Page 62 of With Love, from Cold World
But as he watched, she stepped awkwardly to the side to get out from under Daniel’s touch. He didn’t know if she did it because she didn’t want to be with him at all, or if it was just because she wasn’t comfortable with the public display in front of her boss.
“You look nice,” he said, leaning in so only she could hear.
“Thanks,” she said, her gaze traveling down his face to his shirt, the slide so slow it was like she was counting every button. She jerked her eyes up before the survey went any lower, glancing away. “So do you.”
Asa bit back a grin. He was dressed up for him, which meant a real collared shirt with the sleeves rolled up to just under his elbows. He was trying to figure out what to say next when Kiki came up, frowning down at her phone.
“Marj isn’t coming,” she said. “Of fucking course. After I made so much pointless small talk with every Stetson grad in a clearance suit atherparty. She barely acknowledged me.”
Kiki glanced up, seeming to notice her boss for the first time. “Oh, hello,” she said, waving her phone. “Sorry about that. Girlfriend troubles.”
“Are there any other kind,” Daniel said. Asa supposed it was the guy’s way of trying to show some sympathy, but the comment rankled nonetheless. Of course there were an infinite number of problems, including the inherent misogyny in Daniel’s own statement.
Or maybe what really rankled was the way Daniel had stepped closer to Lauren when he said that, putting his arm casually around her shoulders. As ifshewere his girlfriend. As ifshewere trouble.
“Uh,” Kiki said, voicing his thoughts aloud, “a ton of other kinds, actually.” She turned to Asa, deliberately cutting Daniel out of the conversation. “You want to go grab a drink at the bar? I could use one.”
“Sure,” Asa said, raising his eyebrow at Lauren. “Want to join?”
Next to them, Dolores and Daniel had started speaking in rapid Spanish, the conversation appearing to escalate quickly. Daniel had dropped his arm from around Lauren’s shoulders, or she’d sidestepped him again, but she was watching the exchange with a line between her brows.
Asa waited for her response, feeling more and more like a fool when it didn’t come. Even Kiki seemed to take pity on him, throwing out her own “Do you want us to get you anything?”
Lauren dragged her gaze away from Daniel long enough to give Kiki a distracted smile. “No, thanks.” Then she glanced at Asa, as if suddenly remembering something. “Actually, punch sounds good.”
Under different circumstances, Asa might’ve warned Lauren about just how strong the punch was. He couldn’t remember if he’d seen her drinking any in the previous years, but since he’d never seen her even close to tipsy, he doubted it. But she was already turning back to the conversation between Daniel and his mother, despite the fact that they were making no effort to even try to include Lauren. Asa would’ve expected that kind of rudeness from Daniel, but he was surprised at Dolores. It wasn’t like her, especially at a holiday party where she normally went overboard trying to ensure that the employees enjoyed themselves.
He and Kiki headed to the makeshift bar that had been set up in the corner that inevitably attracted a bunch of discardedjackets, piled up while people were skating and forgotten more often than you might think. Their lost and found looked like a Burlington Coat Factory had exploded. But for tonight, the caterers had set up a counter with a limited selection of beverages, and Asa ordered a beer and a cup of punch before turning to Kiki.
“I’ll have punch, too,” she said, and he added another cup to the order.
“I’m sorry,” the bartender said, giving him a polite smile, “but I’m only allowed to give one drink per person with valid ID.”
“Just two punches, then,” Asa said, sliding his driver’s license across the counter with a five-dollar bill as a tip. “Thanks.”
Kiki put her ID on the counter, too, and the bartender glanced at both before pouring the drinks.
“Can’t believe we’re getting carded!” Kiki said, sipping hers as they walked away. “What a time to be alive.”
“I’m sure they have to for liability reasons.” It was such a thing that Lauren would’ve said, had she been standing there, that Asa glanced back over in her direction. She was still standing with Dolores and Daniel, one arm at her side, the other crossed over her body to grasp her elbow. They still were deep in whatever debate they were having, and she looked uncomfortable but made no motion to leave.
“Okay,” Kiki said, “as your housemate and friend and a person with sight I demand to know.Whatis going on?”
Asa didn’t pretend to misunderstand the question. “Lauren won that date with Daniel,” he said. “It looks like they’re on it.”
“Then why areyougetting her a drink,” Kiki said. “And why did I catchyouwith your hands all over—”
Asa shot her a glare, and she mimed a sarcastic zipping of her lips, which he could’ve pointed out she’d alreadypretended to do earlier and thrown out the key. Obviously he should’ve shaken her down for any spares.
“We’re friends,” he said. “I think.”
“I didn’t even know youlikedeach other. I thought you found each other annoying.”
Asa supposed that must’ve been true at some point, although it was so hard to remember. It had only been a few weeks, and already he had a hard time not thinking of Lauren the way he did now—someone who’d start a snowball fight at work, who used random number generator lists to get through her day, who’d listened to his most painful memories with so much compassion that he felt like he could tell her anything.
But of course he couldn’t. Because at this point, his biggest secret was probably just how much hedidlike her. The problem was that he couldn’t quite figure out how she felt. She was attracted to him—that part couldn’t just be in his head. But then there’d been her whole rant about not being capable of casual sex. Was that all she thought it was?
Asa took an automatic sip of the punch in his hand, making a face when he realized that yes, it was as strong as he remembered. It also wasn’t his. “Fuck,” he said. “I didn’t mean to do that.”
