Page 13 of The Probability of Us

Lunch today was no different, although today, all attention turned to me when I finally admitted what had me distracted after Ali badgered me most of the hour. That spiraled into Ali and Sterling going back and forth with “I knew it,” and “I told you,” and “Should we invite him out with us?”

For once, I’m just as quiet as Trent is. Even as we head out, Ali and Sterling continue to brainstorm ways to find out if he likes me too or set us up.

“Isn’t the quarterly department meeting today?” Trent asks on the walk back to the office and Ali and Sterling stop walking.

“I totally forgot about that,” Ali says, wide-eyed.

Sterling checks his phone. “It’ll be close, but we should have enough time.”

They nod and take off in the opposite direction of the office.

“What’s going on?” I look to Trent for answers and find his eyes on Ali’s retreating form. I glance away before he snaps out of it. He doesn’t know, but I often catch his eyes clinging to Ali when he thinks none of us are watching.

He keeps his head down as he starts to follow them, and I follow his lead down a road I’ve never walked before. We pass a building with a red door that, at first glance, appears to be a house, but then I catch sight of a logo—an acorn with what looks like wind swirling around it. It looks like there’s a bar inside, so I make a mental note of the name—The Dizzy Acorn—to tell the others about later. We’ll have to check it out sometime.

“It’s their tradition to get coffee from Stella Lei before the quarterly meetings. They dragged me along last quarter when I was new, and now, you’re part of the tradition too.” Trent smiles. He might not be as high energy as Ali and Sterling, but you can see how much he likes being a part of the adventures they create.

We reach Stella Lei and my jaw drops. It’s a high-end jewelry shop showcasing diamonds of every size and shape, but off to the right there’s a small coffee counter with a gigantic diamond chandelier overhead where Ali and Sterling are grabbing the four coffees the barista just finished making. Even the coffee cups are extravagant here—white with black polka dots, and the sleeves are blush pink with the Stella Lei logo in a beautiful teal that matches the lid.

I don’t have time to take it all in before Ali shoves a latte into my hands and herds us all out the door.

“We need to go,” she says. And when she uses that serious voice, we all listen.

While we’re waiting for a traffic light to change, I take my first sip of the coffee, and my eyes fly open.

“It’s good, right?” Sterling raises his cup in camaraderie.

“Why don’t we go here more often?” I quickly take another sip before the light changes and we’re off again.

“The prices are exorbitant, but the coffee’s so good, so we settled on once a quarter before this meeting.”

“Well, I already can’t wait for the next one.”

The three of them share a look as we hop on the elevator and Trent hits the number twelve. “I doubt you’ll be saying that in two hours.”

My smile falters. “They’re that bad?”

“You’ll see.” Ali smiles at me as the elevator doors slide open. “Meet back here in two minutes.”

“Sounds good,” I say.

I start walking toward my desk to drop my purse off, but I freeze when I see the one person I’ve been dying to see all day storming towards me.

But he doesn’t look happy to see me at all.

“No, that doesn’t sound good.” Warren stops in front of me. “You’re late.”

“The meeting doesn’t start for five minutes.”

“I know,” he says. “That’s the point.”

I glance around, but there’s no one to explain. “I don’t understand.”

“Come on.” He gently grabs my arm and starts leading me away. “We need to go.”

I look back at Ali and shrug at the question in her eyes, ignoring the insinuation that’s there too. I have no idea what’s happening either. “I’ll see you guys in there.”

“I like what you did with your place, by the way,” Warren says. “I think the average house price of our neighborhood has skyrocketed with all that landscaping.”

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