“Staying over tonight?”
Well, direct question for direct question. “If you don’t mind.” She sat cross-legged on the sofa, a book open in her lap and her laptop sitting just in front of her where she could pull it to her if she needed.
She’d changed into a pair of boxers and an oversize shirt that kept falling off one shoulder. She’d also pulled her hair up into a ponytail. Well, someone had pulled it up for her.
“I’d like to stay,” I continued before she could respond. “I’d like to spend the evening with you. I’ve missed you the last few days.”
The corners of her mouth tilted upward. “You’ve seen me,” she scolded, but the smile took out any sting.
“I want to do more than see you. Do you mind if I stay?” The fact it had been nearly two weeks wasn’t lost on me. Over two weeks since she broke up with me. Almost two weeks since Homecoming.
“I don’t mind,” she murmured, and ducked her head to glance at her book.
Giving her a moment, I grinned. “Thank you. I miss having you come over to swim, too. We might get another week or two out of the pool if we’re lucky.”
Keeping it light meant I could tease her some, maybe get another smile out of her.
“It’s supposed to drop into the sixties next week and stay there.”
“Never say never, we’ve been sweating over Halloween before,” I called back.
The room was neat, the bed was disheveled, but the comforter had been pulled up. Not focusing on the who and the how so much as the fact if she was up for that, then that was a good sign, right?
Maybe I should have had a longer talk with Coop about this. He understood the psychology better, and no way was I having that discussion with Dad. Mom had given me some advice. Right now, I’d lean on that.
After setting the bag down, I got changed into sleep pants and debated the shirt then skipped it. Mom told me to be myself. Who I’d always been was comfortable around her.
The awkwardness and stilted interactions were a lot more my fault than hers. “You need anything while I’m back here?”
“No, I’m good. Though if I could talk you into getting me a bottle of water, that would be great.”
“You got it.” I flexed my right hand and checked the taped fingers. They were still sore, but I could live. Back in the living room, I swung by the sofa and picked up her empty bottle and the empty can. “Did you eat already?”
Frankie put a finger on the line she was reading before she glanced up. I didn’t grin at her double-take, just kept moving. I dropped both in the recycle bin before retrieving a couple of bottles of water from the fridge. Jeremy had done a really nice job of stocking it.
“Frankie?” I called when she hadn’t answered, and allowed myself a small smile while she couldn’t see my face.
“Um…no. We had a couple of sandwiches when we got back after school. Coop helped me work through a lit paper though, so we didn’t have time to eat much, and Archie had to run back to his place for some stuff.”
“Well, I’m not that great a cook, but I can definitely heat hot dogs and I order a mean pizza.”
Seriously, I needed to widen the skillset. Mom had offered to teach me to cook a dozen times, and had I listened? No.
Shit.
“Well, if you can follow instructions, I can walk you through a couple of things.” She worked the book off her lap and nudged her laptop aside. Tiddles sat on the back of the sofa, tail lashing. The minute she stood up though, the cat jumped down and settled on her open book. She just rolled her eyes and kept coming.
“I can follow instructions,” I promised, opening the water bottle. “Why don’t I grab your books and stuff, and you can work at the table and bid me to follow your lead.”
She snorted. “Be easier if I can see what you’re doing.”
Eyebrows raised, I said, “And you don’t want to read those short stories.”
She made a face. “It’s not that I don’t want to read them, but I have read them. Going through to pull out citable material is boring as fuck.”
I chuckled. “Fine, then tell me what to make.” I opened the fridge wider so she could slide up next to me and look. This close, I couldn’t miss the smell of her shampoo or the faint hint of the lotion she used. The light from the fridge showed the bare hints of yellow around the bruises on her face. It was almost gone.
Though it would be a long time before I forgot where it had been.