Page 74 of Not In The Contract

“Probably,” I agreed, ignoring the warmth flooding my cheeks and praying she couldn’t see. “I’ve never tried anything beyond the tried and true alarms on my phone.”

Alex’s eyes narrowed and her smirk grew. “How many alarms do you have on your phone?”

“Oh, uh…” I hesitated and then pulled out my phone. “I have twelve alarms for today, and fourteen for tomorrow.”

She threw her head back in a deliciously melodic laugh that had my heart skipping two beats. “I’m sorry,” she chuckled, covering her mouth with a hand. “I didn’t expect you to have so many.”

“It’s not a lot,” I said, unable to stop my mouth from kicking up into a grin. “When I was attending lectures full time last year, I had about twenty alarms for my morning classes alone.”

Alex’s eyes almost bugged out of her face. “Twenty alarms?” She gaped. “You know what? You’re at full liberty to laugh at my schedule.”

“How gracious of you,” I teased. “Though I’m guessing it’s only because you’re laughing at my alarms.”

“I guess we’re both pretty about time.” She snickered. “I don’t have much and you lose track.”

“A perfect match if I’ve ever seen one,” I joked, and immediately regretted it.

My cheeks blazed and my heart threatened to tear through my ribcage, it was beating so hard.

But the momentary shock slid off of Alex’s face and a small smile replaced it a second later. “I suppose so.”

24. Something Like Friends

Alex

“Youseemtohavea lot on your mind today.”

I glanced up from my computer screen and looked at Devon. She sat in her chair, laptop perched on her thighs.

The sun had already begun to creep beneath the city skyline and despite the additional hours I’d spent on site, my shoulders weren’t hunched up to my ears.

“I suppose,” I said calmly.

Devon shut the lid of her laptop and looked at me expectantly.

I looked at her for a moment, distracted for just a second by the arc of glowing orange across her face, turning her brown eyes to amber gold.

“Are you expecting me to launch into a therapy session right now?” I chuckled.

“No,” she said simply. “But you can talk while you work if you need to. I’ve found that talking things out helps me put them into perspective. There’s also an interesting form of processing called verbal processing, I- sorry, I’m rambling.”

I smiled. “No, that sounds interesting,” I said. “Tell me about it.”

She cleared her throat, her cheeks turning rosy. “A lot of people use verbal processing to help them process their emotions,” she said a little shyly. “It helps these people understand their emotions or reactions to certain events when they talk about them.”

“Fascinating.” I frowned. “And yet, a simple tool that I assume most people overlook.”

She nodded once, pressing her soft lips into a grim line. “It’s so easy to internalize emotions when you’re going through something,” she said. “We often feel like what we’re going through doesn’t warrant expression at all. But talking about the smallest frustrations can help manage stress better.”

I considered the offer and found myself wanting to talk to her. Not about anything specific. Just in general.

“To be very honest with you,” I said, going back to my computer, “I’m not well versed in having people around me constantly. I haven’t talked about what stresses me out because it’s always felt like unproductive complaining.”

“Give it a try,” she urged, her left cheek dimpling with a half smile. “Even if it’s how stupid traffic was this morning.”

I grinned, unable to stop myself. “It was pretty shitty, wasn’t it?”

She giggled but didn’t respond. Instead, she looked at me, expectant and open.