Page 18 of My Demon Neighbor
"A tie!"
"You want me to wear a tie?" I gave them a confused look, and the kids laughed.
"No! You should declare a tie!" Peter explained, and I made a slow sound of realization.
"Ooooh, that's what you meant. What do you think, Jonah? Should we declare a tie and shake on it?"
He chuckled, his blue eyes sparkling as he grinned at the kids. "Sounds fair to me."
So we called a tie and shook on it just as the parents started arriving, and within minutes, it was just the two of us in the room.
Jonah stretched his arms above his head with a groan, then shot me a grin. "They're adorable, but they have way too much energy."
I snorted. "That's true. I try to tire them out in class, but then they'll nap for fifteen and go right back to it."
Jonah laughed, then glanced at his watch. "Time for us to clock out. You wanna go grab a drink or something?"
The way his eyes roamed over me made it quite clear what 'grab a drink' was code for, and I shook my head, giving him a smile.
"Sorry, I have plans."
He shrugged, then gave me a curious look. "Seeing someone?"
I pursed my lips, then shook my head as I shrugged my jacket on. While I didn't really feel cold—or hot, depending on the weather—I had to keep up pretenses to not raise suspicion.
"There is someone, but we aren't dating yet," I said, which was the easiest way to describe it. While I wasn't in any rush tospeed up our relationship, I knew that I would never look at anyone else now that I had Codie.
"Okay, then. Good luck with them," he said with a grin before walking away, and I took a few minutes to straighten up and lock up before leaving. While some parts of the center were open to the public twenty-four-seven, other areas like the kids' rooms and classes were locked up during the night.
As I teleported home, I wondered what Codie was up to. After the first time, we'd played catch with Hella yesterday morning and today as well, and I wondered if he was ready to take another step. Should I bring it up, or wait for him to do it? I didn't want to seem pushy, but I also didn't want him to stop now that he'd started making progress, especially because I knew he also wanted to leave his house, to get his life back.
