Page 25 of Her Former Bear Mate

"Oh, I should probably pay you back for the ticket," Aditi said, realising their finances were separate now so it did matter whose bank account the money came out of.

Lena shrugged."It's fine.If you hadn't come along, I'd still have had to pay for two tickets."

Aditi could've argued that someone else could've gone along, although she wasn't sure who.Alix wasn't good with blood or murder and Maria was heavily pregnant.She supposed that in the time they were broken up, Lena could've made a new friend but that was unlikely to be the case.

"Thanks," she said instead, wondering if this was Lena being thoughtful or Lena being practical.It was hard to tell sometimes.

Once they reached the lobby, they joined the queue for the impromptu bar.There wasn't a whole lot of choice so Aditi ordered some cider, just to take the edge off.She was well aware that wasn't necessarily a good idea but one problem at the time.

The woman behind the bar set the drinks down and held out her card machine."Separate or together?"

Aditi hesitated, her thoughts flitting back to their meeting in Dragon Roast, to Lena's hard cold voice when she said to charge it separately.Then again, this was a very different situation.They were on better terms and Lena was paying for the tickets.

"Together," she decided, especially when she saw Lena reaching for her phone.Maybe it was the wrong decision, and paying for drinks together wasn't magically going to make this a date, but Aditi wasn't going to be the one to point it out.

The woman behind the bar didn't give them a second thought, naturally unaware and uncaring to what was going on.Aditi completed the payment and took her drink so they could move out of the line.

"Thanks for the drink," Lena said with a lopsided smile.

"You paid for the tickets, it's only fair," Aditi replied as casually as she could, shrugging for good measure, like this whole thing wasn't making her heart race.So what if she was here with her ex?Friends could go out for an event, she did that all the time with Alix.

She didn't want to kiss or touch or hold Alix's hand the way she wanted to with Lena, but that was kind of irrelevant.Feelings didn't make something a date, intent did.

A date was something two people decided on together, something they planned ahead of time, something for just the two of them because they wanted to spend time together.

Fuck.Was this a date?

Lena nudged her in the side."Aditi?"

"Yes?"

"I was asking if you wanted to grab our seats."

"Sure, good idea."Aditi nodded, still a little dazed.Why did she think coming along was a good idea?Who was she kidding?She was still desperately in love with Lena and every missed kiss and moment she needed to restrain herself from reaching out was like dribbling lemon juice in an open wound.It wasn't going to kill her but who knew how long she could bear it?

Lena counted out the rows until they got to theirs and pointed out their seats, the ones at the end because it was much nicer not to have to crawl over people's lap to get in and out.

Without discussion, they settled in their seats.Aditi on the left, Lena on the right, just like how they always did it.She didn't even think about the lack of conversation until the lights went out and she realised that with anyone else, there would be this considerate chair dance.

Not with them.They knew how they fit together.

Aditi felt the urge to take Lena's hand but that would be inappropriate so she trapped them under her leg.

Not.A.Date.

FIFTEEN

Lena

The cold airmade Lena shiver and she wished she'd brought a thicker coat.The talk had gone on longer than expected and had been surprisingly grim.

"It's a good thing it was about murderers in broad daylight," Aditi said, gesturing into the dark night."Goodness..."

"Hmm," Lena hummed affirmingly."I never realised there was a serial killer in our city."

"No, me neither.You think that's the kind of thing you would know.Especially one that preys on women."

"Well, he's dead so it's not an issue anymore," Lena said, although the talk had ended quite ominously with some statistics about the likelihood of a murderer being in their midst or how likely an encounter was like that was.

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