Page 47 of Hot Mic

Across the desk, Sienna was a picture of composure. Her black blazer was immaculate; her face was unreadable. You’d never guess that she’d kissed Robin like an animal a few days ago. If only for a few seconds.

‘Welcome back to Head vs Heart,’ Zoe said into her mic. ‘Today, we’re unpacking the fallout from Date Five.’

Robin shifted in her seat, wondering what she was going to be able to say today about the double date. Everything after the kiss was a blur. She couldn’t remember what anyone had said, what anyone had eaten, nothing. There could have been a full pig spit roasted at the table. Robin wouldn’t know. Not that she thought they were going to spend a ton of time on the meal.

‘So, Valeska and Claire?’ Zoe asked. ‘Were they a good double date?’

Robin and Sienna tried to burn the episode’s runtime on the dullest minutiae of the night—complaining about the slow service and cold food—until Zoe nudged them back on track. Once cornered, they both complimented their dates lavishly before admitting neither connection was going anywhere. They left out the part where Valeska and Claire sloped off together after the meal on some rubbish pretext about sharing a cab. Neither Robin nor Sienna was bothered enough to make villains out of them; Robin actually wished them well. Clearly, the attraction between them had been instantaneous and powerful.

Zoe nodded along and made noises where appropriate, acting interested, which was laughable. Robin knew what was coming. She’d heard the episode. She knew Sienna had accidentally left her tape recording. But, of course, Zoe was saving the juice, like a good presenter.

‘Now,’ Zoe said with a wicked grin, ‘there was one part of the date that caught the listener’s attention.’

Robin’s stomach dropped three inches.

Zoe pressed a button on her desk. A clear, slightly reverberant audio clip played directly into Robin and Sienna’s headphones.

First came the muffled, distinct sound of a bathroom door swinging open, followed by their little chat about who was seeing who. It sounded intense. Charged.

And then a door opening and the conversation in the corridor, followed by a smacking sound that echoed through the studio speakers. The kiss. Fast, sloppy, and undeniably loud. And then Sienna’s ending of it. ‘No. We can’t.’

Robin kept her eyes glued to the mic.

‘The internet has gone completely feral,’ Zoe said cheerfully. ‘#SiennaAndRobin is currently trending. Now, obviously, we do not have visuals. But listeners feel pretty sure that what they heard was you two finally giving in to the sexual tension many people have been insisting was there all along. Care to explain the noise, ladies?’

Sienna smiled and gave a little chuckle. ‘The sound in question was not a kiss,’ she said quickly. ‘My shoe stuck to whatever sticky mess someone spilt on the floor by the kitchen entrance. It made a suction noise when I pulled my foot up. It was just a coincidence.’

‘An acoustic coincidence,’ Zoe repeated, her eyebrows raised in absolute disbelief.

‘Yes,’ Sienna insisted.

‘There was the moan, though,’ Zoe said.

‘Stubbed my toe,’ Sienna said smoothly.

‘But you’ve got to admit, the conversation beforehand…’

‘That was just us checking in on how the dates were going. Robin and I are co-hosts. That’s all. There’s no... romantic overlap.’

‘And what does, “No. No, we can’t,” mean?’

‘Robin got turned around and nearly walked into the kitchen,’ Sienna said smoothly. ‘I was redirecting her.’

Robin knew Sienna was going to deny it. It was the sensible thing to do, the safe thing to do. But hearing Sienna dismiss it so quickly hurt way more than it should have.

Robin swallowed the lump in her throat, forced a lazy, careless grin, and leaned into her mic.

‘Yeah, sorry to disappoint the fanfic writers, Zoe,’ Robin said, pitching her voice into her usual banter tone. ‘No hallway hook-ups here.’

Sienna’s dark eyes flicked to Robin for a fraction of a second, her lower lip pressing into a thin line before she looked away.

‘Right,’ Zoe smiled, tapping her pen against her notes. ‘Well, speaking of the listeners, we ran the official poll for Date Five.’ Zoe held up a printout with a wide, triumphant grin. ‘Over seventy percent of the total vote was an overwhelming, unprompted write-in. The audience voted that both of you won the date... with each other.’

Robin let out an awkward, coughing laugh, scratching the back of her neck. ‘Right. Very funny, guys. Top-tier trolling from the internet.’

Sienna reacted as if nothing had been said.

Zoe leaned forward, pressing her hands flat against the glass, her eyes glinting with pure malice. ‘Which brings us to Date Six.’