybe.” That was all I could give her. Oliver and I had swept our issues and differences to the side our entire lives. How could we address them now? I wasn’t even sure how to go about it.
My phone vibrated. I let out a curse under my breath when I saw Ben’s name. Another text asking if the final version of the app was set and in place.
“For the hundredth time, yes,” I wrote back.
I couldn’t fault him for triple-checking the launch. We were only days away after all. However, his incessant attention to detail had me stressed out too. Charlie and I had scoured high and low for every bug, and I finally felt confident we found and fixed them all. Yet, my perfectionism always nagged me to take one additional look.
“Everything alright?”
“It's Ben again.”
“The integration is perfect and the launch will be flawless,” she said, reassuring me yet again. “I know because I worked on it.”
Chuckling, I put my phone away. “I’ll be glad when it’s over.”
“Me too.”
“You know I appreciate you staying late this past week, right?”
“I know.”
“Although seeing you, alone, late at night in the office gives me some wicked fantasies.” I pulled her in and pressed my forehead against hers.
She swatted my chest and laughed. “That would hardly be discreet.”
