Because that’s none of my business.
Before I have the time to dwell on the thought, Alana bursts through the door.
“Alright, Cooper. You and me. Let’s go,” she exclaims, letting the door fall shut behind her. Nate eyes her amusingly, his grin overly playful. His eyes move from Alana to me.
“Well, that sounds promising,” he says. I shake my head with a dismissive smile, and Nate offers a single nod at Alana in greeting as she drops her bag on the counter and pulls out a notebook. “Hot Friend.”
“Nathan,” she says dryly. She turns to me with a smile. “Hi,” she breathes, and when her blue-gray eyes land on mine, my body freezes. The warmth travels from my gut, up through my chest, and lands on the curve of my lips.
“Hi,” is all I respond with, but it sounds like more, even to my own ears.
We stand there for a silent beat. My eyes on hers, hers on mine, Nate’s bouncing between us.
“OH-kay, I’m gonna head out,” Nate practically yells in announcement, breaking us from the tiny spell we briefly fell under. “Got that thing with Lacey Macey. Plan on takin’ her downtown and all around, if you know what I mean.” He winks. Alana scowls before the two of us turn our backs to him.
“Too much information, Nate!” we yell in unison.
Alana moves to the living room, and I follow behind her before Nate pulls me in by the elbow. “Hey, you don’t care about this Macey thing, right?”
I swallow and clear my throat, not wanting to talk about this right now. My head snaps to Alana, then back again. “Not at all.”
“You sure? Because I can totally turn her down. I mean, I know you two had a thing or whatever—”
“Nate, it's fine, man. Really. It was nothing.” I glance over at Alana, praying she’s somehow become temporarily deaf over the last few seconds.
“Okay, cool. I’ll see you later.” He pats my arm before taking backward steps toward the door. “See ya soon, Hot Friend,” he says with a salute to Alana.
“Or, fun thought—never again,” she sings in response.
“Ha! I like her Jakey. I really do.” He holds his hands over his heart before he spins out the door.
I exhale in relief, which makes me notice how long I was holding my breath.
I take the few steps from the kitchen into the living area, my hands in the pockets of my sweats, a strange, queasy feeling beginning to settle.
“So…” I start. Alana looks up, flipping through the pages of her notebook.
“So,” she echoes.
We stand in awkward silence for a moment as my brain struggles to find a topic of conversation. That Macey thing threw me off more than I expected. I scratch the back of my head, hoping the action will spark a thought like flint in a lighter. Alana raises a questioning brow, waiting.
“The projections?”
“Oh, yeah,” I snap to attention, remembering how I got her here in the first place. “Turns out I was wrong. Melody in Motion is great.”
“You werewrong?” She closes the book, tucking it under her arm as they both cross over her chest.
“Yeah,” I shrug. “I was using the wrong factor.”
“Factor for what?”
Dammit. Her head tilts, and my heart starts to beat at a nervous pace. I wasn’t expecting a cross-examination.
“Uh…” I stall, scratching my chest, then under my chin, begging my brain to manifest a response in the next second. “The growth one?”
Her eyes narrow, and a surge of worry passes through me for a second as I wonder if I’m actually in trouble this time. But then she tongues her cheek to hide her smile.
I know I’ve been caught coercing her into coming over, but surprisingly, I don’t mind. So what if she knows I like to hang out with her? Friends like to hang out. That’s a normal platonic thing to like.
