Page 17 of The Time It Takes

Everyone liked Arlie. Obviously they did. He was great, and he got along with the pack really well. But Ellie wasn't friendly...? I tried to think of a time she'd interacted with him. It all seemed to be incidental, or in passing. She didn't pay a lot of attention to him, I guess. But that didn't mean she didn't like him, right? She just wasn't as outgoing with Arlie.

He watched me. "Okay. Look, you smell pissed off now. I'm not trying to annoy you. You really want me to tell you every time I think someone has a crush on you?"

"Yes, I really want that," I said.

He shrugged, too broadly. "Okay, fine. Even at work?"

"Hell yes, at work! I need to know what's going on! If you're right and I'm so stupid that I'm missing all this subtext, you need to help me out." I was still halfway between believing him and thinking he was pulling one over on me, but I had the sinking feeling he couldn't fake sincerity that well and wouldn't try.

"You're an attractive guy, Cole," he said, with a kind of annoyed patience in his tone. "You must have noticed people like to check you out. Sometimes they even—gasp—flirt with you."

"Okay, Mr.Sarcasm, so I'm clueless and you aren't. Have a field day with it."

"I'll start telling you if you really want to know. Do I need to tell you about Janet in the mailroom?"

I paused. Janet was maybe fifteen years older than me and a mom. She had a way of being friendlier than I liked, and I tended to avoid her. She'd made a couple of especially suggestive remarks, which I'd dodged by playing clueless. You know, the kind of stuff that can be played off as innocent if you tell anyone, but has an obvious suggestive quality from the way someone says it, and when.

She wore low cut tops and held eye contact for longer than I liked. She had a very red mouth, and liked to draw attention to it, with a finger, or a piece of candy, or just the way she over-pronounced a word. She wasn't like that when I wasn't alone with her; she could definitely be professional. But when it was the two of us alone for any reason, even briefly, she found reasons to brush against me or make sexual comments. I kept my head down and pretended not to notice, but it didn't make her stop. I'd have felt silly saying anything to anyone about it. I thought it was just something I should ignore.

He didn't even try to hide his smirk. "See, you can notice—as long as it's not a shifter, I guess."

I wanted to call him on that and make him explain exactly what he meant. Did he think I had something against shifters, or Ellie, because I hadn't noticed she was into me? I resented that. At the same time, I was too embarrassed to continue this conversation. So, he'd noticed the bullshit with Janet. And like me, he'd just ignored it. Now, apparently, I was asking him to tell me all the things like that which I might be missing—and might not.

I didn't know what to say, but I was so done with this conversation.

He checked to see if I had more to say. His lips quirked as he looked at me. I picked up my phone and pretended it was very interesting.

Chapter eight

Iwas afraid of awkwardnesswith Ellie, but it didn't really happen. She kind of avoided me, but that was okay. She didn't seem to be upset or angry, at least. I wasn't sure if I wanted to stay friends, since I wasn't sure we'd ever been friends to begin with. I'd just thought of her like a younger relative who was always sort of nearby, asking questions or wanting to talk. It didn't feel so innocent now, and I was in no mood to try to bring that dynamic back.

I still found myself annoyed with Arlie periodically. Sometimes because he hadn't warned me about Ellie's feelings—though I wasn't sure if it would've made any difference if he had, or if it would've just made things more awkward—and sometimes because he hadn't seemed to think it was obvious I'd help him out if his pack turned against him. But, clearly, these were all communication issues. He'd had assumptions about Ellie, and said nothing. If I was going to be annoyed with him about that, I shouldn't be annoyed with him when he took the effort to verbalize what he meant about his pack, and my backup, instead of just assuming. I could have it one way or the other, but not both.

So, I got over it. Things went back to how they usually were between us—a sort of quiet consideration and comfort level with each other, where we did things like bringing one another snacks or finding excuses to hang out whether we technically needed to or not.

We were carpooling a lot and sometimes even working out at the same time—though we didn't have the same sorts of workouts. I tended to go often enough to keep fit for my physicals, but not to get particularly buff. He worked out seriously. His day wasn't complete without having worked up a heavy sweat. He said it helped him think. Whatever the case, he was working out as much as ever, and maybe more. I tagged along sometimes.