Hm.
“Right,” I say, picking up the screwdriver again, “Maybe the smoke in here got to me.”
She doesn’t correct me.
She just exhales and says, “You want a drink?”
It catches me off guard. “What kind?”
“The wet kind, genius.” She pushes away from me, muttering under her breath as she crosses to the kitchen. I follow her because something in me can’t sit still when she’s moving.
She fills two glasses and slides one my way. When our fingers brush, it’s nothing more than a second, but it feels hot.
I examine the cup before raising it to my lips.
“Relax. It’s just water.”
“Thanks,” I say, trying to keep my voice even.
She shrugs. “Don’t say I never did anything nice.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.”
She leans against the counter, one hip cocked, bare foot tapping against the tile. Her scarf’s slipping down, untamed baby hairs sneaking out around her face. Her looking like this somehow makes this worse for me. It makes it too easy to imagine her this way all the time.
My chest tightens. Why does this feel like déjà vu? Like I used to look at her the same way once, not that I’d ever admit it back then.
I clear my throat. “So why do you work so late, anyway?”
She quirks a brow. “You ask a lot of questions, you know that?”
“Curious by nature,” I say. “Or bored.”
Frankie rolls her eyes but humors me. “I stream at night. Mostly gaming content.”
That makes me look up. “You take this gaming thing pretty seriously, huh?”
She mean mugs the fuck out of me. “I mean, it’s my job, so of course I do.”
“Don’t get so defensive,” I shoot back. “I just didn’t have you pegged for that, that’s all.”
She slams down her cup. “That’s ‘cause you don’t know me, Jabari.”
The silence after stretches. I can hear her breathing, and smell that cinnamon-nutmeg scent again. She’s so pretty when she’s ticked off. Her eyebrows pinch together, her teeth kinda shows through her grimace. She looks so delicate, even with that neck tat.
Heavenly.
The complete opposite of that look in her eyes.
“I know. But if there’s a chance?—”
“No.”
“You don’t even know what I was gonna say.”
“It doesn’t matter,” she replied. “There is no chances between you and I.”
We hold each other’s eyes forever, until the door creaks open.
