He moved his straw around in his cup and said with a feigned scowl, “You wouldn’t let me cut in line because of rules. Irritating as fuck.”
I was about to explain to Charlie how there was nothing the least bit irritating about following the rules when Nekesa interrupted, appearing beside our table with Theo. “Hey! Guess what? Mr. Cleveland sat with us at lunch, and when Theo told him he’s majoring in accounting next year, good old Cleves transferred him to Protostar. So he’s on our team now too.”
I looked up at the two of them and was mildly annoyed by this news. Theo seemed fine, but Nekesa and I had taken the job together—as a team—and his presence was really messing with the vibe.
“Wow.” Charlie leaned back and stretched. “So you got upgraded? I got demoted to Protostars just because I said glitter was the devil’s calling card.”
Nekesa snorted. “You said that?”
“Respect.” Theo gave Charlie a slow grin of appreciation. “There was an entire section in the Red Giant handbook on the endless joy of glitter bombs. I can’t believe you actually said that out loud.”
“Listen to what you just said and tell me I’m wrong.” Charlie crossed his arms over his chest. “?‘Endless joy of glitter bombs’—are they kidding with that?”
Charlie and Theo started talking between themselves, and I glanced at Nekesa. “Are you sure we shouldn’t quit and find normal jobs?”
“Normal sucks,” Nekesa said, and I got distracted for a second by Charlie and Theo. They were doing that whole low-talking, smart-ass grin-wearing thing guys did that usually equated to a conversation about breasts, and I rolled my eyes.
I just knew I wouldn’t approve of their conversation.
Nekesa reached down and grabbed my cup. “Can I have a sip?”
Charlie looked up from his conversation with Theo and said to Nekesa, “Only if you like a malt made with vanilla ice cream but only half a spoonful of malted and two squirts of chocolate syrup instead of three. And half whipped cream, no cherry.”
I hadn’t realized Charlie had heard my order at all, much less heard it and remembered every little detail. A part of me was impressed by his perfect recollection, but a bigger part of me was taken aback by the way he acted so familiar with me.
Because we didn’t know each other at all, right?
So why did it feel like we kind of did?
“So on-brand for my girl.” She lifted the cup and took a long drink before saying, “Ooh—but so good. Do I have time to get a malt?”
I said, “No,” and at the same time both boys said, “Yes.”
Nekesa stuck out her tongue at me, and I glanced down at my watch. “Well, be fast. I don’t want to be late.”
“Such a Protostar,” Theo teased, and I couldn’t believe he was self-assured enough to mock me when we’d only just met.
“Takes one to know one,” Nekesa said, “Mr. Private School.”
“Did you really just say that?” Theo said, giving Nekesa a flirty smile. “Miss Public Education?”
“I think I did,” she said, grinning.
“Looks like someone upped the attitude since we last met.” I watched as Theo tilted his head and gave her an appraising look. “I’m not sure if I’m scared or if I like it.”
“Oh, you’re scared,” Nekesa replied, meeting his gaze before turning and walking to the counter to order.
“I think I’m both,” Theo said, laughing as he followed behind her. “I’m scared and I like it.”
As soon as they were out of earshot, Charlie said, “Those two are so gonna hook up.”
“You are so wrong,” I quickly snapped at him. Even if she was being a little flirty, that didn’t mean she was going to cheat. “She’s got a boyfriend.”
He gave me a level stare before saying, “So what?”
“So she’s super happy with Aaron, that’s what.” Typical Charlie, assuming the worst. “Theo’s just an old friend.”
“An old friend who looks at her like that.”
I followed his gaze over to the counter, where Nekesa was laughing loudly about something. And, okay, Theo was staring at her.
Pretty intently, actually.
He was staring at her as if she’d just told him the most wonderfully shocking thing he’d ever heard in his life. His eyes were very nearly sparkling, for God’s sake. Still, I said, “He’s looking at her like he thinks she’s funny.”
“Trust me, if those two start working together, they’ll be banging it out in under a month.”
“You’re disgusting,” I said, not at all shocked by his cynical assumption. It was exactly what Charlie in the plane would’ve said, as well as Charlie at the movie theater. He might have changed in some ways, but his penchant for assuming the worst remained the same.
“I’m right, though. Even if she’s happy with Aaron the Great, those two have entirely too much fun together for it to stay platonic.”
“So you still subscribe to the same idiotic theory about friendship?” I wasn’t sure why I was even posing it as an inquiry when his opinion was obvious.
“It’s not a theory, Glasses—it’s a fact,” he said, stretching out his long legs under the table. “And coworkers are the worst, too, by the way, because they don’t realize they’re becoming ‘friends’ until that ‘friendship’ turns into attraction, which ultimately becomes a hookup.”
“That’s a trash theory.” I watched just over his shoulder as Theo and Nekesa laughed together as they stood in line. He’s wrong, right? I said, “I guarantee you, no matter how much those two might work together, nothing will happen between them except friendship.”
“Care to make a wager?” he asked, his eyes twinkling with excitement even as his mouth stayed in its patented snarky half smile.
“On what?”
“Gimme your phone,” he said, holding out his palm.
“What?” For some reason, I pulled it from my pocket and handed it over. “What are you doing?”
“Putting in my number so we can work out the details of our bet later.” He glanced toward the counter. “Shhh—here they come.”
He finished entering his number before dropping my phone onto the table.
I stared at my phone as if it were a loaded gun, because, What the hell? Suddenly I had Mr. Nothing’s phone number—definitely wasn’t on my new-job bingo card for today—and also he wanted to make a bet on my friend’s fidelity.
I was getting whiplash from all the WTFs.
“You guys ready?” Nekesa gave me a weird look, and I knew she’d seen Charlie messing with my phone.
I snatched it up, feeling like I’d been caught misbehaving.
“Yep—let’s go,” I said, standing up so fast that I knocked over my chair. It landed with a crash when it hit the tile, and I wanted to disappear when all heads turned toward me.
Shit.
As I bent to pick it up, it occurred to me that this job might not turn out to be the mindless fun that Nekesa thought it would be.
CHAPTER TEN Bailey
“Mom?”