Page 84 of Ink & Ambition

“What a gentleman, sneaking out in the morning,” Dani rolls her eyes but she doesn’t mean real offense.

As much as I want to meet Alex for lunch, I don’t know how long Arden is going to be in town and I need to get to the bottom of what he’s doing here in the first place. Sending Alex a quick text, I let him know I’ll just see him tomorrow in class instead.

“Did Arden go back out last night?” I ask, pouring him a fresh cup of joe.

Danika glances at me before looking over at Arden’s sleeping form. “How should I know?” She leaves the kitchen without another word.Weird.

Brushing off that awkward exchange, I bring Arden his coffee, leaving it on the table for him when he wakes up. For the next hour, I get to every piece of school work I’ve been putting off. All this time spent with Alex and on the podcast has really taken a toll on my coursework. I vow to myself this week to catch up and get ahead of my syllabi to make up for lost time.

“You work any harder, you’re going to run those keys straight through the board,” Arden jokes from the doorway. He runs his hands through his bedhead, yawning once. In his hand is the mug of coffee I made him that’s more than cold by now.

“I can make you a fresh cup if you want,” I say but he shakes his head, taking a sip of the previously piping hot beverage.

“Don’t worry about it.”

Finishing up the last sentence of my Investigative Journalism paper, I close the laptop and take a sigh of relief. “Lunch?” I ask, glancing at the clock on my phone to see the time. There’s a couple of texts that I missed while I was doing my work. Mostly from Danika and Sydney in our group chat. A couple from Alex. I’ll check them later.

“More like breakfast,” Arden scratches his head and pulls his sleep shorts up a bit. Chuckling, I push him out of my doorway.

“Shower, change, be ready in fifteen minutes.”

“Aye, aye,” Arden salutes me before turning on his heels and following my directions. Shooting a quick text to my roommates to tell them where I’m going. Turns out both of them had left the apartment already, Sydney to workout at the gym and Dani to gawk at boys working out at the gym.

Once I’m dressed and ready, I plop on the couch to wait for Arden. Alex’s text looms and I open it.

Why don't you want to have lunch with me?

Having lunch with Arden

And you don't want me to come because…

It's not that I don't want you to, it's just that I didn't think you'd want to hang out with me and my brother

Don't assume to know what I want or don't want, sunshine

Do you want to come?

Yes

Too bad, see you tomorrow

I send a kissy face then close my phone before he sends his response but I feel it vibrate in my pocket. He’ll get over it. I need to talk to my brother without anyone around.

“Let’s roll, Mars,” Arden says, giving the back of my head a light pat as he passes by the couch. I turn on the overhead light by the door and am immediately reminded of what Alex did last night. And then I’m reminded of what we almost did on the living room couch. I feel my cheeks start to flush as the memory invades my brain.

Shaking my head to clear myself of the vision, I whip my coat off the hook and pull my arms through.

“How’s Cafe Royale sound?” I ask as we head out of the apartment.

“Sounds like it has food so I’m in,” Arden holds the door as we leave and the brisk autumn air hits me like a force.

I pull my jacket a little tighter. “So, you just couldn’t wait until the holidays to see me?” I let out a laugh but it’s not sincere. I need to know what’s going on with him.

Arden doesn’t speak for a little while. As we approach the front door of the cafe, I’m about to grab his arm and demand he talk but he beats me to it.

“The factory job isn’t working out for me.”

I blink a couple times. “What does that mean?”

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