At the fry in my hand.
Damn it.
He grinned into his burger like victory tasted like beef and melted cheese.
I threw the fry at him.
He caught it with his mouth.
Of course he did.
A laugh slipped out of me before I could stop it, quick and real and stupidly happy. Drew stilled for half a second, just long enough that I saw it register. Then his expression softened in a way that made my throat feel tight.
He liked making me laugh.
Not winning. Not flirting. Not performing.
Making me laugh.
I looked away first.
“Rule five,” I said, needing the ground back under my feet.“No falling in love.”
The booth went quiet.
Not the diner. The diner kept existing, loud and greasy and bright. But the space between us changed. Drew stopped chewing. His eyes stayed on mine, and for the first time since he dragged me out of the training room with his arm around my shoulders, he did not have a joke ready.
My pulse climbed.
Then he leaned back slowly, wiped his thumb along the corner of his mouth, and gave me a smile that did absolutely nothing to calm me down.
“Okay, Calloway,”he said.“Don’t fall in love with me.”
My chin lifted. “I think I can manage that.”
His grin turned lethal. “Yeah? When you’re calling me crying, asking me to buy you a five-carat diamond ring and begging for my love back, I’m gonna remember this moment.”
I stared at him.
He picked up his second burger like he had not just said something completely unhinged. “Princess cut or oval? You seem like an oval girl.”
“I hate you.”
“No, you don’t.” He took a bite, chewed, swallowed, and winked. “But keep practicing. New skills are important.”
I folded my arms and tried not to smile. “I have one more condition.”
“Hit me.”
“New Year’s Eve.”
His brow lifted.
“We break up by New Year’s Eve,” I said. “No matter what. I want spring semester clean from all of this. No Tristan drama, no Casey drama, no campus gossip, no fake relationship hanging over me. We give everyone a show until then, we survive the holidays, and by January, we end it.”
Drew stared at me for a second. The humor did not leave his face exactly, but something moved underneath it.
Something quieter.
