She narrows her eyes. Warrior mode, activated.
“See, Lane? It’s because of guys like you that dirty movies don’t make girls come.”
I don’t know whether it’s hearing Lois say “come” or “dirty,” but something’s happened to my brain, and I can’t find a single thing tosay. All I can do is sit and stare at her pouting.Don’t look at her boobs, dude.
“Lois!” Carter claps his hands together, cackling. “Nobody has said ‘dirty movie’ since the nineties!” He shakes his head. “Laney, get her to read through the concept. We need to enlighten her, man.”
“Don’t you have water aerobics class?”
“No, why? You scared, Laney?” She beams at me.
Two can play this game.“The file is on the desk down the hall. Go get it,” I snap at her.
“In yourroom, you mean?”
She’s making it sound like I just asked her to head into a haunted house.
“Why? You scared, Heartbreak?”
“Not at all!”
She gets to her feet and disappears into the hall.
“You two are adorable,” Carter singsongs as he fiddles with his empty beer bottle.
“Gimme a break.”
“Wasn’t she only supposed to be crashing here fora little while?”
I’m surprised it’s taken him this long to call me out on the one small detail I’ve been trying to downplay.
“This is all your fault, Cart. You dumped her on me. How can I kick her out now?”
“Yeah, that must be it.” He nods, but he’s still got that shitty little smirk on his face. “So is the plan still to keep her on the couch? Because you could—”
“No way,” I snap. “That room is not available.”
“Relax, that’s not what I was thinking. I was going to tease you about sharing your bed.”
“Right. That makes sense.” I cock an eyebrow. “Not. I’m not interested in Lois, man.”
An uncomfortable silence wedges its way between us. I feel stupid that I assumed he meant I should give her Mike’s room.
Carter assesses me.
“What?” I hiss.
“Nothing.”
“What’s taking her so long, anyway?” I turn to the hall, raising my voice. “You get lost down there, Lois?”
“Coming!”
When she closes the hall door behind her, there’s a strange expression on her face. She walks over to us, a pensive look playing over her features.What’s up with her? Did something in my room spook her?I rack my brain, but I still can’t make sense of the vibe shift. She looks over at the couch, staring at it for a moment.
Shaking her head, she squeezes in between me and Carter, pulling her legs up to her chest and making a start on our latest script. Cart shoots me a confused look over her head, and I respond with a shrug.
Her lashes flutter as she reads, her eyes darting back and forth from line to line. It feels weirdly stressful, having her see this side of me. I’ve never been ashamed of what I do, though people are usually surprised when they find out. But seeing her focused on my work like this is the strangest feeling. Or maybe it’s the way she’s easing herself into my world, smoothie by sludgy smoothie. Delicious smoothies, come to think of it.
