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“How wonderful. You can leave now. I’m done with you.”

He groaned again as she let him go. She shoved him away from the table before sitting back down primly, spreading the cloth napkin—which had undoubtedly been packed by one of the maids in her parents’ employ—in her lap. She picked up her fork and was about to slice into a fat tomato, when she looked around the cafeteria. “You may continue eating.”

Everyone quickly turned away from her as Derek or Westley all but ran toward his friends, who would most likely talk about how evil the queer table was.

“That’s better,” Jazz said. “I don’t like it when people interrupt my lunch. I’m hungry, and I’m going to eat all of this.”

“I love you so much,” Gibby said, sounding awed.

“As do I,” Nick said, because it was true.

Seth nodded. “Me too.”

“Eh,” Owen said, “I could go either way—what the hell, Gibby? You didn’t have to kick me!”

“Wasn’t her,” Seth said. “And you were being stupid. Ergo, you deserved to be kicked. Repeatedly. In the face.”

Owen winced as he rubbed his shin. “You wound me, Seth.”

Seth smiled at him. “Do I? I feel just awful about it.”

“Oh, I bet you do.”

“We’ll have to see about that, won’t we?”

Owen’s eyes narrowed. “I’m sure we will.”

“Are you guys flirting?” Nick asked, glancing between the two of them. Nick didn’t necessarily know how to flirt, or even really what it looked like. It had taken Owen kissing Nick for him to even understand that Owen might have liked him in the first place. He figured he’d have time to learn how to flirt at some point, but in the meantime, he couldn’t be sure what he was witnessing.

Seth gaped at him.

Owen scoffed. “He wishes.”

“I do not!”

“What would it matter to you if they were?” Gibby asked, a strange glint in her eye.

Nick… didn’t know how to answer that, not really. If he was going to say exactly what he was feeling at that moment, it probably would have come out as a strangled snarl, so he kept his mouth shut.

Jazz sighed. “You can lead a blind man to water, but you can’t make him fish.”

“That’s not even remotely how the saying goes,” Gibby told her.

“It’s not?” Jazz frowned. “Then how does it go?”

“I have no idea, babe. But that’s definitely not it.”

“Huh,” Jazz said. She ate another piece of perfectly sliced tomato.

“I hate you,” Nick said, finally remembering how to form words. “You are the absolute worst thing in the entire world.”

“Careful there, Nicky,” Owen said, leaning forward on his elbows. “I might get the idea you still have feelings for me.”

“He doesn’t,” Seth said.

Owen took another one of his carrots and bit into it with his perfect teeth, grinning at Seth. “That right?”

“I’ve decided we’re going to talk about something else,” Nick said, because he didn’t like the way Seth and Owen were staring at each other. If this wasn’t flirting (and Nick was pretty sure about that now—mostly), then it was something else, and he didnotwant this to turn into a repeat of last spring when things were awkward for everyone involved. The Great Romance of Nick and Owen hadn’t been the best of days. Sure, Owen could do this weird little twisty thing with his tongue, but Nick didn’t think that was the foundation for a long-lasting relationship. “I assume you’re all aware of the latest Shadow Star news.”