I resist the urge to roll my eyes. Theo and his wife, Cora, are perhaps the most obnoxiously in love couple I know. Don’t get me wrong, Theo’s a fun guy, and Cora is lovely, but ever since they got married last year, they’ve been a bit, well, insufferable. Granted, I’m not the lovey-dovey type, so maybe it’s just me.
“Yeah, it does get old,” Harrison echoes, his lips pursed. His tone has me wondering if things with Caitlin aren’t going as well as it seems, but I keep my mouth shut. “Someoneelseat this table might be getting a girlfriend soon,” Harrison adds, tone shifting, reaching over to smack my chest with a smirk.
Theo turns to me with widened eyes, and from beside him, Cruz mutters, “I’ll believe it when I see it.”
Panic courses through me, and I nearly drop my spoon. “What?” I snap, my voice coming out a bit harsher than I’d intended. “What are you talking about? Idon’thave a girlfriend.” A million thoughts flit through my head. Am I about to be found out in the middle of the mess hall, in front of everyone I work with? Am I about to tackled to the ground by my best friendat work?
Theo laughs, and Harrison rolls his eyes, holding his hands up and feigning innocence. “Oh, so that cutie who spent the nightmore than oncewon’t be returning again?”
“More than once?” Theo echoes, leaning forward with a grin. “Thatisserious for you, Graham.”
My brows knit together. “What are you—wait, are you talking aboutMadeline?”
Harrison snorts. “I don’t know the names of the girls you bring home,” he defends. “I wouldn’t mind knowing their names, you just don’t ever bother to introduce me.”
Relief—harsh and heavy—rips through me, and I almost physically close my eyes. Madeline. He’s talking about Madeline. Madeline, who I’d honestly completely forgotten about. She’d texted a couple times over the last week, and I’d blown her off both times. I haven’t heard from her since, and I think that means she got the hint.
And, come to think about it, whyhadn’tmy mind immediately gone to Madeline too?
Why was I thinking about Delilah?
She’s not my girlfriend. Not an almost-girlfriend. She’s barely a hookup. We still technically haven’tfullyhooked up. And when we do—ifwe do—it still won’t count because …
Because it won’t.
“Dude, I’m kidding.” Harrison’s voice pulls me from my thoughts, and I blink, turning to look at him. He looks mildly concerned at my silence, although still amused.
I force out a laugh. “Sorry, yeah, just tired today. Didn’t sleep well last night.”
“Oh, did Madeline sneak in without me knowing?”
I laugh along good naturedly, ignoring the twinge in my chest. And the guilt digging itself deeper and deeper into the core of my being. I shovel a spoonful of chili into my mouth, resorting to one thing and one thing only from this conversation.
Harrison can never, ever find out about me and Delilah.
Chapter fourteen
Delilah
Graham sits across from me on my couch, a can of seltzer in his hand, watching me with an irritatingly amused smirk on his face. The sun is setting behind him through the windows of my living room, the workday having ended a few hours ago.
“These aren’t stupid questions, you know,” I say with a slight glare. My research notebook—that he’d so rudely read aloud last time he was here—sits on my lap, my pen in hand. Now that he knows about the stupid thing, I feel I might as well just ask him questions point blank.
The side of his mouth ticks up ever so slightly. “Didn’t say they were.”
“Well, that smirk certainly is.”
He rolls his eyes. “I find plenty of non-stupid things amusing. You, for instance.”
“Wh—” I splutter. “Why am I amusing?”
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Pickles slinking into the room from the hallway. He shoots a suspicious glance at me,Graham, and then me again. Considering Graham has only been over a handful of times, this is brave for him.
“Well, you’re pretty cute, for one.”
I purse my lips.
He raises his eyebrows. “You know that’s a compliment, right?”
