“Yeah,” he answered cautiously.
“Do you text me before your flight saying you miss me already and can’t wait for Christmas to see me again?”
I flew off my chair, darting another death glare at Amanda.
“Highly unlikely,” he answered.
I yanked the phone out of Amanda’s hand. “Are you fuckin’ best friends?” I glanced back and forth between the two. “And when have you ever traveled long enough to miss anybody?”
“Ooh! Defensive,” he said. “Remind me what that means again?”
I pointed my index finger at him. “Fuck you.” My finger shifted toward Amanda. “And you.”
I read Mike’s text as they laughed.On the plane. Missing u already. Can’t wait for Christmas to b with u again.
The phone shook with another message, and my heart thudded. I pushed Amanda aside when she tried to peek again and motioned for her to return to her seat.
The new message was a selfie of Mike on the plane, pouting like a child. I snorted, my fingers tapping on letters.I should’ve lost that bet on purpose.I added multiple sad emojis and tapped SEND.
The sound of rattling keys made me swallow. I locked my phone and looked up.
“Kyle is here,” Amanda chimed in.
“Hey, guys.” He closed the front door as Amanda and Raoul greeted him.
I gave Kyle a hug, throwing my friends a dirty look, waving for them to start working.
“You just woke up?” Kyle asked.
“Yeah, I overslept. I hadn’t slept in two days and our last marathon finished me,” I replied.
He blushed, smiling. “I know. We didn’t even get a chance to discuss the arrangements. I came as soon as I finished work so we can get things in order for the moving.” His hands rubbed along my arms. “I couldn’t wait.”
I scratched the back of my neck, pulling at my hair a little. “We’ll have plenty of time to discuss this when I finish the movie. You know I can’t move in before that.”
“Which is in a few days. I can arrange everything this week so you can move in as soon as you’re done. All you need to do is give me a list of things to buy.”
My stomach tightened with unease. My chest too. “I don’t know, Kyle. I don’t even know if I want to move to your place, or if you should come live with me.”
“Of course, we’re gonna live at my place. How’s that even a question?”
What the fuck? “Of course, it’s a question.” I raised my eyebrows, perplexed. “Even if we agree to live at your apartment, I need to take another look at it, at least, to take measurements. We’re gonna discuss colors and breaking walls. Agree and disagree on renovations. Compromise.”
“You have my full consent to do whatever you want. Just tell me what to do.”
“Kyle, please.” I blew out a frustrated breath. “Look, I really can’t talk about this right now. I’ve already lost yesterday and burned daylight today. I can’t afford to lose another minute. The festival will be closed to submissions in five days.”
“All that didn’t seem important yesterday when you dropped everything to dress up and go have dinner with yourfriend.”
Here it is. The fight he deliberately didn’t start last night.“Excuse me?”
His forehead creased. “What, you can waste five precious hours with him, but you can’t spare thirty minutes for something as important as moving in together?”
“Oh my God. You’re moving in together?” Amanda jumped to her feet. “Congratulations.” She screamed and gave me a hug. “Is that what you were trying to tell us?”
I frowned, glaring at Kyle. “Yeah, but you guys wouldn’t shut up.”
Kyle folded his arms across his chest while Raoul rose from his seat and congratulated him. “Sorry, Mags. We just wanted to know what happened at that dinner.”
