I can’t feel my face. It’s in shock.
I try to blink. “I’m what?”
Elle’s brows jump. “She’s what?”
Andrew’s staring at me.
“You’re eating. With us. End of story.”
Elle laughs, hollow,
waiting for the other end of the joke,
but it never comes.
She looks at him,
then me,
then back at him, realizing he’s serious.
“Andrew, are you feeling okay?” She looks genuinely concerned. “You hear yourself right now? You just invited her to Roger’s birthday thing. You don’t invite girls anywhere.” She gestures between us like she’s doing the math but keeps getting the wrong answer. “This isn’t you. What did this girl do to you?”
Then Elle turns to me.
“What did you do to him?”
“Well,” I say, lifting my coffee,
“first I gave him a heart attack.”
Andrew nods. “Swear to God, lost it somewhere in my chest,” he says, serious. “Scared the shit outta me. Thought I was gettin’ robbed.”
“Then I asked him his name,” I add.
He turns to me, eyes warm.
“Yeah. That’s right. Which I lost that for a sec too, found it, then I asked you yours.”
“And I told you.”
“And I said it again,” he says.
“And again,” I reply.
He smiles. “And now I can’t fuckin’ stop.”
He leans into me, crashing his shoulder into mine,
as if he wants to say it again, in my ear this time.
But then Elle claps her hands, all fake cheerful.
“Amazing. So we’ll just all hang out together. Who knows? Maybe Allison and I will become best friends, ‘cause you know what they say?—”
I wince. It’s coming.
“Here we go…” Andrew mumbles under his breath.
