“Ugh. Fine. I’ll play it cool.” She beamed. “So, do I look all right?”
“You look like your legs are going to get cold.”
“Great, so I look perfect. Ready to go?”
This woman was a force of nature. We got in the car.
∞∞∞
Daniela’s house was nostalgic, like I hadn’t been inside in ages, and at the same time, it felt like I was doing something wrong by being there, pausing awkwardly at the door before I knocked. It unlocked a second later, and my stomach dropped at the sight—not Daniela in the entryway as it had been a million times before, but Alyssa, dressed in a cream-colored cable-knit sweater with her hair up in a braided bun, soft makeup giving her a dewy look, blue eyes sparkling.
“Hey, you two,” she said, signing the keywords as she spoke. “You both look nice.”
“Hey,” I said, my smile flickering. “You too.” God, it wasn’t lost on me—the way I’d been nervous coming in here oncealready because of a woman I had feelings for answering the door and ushering me in and me feeling like I couldn’t say anything about it. Different woman, same ordeal. “Cat’s legs got cold.”
“Hey—I saw that,” Cat said, elbowing me. “My legs are fine!”
“I know you saw that, I was trying to provoke you.”
“Oh my god.”
Alyssa laughed, and she stepped back to let us into the entryway, music playing from inside. Taylor Swift. Same album she’d been listening to when we first met. I was going to spiral if I kept thinking things like that. I could hear Daniela in the kitchen, cabinets opening and closing, the fast footsteps she only did when she was cooking. Alyssa gestured us inside. “Okay, quit arguing and come inside, or you’ll both get cold.”
“I’m just fine!” Cat protested, but she went in ahead of me, dropping to a squat to take her shoes off. I stepped inside after, and Alyssa shut the door behind me, which put her uncomfortably close to me. I instantly registered the scent—grapefruit, sweet and sparkling, and something floral, maybe orchid. Maybe a very light perfume, maybe the detergent on the sweater, but it was different from how she usually smelled, something she’d chosen, something she must have liked. She looked up to meet my gaze, and I felt a nervous flush when she stood this close, looking me in the eye.
This was why pretty girls were a problem.
“You’re wearing makeup today?” she said. Right… not just standing there gazing into my eyes.
“I do know how to dress up on occasion.”
“It’s really pretty. I mean, you look pretty without it, too, but I like the smudged brown eyeliner look for you.”
I smirked. “It’s okay, you can tell me I look sloppy and ugly most of the time.”
“Hey. Don’t antagonize me right now, I have a deadly weapon,” she said, holding up her hand to flash the ring at me. I laughed.
“I yield, I yield. I’m a beautiful butterfly.”
“That’s what I thought,” she laughed, and she put her hands on the lapels of my jacket. I stiffened. “This looks good on you too,” she said. “Haven’t seen this since the last time I slapped you in the face.”
“It’s my flannel body armor. I’m prepared for war.”
“Well, I’m going to take it off you, because you’re going to roast in the kitchen if you’re wearing it.”
Was she doing this on purpose? Tugging on my jacket and talking about what she was going to take off of me? “You just want it for yourself,” I said lightly, but I slipped it off. She laughed, taking the jacket, and she paused at the hook by the door, and with a glint in her eyes, she flipped it around and slipped it on, posing.
“How do I look?” she said, adjusting the hem. “Do I look outdoorsy and sporty and cool?”
She… looked like she was wearing my clothes, was how she looked. I always thought I’d be better than to be completely useless over a beautiful woman, but Alyssa did one thing like this and I was gone. “You look ready to run into a tree.”
“Jesus, woman,” she laughed, hands on her hips. “That’s a very serious, loaded trauma! How dare you?”
“I told you, I’m a mean bitch.”
She laughed, shaking her head as she shrugged off the jacket. “What,” she said, hanging it up by the door, “am I going to do with you? I’ll see if Daniela has any ideas. C’mon,” she laughed, heading for the kitchen, and it was only then that I noticed the look Cat was giving me.
“What?” I signed, and she shook her head, a cautious smile on her lips.
