Page 91 of Foul Territory

ME

Watching a movie.

Making earrings.

KOA

I bet they will look pretty on you.

ME

What are you doing?

I barely get the text sent when someone knocks on the door. “I’m coming,” I yell, as I pause my movie. I check the peephole and grin.

“I’m knocking on your door,” Koa says, as I let him inside.

“I see that. Were you in the hall waiting for me to text you back?”

Koa strolls over to the dining table and looks over all the different colors of thread I’ve started working with. “No. I was waiting in my car. When I saw the bubbles, I came upstairs. Can I make something?”

I follow him over to the table. “You want to craft with me?”

“Yes.” He kisses the top of my head and takes a seat. He snatches the remote off the table and starts the movie.

I eye him suspiciously as I sit down beside him. “Do you want to make a bracelet?” I pass him a shoebox full of beads.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” he asks, smirking at me.

“I’m just surprised you want to spend your free time making bracelets.” I shrug and pick up the teal thread I was using.

Koa places the stretchy, white cording he was cutting down and twists his body toward me. “I want to spend my free time with you. I don’t care what we do. Okay?”

I nod and go back to my earrings while also keeping one eye on Koa as he measures out the cording by wrapping it around his wrist.

“Let me help you,” I say, when he starts to struggle knotting the end of the string with his large fingers. “Why don’t you pick out what beads you want to use?” I nod toward the box.

He pulls out a bag full of colorful discs and puts them to the side. Then adds another bag of round beads to the pile. “You have letters,” he says excitedly, making me giggle.

“Should I be worried?” I pass him back his string.

“No, but I might make your brother a bracelet with a choice word or two,” he grumbles.

“Why is that?” I haven’t talked to Nash since Koa and I went out on our date a few days ago.

“He knows about us.”

“Oh, okay. Was he mad or something?”I chew on my bottom lip.

“No, he wasn’t.” He adds another bead to his bracelet. “I was though.” He grips a bead so tight it pops out between his fingers. “He already knew how I felt about you when I told him about our date.”

“That doesn’t surprise me. He hinted at it a little after his birthday party. He asked what happened when we wentupstairs. I told you people would get ideas,” I say, joking with him.

He grins. “Good. Let them talk. But apparently he’s known I’ve liked you since before we started high school.”

My entire body freezes. I should be ecstatic that Koa just admitted he's liked me this entire time. However my ears are ringing with the knowledge Nash has also known.

“And he still warned you off of me?” My fists clamp so tight my fingernails dig into my palms.