Page 141 of Bring You Back

“Such a gentleman,” I tease Tommy, at his quickness to trade seats with Reyna.

“One of us should be,” he says, accusation in his tone as he locks eyes with Julian before looking down at his plate. He’s struggling not to choose between us, but he’s toeing the line, and it’s becoming clear whose side he’ll be on.

We fall into the same eyes roaming, mouths chewing silence we were in the last night we were all gathered here. But this is no piece of cake. Food is being picked at more than eaten—unless you’re Banks who is doing most of the mouth chewing, working through an entire box of pizza solo. Tommy has taken to rearranging the pepperoni on his slice, Julian fingers a few pieces of sausage into his mouth, and Reyna fingers a few pieces of pineapple into hers.

I’d failed to get a slice for myself, and now I no longer want one. I sip the juice Julian had poured into my glass.

Banks taps his nails against the table, moving with purpose until the sound registers and I snap a look up at him, realizing in the same moment that I’m tapping my own nails against the side of my plate. We both stop, my pace slowing while his is abrupt. He leans forward, annoyance in his wide stare. “I’m trying to think.”

“Somebody’s sensitive,” I say back as I resume my tapping, hard and pointed, as Tommy asks, “With what?”

That brings out a chuckle from me and Julian, and Banks rolls his eyes, then elbows Julian. “We have to talk to Marcy again tomorrow.”

“There’s no morewe, man,” Julian says.

“Uh, yes, there is awe,” Banks disputes. “You’re the ticket. She wants to ride your train, so you have to talk her into ridingmine.”

“Aren’t you stillchuggingalong with script girl?” I ask him, and he turns his brow waggling to me before frowning down at his empty plate. He grabs another slice of pizza.

“Nope,” he says, popping the p. I’m surprised he actually knows who I’m talking about. “She smelled like cigarettes, so I dumped her.”

“I’m sure she dumpedyou,” I comment.

“I’ll help you,” Reyna pipes up, managing a smile at Banks. He smiles back, considering her offer, then makes a face and shakes his head.

“This is a guy thing,” he says, giving her a shrug like she wouldn’t understand.

I scoff a laugh that earns me a look from Reyna. “I’m laughing at his stupidity,” I tell her to wipe that scowl off her face, like Banks’s dimness needs any clarification.

“So, she invited me back to her hotel room, couldn’t get enough,” he starts with a smug smile, and I exchange an eye roll with Tommy that makes me smirk. “We’re on the bed, trying to watch some movie, she wants to cuddle, so I put my head on her shoulder, and BAM, I have cigarettes up my nose.”

“What?” Julian says through a laugh.

“It was all over her shirt,” Banks continues with a look of disgust. “So, I moved my head away, we got into a big fight, and she kicked me out.”

I nod to myself.She dumped you.

“Well, that was kinda rude,” Reyna chimes.

“Right?” Banks says.

“Of you,” Reyna adds with a small laugh.

Banks smacks Julian’s arm for backup. “If you put your head on a girl’s shoulder and got choked by cigarettes, wouldn’t you move away?”

“A shoulder isn’t where I like to put my head,” Julian says with a small grin, his eyes connecting with mine over the rim of his glass as he punctuates the suggestive words with a drink. This earns him another elbow from Banks, and a flush from me. My eyes roll with forced disinterest before I can stop them.

Reyna scoffs. “You don’t like to put your headthere, either.”

Tommy chokes on the drink he just took, the entire mouthful spraying back into the glass. Julian’s smile is gone, his throat tight around a swallow of his own drink, the glass emitting a sharpthudwhen he returns it to the table. Banks is cracking up, his hand raised to Reyna for a high-five. She ignores him, her eyes fixed to Julian who’s avoiding hers.

Banks swings his hand around to Julian who also ignores him. He swings his hand around to me next before immediately swinging his hand to Tommy at the stare on my face. He’s once again ignored. “Somebody five me!”

He has tofivehimself—a loud smacking of skin that causes Reyna to jerk, drawing my stare to her. She’s now looking down at her plate, body still. I catch a tear run down her cheek from unblinking eyes.

“Reyna?” Tommy says, having caught the tear, too. His voice is worried, his brows pinched.

“Are you two together?” Reyna asks, her stare dragging up to me before sliding over to Julian. “Be honest with me.”

---