Daniela made a noise, and I looked up and flushed under her attention where she was looking at me. “What are you smiling like that about?” she said, her voice teasing, and I felt like I’d disappear into the ground. I wouldn’t be able to handle it if Daniela caught onto my feelings for Alyssa and started having fun at my expense.
“Just got a new order,” I said, putting my phone away.
“You get that giddy little look over a candle order?”
Did I look giddy? Dammit. “Just thinking about what I’m going to use those ten thousand dollars on.”
She laughed, clapping a hand on my back. “All right, you filthy capitalist. Try to stay in the present and not trip over your own feet.”
No guarantees on that front, apparently, not as long as I was going to lookgiddyat texts from Alyssa. And sure enough, it got worse when we finally made it back and I saw Alyssa sitting on the couch, her legs folded up into the couch with her, looking perfectly soft and romantic in the low amber lighting of Daniela’s living room, laughing herself breathless while she signed at a breakneck pace with Cat, who was laughing just as hard, a board game set up messily on the table between them. Alyssa really did pick up sign language quickly.
“Oh, who’s winning?” Daniela said, leaning into the living room while she peeled off her boots. Alyssa looked up, and Cat followed her gaze, jumping up to her feet at the sight of us and speaking even though I found myself locked on the spot with my eyes on Alyssa’s.
“Well, well, if it isn’t our local photographer,” Cat said, and my stomach dropped. Alyssa clasped a hand over her mouth, laughing.
“She was peering over my shoulder,” she said. Daniela gave me a look.
“What were you photographing?”
“Just… something Alyssa and I had talked about. You started without us, and now Cat’s going to demolish all of us.”
“She’s already been demolishing me,” Alyssa laughed. “I’m just here for the ride.”
Cat didn’t push it, but I knew that gleam in her eyes as she looked at me. And this time, when we sat three-to-one across from Cat, I ended up squeezed in between Alyssa and Daniela, and it was probably my imagination—probably just wishful thinking—but I swear Alyssa shifted closer to me every time I was talking to Daniela.
I tried to focus on the game, the drinks, conversation and laughter, and not on the delicate scent of Alyssa’s perfume and the delicate sound of her laughter next to me, but I knew I didn’t do very well, because once we finished the game and polished off our drinks, Daniela went off to the kitchen to clean up with Alyssa stumbling after her arguingyou said you’d let me clean up after the party,and they barely left the room before Cat gave me a sly smile, and she switched to sign language.
“So, you said you don’t have a crush on Daniela.”
Oh, god. I really hoped this wasn’t going where I thought it was. “She’s just a friend.”
“So, what did you talk about?” She gestured in the direction of the nature trail behind the house. She didn’t need to know about how Daniela had asked me on a stargazing date. Nor how I shut it down without either of us acknowledging it as a date.
“We had a good conversation. About you and me and Drew and everything.”
She raised her eyebrows—sign language generally used exaggerated facial expressions, and you could tell when Cat had made the mental switch to full sign, because her facial expressions became so much louder, so much clearer. “Really?”
“I explained the situation. She hadn’t really heard much about it… she was surprised when I told her my side of the story. She basically saidI don’t know what to believe about what happened, but whatever happened, it’s not right to let Cat shoulder all the blame.”
She laughed quietly, her gaze dropping briefly. “I feel weird about people having to take sides around me in the first place…”
She hesitated with her hands up like she was about to sign something else, but she didn’t follow through. I signed in small, careful motions. “It’s not your fault. You didn’t want it to come to this.”
“I know.” She sat up taller, her smile coming back. “So, you two didn’t go make out.”
I scowled, signing definitively. “No.”
“Because you have a crush on Alyssa instead?”
“No—” I groaned, putting a hand over my face, losing my signing flow. She’d seen my heart stop when Alyssa was close to me with her hands on my jacket, had seen me sending Alyssa pictures of her favorite flowers, had watched me lose my cool with Alyssa sitting next to me for the game. There was no way I was getting out of this cleanly. “A little bit, I guess. Just… physically. She’s very pretty. It’s natural to have a reaction to that.”
She laughed. “It’s way more than that, and you know I know that. I was so focused on you and Daniela, I didn’t even notice you and Alyssa.”
“Cat—”
“It’s cute. I guess I see why you came out of your shell after all, once she was in town.”
“I’m not—” I started, but I stopped when Daniela came back out of the kitchen, giving us an incredulous smile.
