Page 84 of The Prime-Time Experiment

Tyler matched it.

There was a rhythm to it now: a quick, responsive, balanced exchange that suggested mutual engagement. Riley observed the interaction carefully, cataloguing the alignment between them. The timing of responses. The sustained eye contact. The absence of conversational gaps.

Her attention narrowed slightly as she tracked the pattern.

Beside her, Declan shifted closer: not enough to draw attention, but enough that his presence registered more distinctly against her side. His grip on her hand remained steady, unchanged, but his head dipped slightly toward her.

“I think they’re flirting,” he murmured, his voice low enough that it didn’t carry beyond her.

Riley blinked. Her gaze snapped back to Dee and Tyler, sharper now, reassessing the interaction with new parameters.

“Clarify,” she said quietly, her voice controlled but carrying a note of something less certain beneath it.

Declan’s mouth twitched slightly, like he was holding back a smile. “That,” he said softly, angling his chin almost imperceptibly toward them. “That’s flirting.”

Riley watched more closely.

Dee laughed unprompted, but not excessively. Tyler’s response followed quickly, not overlapping, but not delayed. Their proximity had shifted incrementally closer without either of them acknowledging it. Dee’s hand moved as she spoke, and Tyler’s gaze tracked it before returning to her face.

Riley’s brow furrowed faintly.

“That appears to be… effective communication,” she said.

Declan huffed a quiet breath near her ear, the sound warm against her skin. “Yeah,” he murmured. “It is. And it’s also flirting.”

Riley turned her head slightly toward him, the movement small but immediate. “On what basis?”

His expression softened, amused but patient. “They’re paying attention to each other more than anything else in the room,” he said. “They’re matching each other’s energy. They’re… enjoying it.”

Riley processed that.

Her gaze flicked back to Dee and Tyler, then returned to Declan.

“That is not inherently distinct from general social compatibility,” she said.

Declan’s smile deepened just slightly. “No,” he agreed. “But it’s usually how it starts.”

Riley stilled. Because that variable extended beyond observation.

Her awareness shifted subtly, but immediate.

To him.

To the way he sat close enough that she could feel the heat of him even without direct contact beyond their hands, to the way his voice lowered specifically for her. To the fact that his attention, even now, had not left her for more than a few seconds at a time.

Her chest tightened faintly.

“… Are we,” she started, then paused, rephrasing. “Engaging in the same behaviour?”

Declan went very still for half a second. Then a quiet, almost disbelieving breath left him, his forehead dipping just slightly toward hers without making contact.

“Yeah, Riles,” he said softly. “We are.”

Riley absorbed the words. Her gaze held his, more focused now, more deliberate. Flirting. The term settled into place not fully understood, but no longer unassigned.

“… Okay.”

The word didn’t sit cleanly, but it didn’t need to.