“What?” Sam shook her head as she tried to piece that interaction together.
Christian rolled his eyes. “I need you to sign this.”
Sam plopped down into the seat and then internally groaned when she realized exactly what Christian was referring to.
“I’m not signing it.” She pushed it back toward him.
“You’re being stubborn.” He grabbed the pen and signed her name in the open spot.
“Christian!” She looked at him with wide-eyed frustration. “You know that's a federal crime, right?”
He laughed. “Turn me in.”
She looked back down at her plate, deciding to leave it be. She wasn’t planning on working at Peet’s anyway, so it wasn’t a problem. She would deal with his frustration later. Right now, she just wanted to figure out why Cassy had pretty much done a one-eighty within a matter of seconds.
“What do you think that was about?” Sam asked, more to herself than to Christian.
“What what was about?” he asked as he shoveled more food into his mouth.
“Cass. She just…I don’t know. That was just weird, right? She didn’t even answer me.”
“Maybe she’s just weird.” He shrugged his shoulders. “Or maybe you smell.” Christian pretended to sniff the air and then made a disgusted looking face. “Yeah, you definitely smell.”
Sam laughed.
“I do not smell.” She kicked him under the table and he flicked a small piece of garlic bread at her.
“Alright, enough talking about jobs or weirdos who smell.” He winked. “I made an executive decision the other day.”
“And what was that?” She peeked up at him with a little bit of concern as to where this was going.
“You need an Instagram.”
“No, I do not.”
“Yes, you do. You are the only person I know under the age of fifty-six without one.”
“I don’t even really take pictures. It would be pointless.” She moved the food around on her plate, hoping it at least looked like she was enjoying the meal. She would, of course, get a to-go plate for later, and hoped to at least have gained her appetite back by that evening. Her bank account would literally scream at her if she were to pass up a fully paid for meal.
“Make a page filled with all your notes and study materials. I’m sure people would pay good money for–”
“Shut up.” Sam rolled her eyes, then jumped when Christian reached across the table to swipe her phone from beside her. “What are you doing?”
“I’m making you an Instagram. You honestly can’t continue on without one. Trust me,” he said with a wink. “Come sit over here,” he added as he patted the booth beside him, “and I’ll walk you through it.”
She begrudgingly shifted to his side and he placed an arm around her shoulders as he ran through the basics. There had been a time when she would have reveled in his touch. Now, it just felt like a dead weight she desperately wanted to remove.
“You realize I won’t remember any of this?” she said as she watched him tap away.
“You can remember the intricacies of the Circle of Willis and yet you can’t recall how to use an app?”
She cut him a sideways glance. “Ilikethe Circle of Willis.”
He ignored her and instead focused on going through the app once more.
“Last thing is to add a photo. Let’s take a selfie for your first official internet footprint.” He put his arm further around her and pulled her in close. For just a second, she felt her body tense, but then he reached around to pinch her side, making her laugh out loud as he snapped the picture.
He set it as her profile picture and quickly handed the phone back while paying for the bill.