Instead of taking the offer, her brows come together, almost offended. “No. I can do it.”
I suppose that’s one way to motivate her. We make it to the fallen tree, and Eve hunches over, wheezing at the ground.
“We should keep walking to cool down,” I say. “It’s bad for your heart to stop moving right after exercising.”
“You athletes and cooling down,” Eve says, leaning over, hands on her hips. After a moment, she straightens and we continue down the path.
“You did great, Eve,” I say. “I’m impressed.”
She wipes her brow as she looks at me. “You’re lying,” she says, but something in her eyes says she’s pleased. “Thanks for making me do this, Noah. I’m going to thank you when I’ve lived a hundred years. I’ll write you into my will.”
“Chances are, I’ll die before you. You know men have a shorter life span than women, right?”
“Is that another weird statistic you read?”
I shake my head with a chuckle. “Health class.”
She clicks her tongue. “Ah. I should have guessed.”
“How do you feel about foreign TV shows?” I ask from the kitchen a day later.
Eve’s sitting in the connected living room, sprawled on the fluffy L-shaped couch. She’s been over so often that she’s figured out her perfect spot — right in the corner of the L. We’ve argued over it because that’s my favourite spot too, but I let her have it because she’s the guest.
“I haven’t seen many, but I don’t mind them. Subtitles means more reading, which isn’t a bad thing,” she replies. “Wait a second. TV shows?”
“Yep,” I say, looking up from the watermelon I’m slicing to give her an evil grin. We’ve watched more movies in the past fortnight than I have in the months before that — because we’ve binged both Hugh Grant’s and Christopher Nolan’s movies. “I’ve run out of my favourite films.”
“Ihaven’t,” Eve says.
“Well, this is a fair and balanced arrangement, so I have to contribute fantastic pieces of cinema. Well, television.” I finish cutting the watermelon and place the triangles onto a large plate. “Besides, I have an excellent show. It’s about a heist — likeOcean’s 11.”
I walk over and place the watermelon onto the coffee table. Eve moves the throw pillows to make space for me.
“It’s calledMoney Heist,” I continue. I want to pick up a piece of watermelon, but Eve has this policy of not eating before the film starts, and so I stop myself for her sake. “But the original title isLa Casa De Papel. It’s Spanish. It’s one of my favourite TV shows of all timeandthere’s romance.” I wiggle my brows, knowing Eve’s a sucker for a romance subplot.
“Isn’t a whole TV show a commitment?”
“We can still swap, and watch what you want on your nights,” I say, picking up the remote to get onto the streaming service. “Though I bet you’ll be so obsessed with this show, you’ll watch this when it’s your turn to choose.”
“How long do you think it will take to finish the whole show?” she asks.
I shrug. “From the pace we’re going, maybe two weeks? Episodes are around an hour long.”
Eve looks at me, but she’s not wearing her usual expression when she resists watching something. Instead, her eyes look almost sad.
“Hey,” I say, setting the remote down. “What’s wrong?”
She shakes her head as if trying to make her thoughts disappear. “Nothing.”
“Eve. Tell me.”
She rubs the side of her head. “Do you think it’s worth hanging out so much when it doesn’t have much bearing on The Jealousy Pact because people aren’t paying attention to how often we go to each other’s homes?”
It takes me a moment to understand the sentence. “I thought you liked the dude films I showed you,” I say, attempting to joke, but my voice cracks and now I sound pathetic.
She sits up straight. “Oh my god, Noah, I do. They’re good … dude films.”
I choke out a laugh at my wording, but Eve’s face is serious.
