“The college newspaper just asked me to cover sports because Bobby’s broken his leg,” Ava told Jett excitedly, and I watched as he dropped his backpack and came around the table. “I’m going to be a sports reporter!” she told him. In one move, she was off the chair and in his lap as he gave her a huge hug and kissed her soundly.
Rolling my eyes at their behavior but grinning anyway, I turned to Ash as he sat down across from me. “Hi.”
“Hey. Did the freshman guy have your coffee for you this morning?” he asked me absently as he dug in his backpack and brought out containers.
Itwashim. That shouldn’t have made me as happy as it did. “Did you tell him my order?”
Ash looked up from opening his lunch. “How else would you get your coffee if I didn’t tell him?”
He looked genuinely confused, and I tried to hide my sudden frustration at his obliviousness. “Yeah, obviously.” He stared at me for a moment longer, causing me to widen my eyes at him as if to sayWhat?Shaking his head, he returned to inspecting his lunch.
“I spoke to Wade. He says you’ll be done by six,” Ash told me as he took a bite of what appeared to be chicken pasta salad.
“You spoke to Wade?”
“Are you okay?” Ash asked as he paused again to look at me. “You keep repeating things I’m telling you.”
“Because you spoke to Wade! Do youusuallyspeak to Wade?”
“Why is this a thing?” he asked me as he put his fork down. His eyes flicked to Ava and Jett briefly.
“Why did you speak to Wade?”
His eyes narrowed, and he looked suspicious, like I was asking him a trick question. “So I know when you’ll be finished?” His eyes ran over me quickly, assessing. “Did you hit your head? Have you drunk enough water today?”
“No, I didn’thitmy head. Stop looking at me as if I’m fragile,” I snapped at him irritably. “Why did you need to ask Wade? Why not ask me?”
He leaned back in his seat as he shook his head slightly. “Jesus fuck, woman! I literally just passed him in the fucking hall. He said, ‘Mia’s going to practice with us after class, is that okay?’ I said, ‘Sure, what time’s she finished?’ He said, ‘Six.’” Ash scrubbed his cheek as he spoke to me. “You want me to record it next time?” he asked in exasperation.
Why was Wade reporting to Ash? “Why didn’t you say that to start with?” I demanded.
“I didn’t think I needed to.” He was looking at me as if I were special and not in a good way.
“And why is Wade even asking for your permission?” I carried on, frustrated that I felt like crying. “Why will there be a next time?”
“I don’t think he was. It was two guys passing each other in the fucking hall, and one guy told the other guy something. It wasn’t a big fucking deal.”
“You swear all the time,” I snapped at him, knowing I was being slightly unreasonable.
“What?” He looked completely irritated and perplexed. “Like seriously,whatis wrong with you?”
“You swear too much,” I told him coolly.
“You live with Ava,” Ash retorted as he looked at her, and I avoided looking at both of the people sitting to my left.
“So? Because Ava swears, you can swear? Real mature.”
He looked incredulous. “What the fuck are you even saying?” he asked me in exasperation. “I just want to eat my lunch, not endure the fucking Spanish Inquisition!”
“Fine.”
“Fine!” He stabbed his fork into his pasta and shoveled some into his mouth.
“Did you two hook up again?” Ava asked cautiously. “There seems to be a lot of pent up . . . aggression.”
“No.” Ash looked affronted at the thought.
“I’ll pass,” I snipped at her as I pretended to ignore Ash’s grunt of agreement.
