“I didn’t know you were awake when I asked why you were dating Jake. I had no idea I was extracting a confession.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Okay, I knew you were awake for the follow-up questions. How about … I didn’t know thatyoudidn’t know what you were admitting. Is that better?”
I take a long, slow drink, shivering when the steam hits my face. “Probably not.”
“Probably?”
“I’m not ready to commit to an opinion.”
An easy smile spreads across his face. “Huh. How about that?”
“What? I didn’t say anything. I said I’mnotsaying anything.”
“Sure. I get it.” He winks.
“Why are you winking?”
“No reason,” he says, folding an arm across his chest and sipping what smells like an herbal tea with his free hand.
“Nothing just happened.”
“Uh-huh. Yeah. Of course.” He winks again, bigger.
And in spite of myself, I laugh. We stand there drinking and smiling—or trying not to—at each other until both our cups are empty. And when we’re done, Lucas takes my empty cup from me, bags it all up, and takes my trash outside to the curb just in time for the garbage truck to reach it.
I watch from the window in awe.
I didn’t ask for any of this.
He did it all anyway.
I don’t want to look like a lovesick idiot, but frankly, I’m too exhausted not to. So I exit the kitchen and head over to the couch, where I pull a blanket over me and turn onThe Bourne Identity.
“What happened to the Taken trilogy?” Lucas asks when he gets back in the house. He washes his hands in the kitchen and then joins me on the couch. “Did you already finish the third?”
I scoff. “I don’t watch the third.”
“You don’t watch the entire trilogy?” He looks at me like I just told him I slap old people for fun.
“I only like the first two. Why would I watch a movie I don’t like?”
He’s shaking his head. “You sound just like Cooper. You know he came to our house last—no, two Christmases ago, now, and he didn’t think we should watch every Home Alone movie?”
“You watchevery oneat Christmas? But the first two are?—”
“The best, obviously. But we watch all of them. It’s what you do.”
“No. I reject that completely.”
“How can you say that?”
“The rest of them suck! You don’t have to suffer through something you don’t like just to … oh my gosh, are you trying to get me to admit that I shouldn’t have to suffer dating Jake when I don’t like it?”
He smirks and kicks his feet up onto the coffee table. “No, actually, but it sounds like you’re dying to, anyway.”
I fume in silence.
