Page 29 of No Place Like You

“Oh, are you talking about the last time you saw me when you crept out of here like the Hamburglar in broad daylight?”

Her mouth gapes. “I did not sneak out of here!”

I cock my head to one side. “Really?”

“I-I…It wasn’t like that,” she stutters, and my smile grows. “I just didn’t want to complicate things. I was leaving the next day.”

“Okay,” I say, the single two syllable word sounding more like an appeasement than anything else.

“Can we just be adults and agree to not make this awkward?” she asks, slicing a hand in between us.

I raise my hands, palms facing her in surrender. “Ican,” I tell her. “Can you?”

“Are you implying that I can’t be mature and unbothered about being this…” She waves a hand back and forth between us. “This?”

I chuckle. “Not at all.”

Her face shifts into an angry, determined scowl. “Good,” she states, punctuating her word with a sweet, innocent smile, wiping away the animosity with a silent truce. “The food’s getting cold.” She takes the chopsticks with an affirming nod, and we start to eat in silence.

About ten minutes into our meal, when I notice Lucy hogging the pad thai, she breaks the silence. “You know I’ve never had Thai food?”

The noodles wrapped around my chopsticks stop midway to my mouth. “Never?”

She shakes her head.

“How is that possible?”

“I don’t know,” she says casually, even adding a shrug. “I guess I’ve never really thought to try it?”

“And?”

She eyes me over the lip of the white to-go container in her hand, the thin paperboard blocking how diligently she’s working to shovel as much food into her mouth as she can. She lowers the box, revealing a thin sliver of noodle stuck to the corner of her mouth.

“It’s okay.” She casually places the box down, tapping the counter with her fingernail as she slides it toward me. “Did you want some?”

I roll my lower lip between my teeth, running my tongue over it to suppress the smile I can’t help. “No, I’m good.” I slide the box back to her. “You can have the rest.”

Her face lights up. “Yeah?”

Aw, shucks.That’s the silly little catchphrase that pops into my head. Aw. Shucks. Because her smile, with that small piece of oily noodle still tacked to the end of it, makes me blush while I look at her, all hopeful and sweet and so goddamn adorable. Awfuckingshucks.

She reaches for the box at the same time I grab a napkin. When she sees me inch closer to her, her eyes round. “What?”

I don’t say anything. Instead, my hand slowly moves closer to her while her neck stiffens and her mouth slacks open. With a quick swipe, I clean off the corner of her mouth and smirk.

“Did I have something on my face?” she asks, rubbing the spot I just wiped with the back of her hand.

I nod, looking away from her because I’m getting really,reallybad at hiding this stupid grin on my face.

She laughs. “And you let me just stand here, looking all silly with food on my face?”

“Way more fun than telling you,” I say, low and playful.

She rolls her eyes, plucking the Coke can off the counter and veering toward the living room. I follow, taking my freshly opened beer bottle, and settle on the couch next to her. We get comfortable, the equivalent of a dog walking circles before lying down on a cushy spot, and I reach for the remote.

“Did you want to watch something?” I offer.

“Sure. Whatever you want.” She’s not even looking at me. Instead, she’s busy finishing the rest of her meal while she scrapes the wooden chopsticks against the now nearly empty box.

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