“What’s up, man? Oh . . . the door!” He slaps his forehead and the whole thing feels like a performance. “Sorry, I wasn’t even thinking. Really. Habit, I guess.”
I hover in his space for a long second, then back away into the archive room. Music is playing in the back, soft enough to not be heard outside. I catch the sound of Lily’s laugh, too, and the mixture with the music diffuses the tension in my chest.
I leave James to relock the door—now that we areallhere—and head toward the sound of Lily’s laughter. I find her sitting on a desktop next to Morgan, wearing a long-sleeved cropped shirt that shows off half her stomach and a pair of plaid pajama pants. Cameron slides up next to me and immediately points out the hypocrisy.
“And you gave me a hard time over the hoodie. Girl’s wearing PJs, bruh.” He leans forward and tugs at one of the pant legs, drawing a giggle from Lily.
“First of all, I’m pretty sure nothing Lily is wearing is covered in processed cheese sauce,” I retort, leveling him with a hard-lined mouth. “And second, Lily looks absolutely nothing like you. You look like a bum. Lily, is . . .”
Shit. I was about to say hot.
“Go on, Theo. Tell us. WhatisLily?” Cameron slings his arm around my neck because he’s an asshole and part of me wonders if he baited me into this trap from the very beginning. His mind works that way. He’s a genius, legitimately. It’s just hard to tell by his ridiculous exterior.
“Lily’s fucking gorgeous, that’s what Lily is,” James cuts in as he slips into the space between me and the girls.
Lily’s eyebrows jet up to her hairline and her lips part. Her cheeks blush too. She turns to her roommates, but only Brooklyn sticks around to help her with this situation. Morgan, who I’m pretty sure has a thing for James, excuses herself to refill her drink. I decide to join her because if I don’t, my mouth is going to get me in all kinds of trouble, and probably the kind that includes my fists.
I step up next to Morgan and she gives me a slight eyeroll as she glances at me.
“I’m fine. I don’t need your pep talk, Theodore.”
“Wow! I mean, first of all,Theodore?And second, since when have I ever given anyone a pep talk.”
She sets the liquor bottle down on the desk and screws the cap back in place, then takes her glass in both hands and turns to face me.
“We were twelve, and you told me to suck it up and run faster.” She arches a brow and brings the tumbler to her lips, taking a sip and offering a cocky smirk.
“Ha! That’s right. The three-legged race. I really wanted our team to get free pizza.” I was a super competitive junior high kid. Sometimes I miss first and second form.
“Your legs were twice the length of mine!” she protests.
“We won, though, didn’t we?” I lean back against the cabinets across from her and fold my arms, just to be smug. “Okay, so four years ago I gave you a pep talk. I claim statute of limitations.”
“Maybe you should be interning with Cameron. You’d make a great lawyer,” she says.
“A better lawyer than salesman.” I wince remembering my day of cold calls.
“That bad, huh?”
I shrug in response.
Morgan taps her nails against the glass a few times then clicks her teeth.
“How are things . . . with . . .” She leans her head toward the group we recently abandoned. James is talking with Cameron, and Lily is nursing her drink while she listens to Brooklyn talk about something that requires her to be very animated with her hands. I must admit I’m glad to see that she’s not talking with James.
“Surprisingly . . . good. Like,reallygood.” My gaze lingers on Lily for a few seconds. I’m kind of hoping she’ll glance my way and catch me, give me an excuse to call her over. I stop staring when Morgan kicks me lightly in the shin.
“Really good, huh?” Her lips quirk up in this suggestive smirk that’s really fucking annoying.
“Yeah, I mean. It’s been weird between us, just trying to be friendly without constantly thinking about . . .it.” Today was mostly void of weirdness. And we weren’t friendly, we werefriends.And something . . . else.
“Well, you’ve been a dick. So I’m glad you’ve moved past that phase.”
“Oooo-kayyy.” I chuckle. Morgan has always had a way with words, meaning she’s blunt as fuck. “And on that note.”
I reach behind her and take the bottle in my hand, pulling out a clean glass from the desk drawer. We’ve gathered a decent collection for our makeshift bar, mostly stolen from the ambassador dining room, which is where the Welles board and headmaster butter up the wealthy families a few times a year to squeeze them for more money.
I fill my tumbler halfway with whiskey, then clink my glass against Morgan’s before heading back to Lily—and James.They’re talking again, or rather, James is talking, and Lily is listening. But she’s smiling. She’s engaged. It’s hard to watch James be so . . . flirty.