Page 32 of Shifter for Brains

“Uh, okay?” Lucas sounded confused, probably because I already answered my question and headed out the door. He shuffled around in the breakroom behind me, hastily gathering all the snacks I’d purchased for us and then abandoned.

Not remotely paying attention to my surroundings, I nearly smacked into Temple in the hall. "Hey, you guys ready to leave?"

Temple held his hand out to me. Since when did we hold hands? What the hell?

Oh. From behind me, Lucas tossed Temple a bag of chips.

"We’re even," he told me while opening the bag with an audible and very annoying pop.

"Huh?"

"Don’t tell me you weren’t strutting around when all you had to do was stand there and Jack gave you his phone number.” He ate a chip obnoxiously, I heard every single crunch, which also was annoying and made me want to punch him in the face. “Ashley offered me her number, so now we’re even.”

"Shut up."Drop this,my expression transmitted.

“Hey, I may be gay but that still counts. Not all of us go home with someone new everyday.”

“Whatever!”

"Jack gave you his number,” Lucas said. Dammit. “What, when?"

"Uh, when you went inside before him.” I turned to explain with an innocent smile. “It’s not a big deal."

Lucas frowned. "Didn’t say it was."

…

The awkward tension from earlier returned. Obviously, this was indeed a big deal.

Temple looked between us, still munching his chips. "Sorry, I didn’t realize it was a secret."

"It’s not.” I looked to Lucas. “You still wanna find your dad?"

"No more begging for one last stop?" he wondered, rightfully suspicious after how against this I had been.

"Let’s just get this over with in one day."

“Why not?” Temple nodded. “Lead the way.”

"I’ll text you the address,” I said. “You can take an Uber."

Leaving him behind felt less rewarding than I anticipated. The ‘most awesome person’ phrase rang in my head.

God, I’d figured it was just attraction. It’salwaysjust attraction. Liking Lucas… what the hell was I supposed to do about that?

~

Lucas

Several sharp knives, no, a freaking machete was necessary to cut through the tension in the car. I had no weapons or sharp objects. Only the radio.

Carly Rae Jepsen’s voice did not cut it at all.

The drive from work to my uncle’s home never seemed so long. Dad had to be there. We needed to say goodbye. But my thoughts were consumed by something else.

Staying silent? Not an option.

"My cousin gave you his phone number?" I asked, though there was no question about it.