Page 91 of With Stars in Her Eyes

I pulled Thea into a hug. “I’m glad we’re on the same page.”

Thea kissed my nose. “Icing.”

“Oh, whoops.” I grabbed a kitchen towel to clean off any residual stickiness.

“I didn’t mind.” Thea grabbed the spoon from the icing and licked it clean. This was going to give me a very particularrelationship with Betty Crocker in the future. It was probably too soon to ask if I could lick icing off Thea’s tits and licking it off anywhere else seemed like a yeast infection waiting to happen. But a gal could dream, couldn’t I?

“Want to watch part of the first episode of Colin Firth? We didn’t get our date the other night, so how about a breakfast reattempt?” I grabbed the remote off the counter and held it up in question.

“Sounds good.”

We filled our plates and headed to the couch.

“This house is so cute. It’s a rental?” Thea asked.

I clicked toPride and Prejudice. “Yes. Partially furnished. It’s owned by an older lady. Friend of Sam’s grandpa. I love her stuff. It’s like a little time capsule.”

“The bathroom is adorable with the green tile.” Thea took a bite of potatoes. “Ermygawd.”

“They’re okay?”

“Divine. Celestial. Heavenly.”

“How many years of higher education did you go to exactly?”

She grimaced. “Nine.”

“Nerd.”

“Are you still a nerd if you don’t actually use much of your education?” Thea popped a forkful of potatoes into her mouth.

“I think that makes it worse actually.”

“The potatoes pair perfectly with the cupcakes too. Sweet and spicy. Oh, um is there—”

“Coffee. Yes.” I twitched my head at the coffee table. “Yours is there. You take it black, right?”

“Sure do. Thank you.”

We nestled down together and ate while the familiar music played. This had been a staple in my dorm room at Yale. During exams,Pride and Prejudice, either version, played over and over again because Sam found the music and the language calming. I tended to like anything that was familiar.

Our plates were empty when the episode ended.

Thea seemed more awake than before, and she eyed my cello in the corner of the dining room.

“You saw me do my thing last night. When do I get to see you play?”

I frowned at the instrument. “Um… I don’t know.”

“Can you play something now?”

“I feel like if I play for you, it will be like being a douchey frat guy whipping out a guitar on a first date to play ‘Wonderwall’ while the girl sits awkwardly trying to figure out where the nearest exit is.”

“Yep. It will bejustlike that.” Thea gave me a little go-ahead-and-get-to-it gesture.

With a slightly exasperated huff, I stood. I washed my hands and then sat on the stool, touching the strings tentatively at first. I tuned quickly, still unsure what I would play.

I bowed a couple notes with a cocked eyebrow at Thea.