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I paused my cleaning, turning slowly on the heel of my foot. “Pax?” I asked. “As inJaxandPax?”
“Shut up.”
I burst out laughing, though it was more like a long, escaped snort that barreled into laughter. The sound of it traveled down the projection room and drifted off into the ether.
“I said shut up,” Jax reiterated, but he was laughing, too. Or visibly holding back his laughter at least, but he was failing miserably.
“Okay, Jax and Pax. Where should we go on our date? The tracks? Or maybe the grocery store for some flax?” I was being a jerk, but it was amusing—to myself, anyway. “Ooh! I know. Maybe we could go do our tax-es,” I flopped.
He scoffed. “Lame.”
I shrugged it off. “Seriously, though. That does sound fun. We can leave Neil at home, though.”
Jax’s eyebrows rose up. “Oh, it’s like that, huh?”
I shook my head, feeling a stupid blush creep up my neck. “No, it’s not like that at all…” I huffed out a breath. “It’s just that I think I’m starting to really like him—like, not just on the surface like him—and I don’t want to like him that much,” I admitted. To him, to myself.
He snorted.
“Right?” I whined.
“Too right.”
“Ugh,” the groan crawled from my lips as I threw my head back dramatically.
It clearly amused him. “Relax. Neil’s a good kid.”
“Yeah, yeah.” I waved him off. Good people could still hurt other people. Good people could still burrow their way into someone’s heart and then decide to leave and leave a vacant space along with it.
I wasn’t talking aboutme.Or my heart, for that matter. I was simply stating facts. (Liar, liar, pants on fire.)
“So, you think tonight’s going to go that well, huh?” I steered the topic back to him.
“Oh, definitely,” he answered right away.
It made me smile. “Good. Then I’m in. But you’re asking Neil.” I pointed at him.
“Already did.” He looked like the cat that ate the damn canary.
I straightened up, walking toward him and miming like I was going to choke him out but kissed him on the cheek instead. “Solid work.”
He chuckled.
“So, where are we going?”
His lips turned up in a mischievous grin. “Oh, you’ll see,” he said, and I let my head fall backward again, shaking it at the ceiling with another low groan.
Why were all of my friends total pain in the asses?
Oh, that’s right. Because all the best ones were.
“What are you watching?” I whispered. I didn’t actually need to whisper, because I had the whole house to myself tonight, but Neil was whispering so I was whispering too, I guess.
“Nothing,” he answered. “Just browsing, but there’s nothing good on.”
“Hmm.”
“Want to pick something together?” he asked, his tone slipping down another octave, into something even more quiet and relaxed as I imagined him sinking down in his bed and getting comfortable. A soft rustle of fabric scratched against his phone, his quiet breath following as I answered with ayeahand we clicked through movie options.