Fee gives me a side hug.
“I’m here if you need someone to cheer you up,” Gage offers.
Mac shoves his shoulder. “Don’t, dude.”
“I mean that in a nonsexual way!” Gage replies defensively.
The table gives him a collective eye roll.
“Seriously, I’m more than just a relentless playboy,” he argues.
I rest my chin on my steepled fingers and bat my lashes. “But are you?”
“Occasionally.” He shrugs.
This is what I need, friends and some good-natured ribbing to take my mind off everything else.
The server drops off our appetizers. They weren’t kidding about ordering a lot of food. Soon the entire table is covered in plates.
Mac turns his megawatt smile on the server. “Thank you, Amanda. I appreciate you.”
Amanda blinks at him and stutters out, “You’re welcome,” while fiddling with her hair.
“We’re ready to order now!” Fee’s voice is unnaturally high.
Amanda snaps out of her Mac attack and takes our orders.
Cammie does a seat shimmy while waving her phone around. “Oh yay! Enid will be in here in a minute.”
Everyone looks at Brody, whose face turns red.
“I need to use the restroom.” He hustles off.
“Is he okay?” Fee asks.
“He’s probably having a mild panic attack, but repeated exposure is good for him.” Mac loads a selection of appetizers onto his plate. “Besides, one of these days he’ll get over himself and ask her out, right?”
“Hopefully,” Gage muses. “The mutual pining is a lot.”
All eyes move to Gage.
“What? It’s true. Those two are the king and queen of Pineville.”
“We just…didn’t realize you recognized feelings beyond the range of lust,” Chase quips.
He nudges Chase. “Move over one so they have to sit beside each other.”
We reorganize ourselves, andthankfully Enid arrives before Brody returns. She orders herself a mojito when the server brings the rest of our drinks.
“How’s everyone doing? Are we decompressing-from-exam-studying-stress, or avoiding-all-the-things?”
Enid is a physiology major and is always studying or working.
“Both?” Cammie asks.
As a creative writing major, almost all her exams are essays, so she’s been hunched over her laptop for the past two weeks, which means her fanfic updates are now on pause until the holidays.
“I have a study date with my tutor tomorrow afternoon,” Gage offers.
