“Ah.” Right. The presentation. The one I’ve been complaining about for days. The one I practiced with him yesterday. And the day before. The one he probably knows by heart. “Um, very good. Good. Well, okay. Passable.”
“It’s getting worse by the word.”
I wince. “It was... I stumbled a bit.”
“I see.”
“But maybe I still did better than Sean?”
“Maybe?”
“Probably.”
Liam smiles. “Probably?”
I smile back. “Almost certainly.”
“What a speedy improvement.”
I chuckle, and he pushes away from the counter and comes to stand right in front of me. Like he wants to be closer for this conversation. Closer to me.
“It’s bad news for you, though,” I say.
“Is it?”
“If I get this position, you’re going to have to step up and find a new job, too.”
“Ah. Yes.”
“We made a deal.”
“A deal is a deal.”
“Also, after the interview they gave us information on the salary. It’s a big raise. I’ll definitely be able to move out.”
His eyes harden, then switch back to a neutral mask. “Right.”
“What?” I tease him. “You afraid you can’t afford to buy your own creamer?” What does he even use it for? I still don’t know.
“Just concerned I’ll have to watch Eileen make terrible life choices on my own.”
“Eileen knows what she’s doing. As I explained in my last blog post.”
“Which I have, of course, read.”
He’s not funny. He’s not that funny. I’m not half in love with his weird sense of humor. “I can’t believe you commented ‘delete your account.’ It’s cyberbullying, Liam.”
He is still smiling, and there is something warm unfurling in my chest now. Which really shouldn’t be there, because... Because. “Are you and your friend...?” I ask.
“My friend?”
“Emma.”
“Ah.”
Silence. I wring my hands, realizing that I haven’t really formulated a question. Is she your... No. Too direct. Are you two dating? And what is this hiccup in my heart as I contemplate the thought? Maybe Liam has never mentioned a girlfriend. Or any girl. But what did I think? That he was living in celibacy? It’s not my business, anyway. We’re just friends. Good friends. But friends.
“What?” He gives me a long look, like I just asked a preposterous question that’s not grounded in reality. The reality that I just walked in on him PDAing her.