Page 97 of Bring You Back

Julian groans beside me, then I hear Banks’s defensive, “Honey, dude. It’s so good. Just don’t put it all over your body.”

I spin around at the wordhoneyand am tempted to snap the finger Banks is pointing at Julian, but I grab for my bottle of honey instead, yanking it from his hand. “That’smine.” I close the top, then drop the bottle to the island as disgust sets in at the thought of Banks’s mouth being anywhere near the opening. I turn back around to kick him, but he dodges with a dance back to his spot.

“Can’t catch me,” he taunts.

I glare at him. “Do you think this is a game?”

Banks gasps at Julian. “Oh, dude, we should play games again,” he says before focusing back on his laptop. I keep my glare on him, my hand curling around my spoon, wanting nothing more than to scoop his ass out of this house.

“I’ll buy you another one,” Julian murmurs, his voice drawing my stare to his. It’s a nice gesture. He’s showing more of those.

My eye daggers dull their edges, but my tone is still sharp. “Whatyoucan buy me is a new box of cereal.”

His response is to take another bite, mimicking my response from earlier. I roll my eyes, but smile down at my bowl.

The front door opens and Reyna saunters in, her perky feet stalling at the sight of me and Julian, and I realize how close we’re standing now. One slight movement and our elbows brush. We’ve been moving toward each other.

And Julian doesn’t create distance at the sight of his pseudo-girlfriend—because he shouldn’t have to—so I don’t, either.

Reyna manages a smile and she hurries over, bouncing up to Julian’s face for a kiss, but at the last second, he turns his head and her lips land on his cheek. His eyes close for a brief second, a wince shaping his mouth. Banks chuckles at this picture, then winks at me.

I drop my spoon into my now empty bowl in response, theclangdrawing Reyna back to her heels.

“Not sorry enough to kiss me, I guess,” she mutters, then rubs her lips together, cheeks pink, disappointed eyes on Julian.

Banks smirks as he leans toward her. “I’ll—”

“No,” I shut him down, my no-nonsense tone wiping the smile right off his face.

Julian and Reyna don’t seem to notice the exchange, or care. Julian has taken to concentrating on finishing his cereal, and Reyna has taken to concentrating on me. She’s looking for someone to blame for Julian’s brush off, and it can’t possibly be Julian himself. This is a perfect example of why I don’t do female friendships well. Where do girls point their finger when something goes wrong? At other girls. I give her an innocent look, even though I shouldn’t have to.Don’t look at me.

To diffuse whatever she’s possibly thinking and put therightguy in her head, I ask, “Where’s Tommy?”

That softens her some. “He’s running an errand for his dad.” She relaxes her elbows against the island. “AndI heard the distinct sound of a ball bouncing through the phone.”

“He’s working on it,” Julian says.The elephant speaks.

“I can’t even imagine that happening with me and my art,” Reyna says, her stare downcast.

“It won’t,” Banks promises, shifting his body and his laptop closer to her. She smiles at him with an A-OK hand sign, and he pokes his finger in the hole before she drops it.

She slides her eyes back to mine, her face changing like she just remembered she shouldn’t be smiling at me. Because it’smyfault Julian gave her his cheek.

“Don’t you have a shift this morning?” she asks.

I chuckle. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say she’s trying to shoo me off.My absence won’t help, Reyna.

“Yeah, why?” I ask back, holding her stare as Julian continues to crunch between us.

“I just thought you would’ve left by now, Early Bird,” she teases.

“That explains the worm,” I say with a pointed look at Banks, then lean to eye the clock. I have to be at work in ten minutes. “Shit.” My time here, with Julian, has distracted me. My want to stay close to him making me lose track of time. “You’re a bad influence,” I tell him, and he eyes me, his mouth working to hold back a smirk at my message that it’s his presence that’s keeping me here.

I break away to rinse out my bowl for washing later.

“I gotta start writing this play,” Banks announces loud enough to make sure the latest addition to the room knows he’s going to write a play. And she falls right into it.

“You’re writing a play?”

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