“I’m Alice, by the way,” sheoffers.
“Aaron,” Irespond.
“Yeah, I know. Most people do. If I have to hear one more girl going crazy over your beanie, I might just grab it off your head and burnit.”
“Or keep it and auction it off to one of his fangirls!” Christina calls from across the room. They bothsnicker.
“What is this? The Aaron Penn roast?” Idemand.
“Nah,” Christina answers. “You would be way too easy to roast. I prefer achallenge.”
Alice interrupts before I can fire off a comeback. “Beanies aside, you should totally join us at Christina’s place tonight. We’re celebrating you guys getting into the showcase once I’m done my shift. Seems only fair we invite the other half of theproject.”
“Seriously, Alice?” Christina groans. “Since when do you have permission to invite people to myhome?”
Alice shrugs and turns back to me. “I mean, we were going to have a dance party in our underwear, you know, given the whole lingerie theme, but we can change ourplans.”
I raise my eyebrows and deliver my next line to Christina. “No need. I’ll just suck it up and force myself to watch you two dance in your underwear. I wouldn’t want to be aninconvenience.”
“You’re the definition of an inconvenience,” she replies smoothly, not missing abeat.
“So you’ll be there, right?” Alice urges, as I hand her the money for my sandwich and take the bag out of herhands.
I look back and forth between the two of them. “Am I actuallyinvited?”
“I guess Alice is right,” Christina concedes. “You are half the project. Also we need to re-work a few things for the showcase, so this will give us a chance tostart.”
“No!” Alice bursts out. “No working. This is acelebration, Christina. The only thing you’re going to be working on tonight is a bottle ofwhiskey.”
“I like how this one thinks,” I say, jerking my thumb at Alice. “You should listen to her more often. Text me your address, Dominguez, and I’ll think about gracing you with mypresence.”
“You disgust me,” shedeadpans.
“I disgust you with how much you adore me,” I deadpan rightback.
* * *
I’m standingoutside the door of Christina’s apartment, wondering if I should just turn around andleave.
The fact that she might not actually want me here isn’t what has me ready to bolt down the hall; it’s how muchIwant to be here that sets alarm bells off in my head. The thought that I’m about to see where she lives, to sit on her couch and look around at a whole new side of her life, ignites the sparks of curiosity I’ve been making it my mission to putout.
Before I can do anything stupid, the door opens up and Christina stands there in a pair of jeans and a loose t-shirt.
“You actually showed up,” she greetsme.
“Didn’t want to miss you dancing in your underwear,” I reply, “not that it’s anything I haven’t seenbefore.”
“I hope you brought some kind of alcohol for me to dull my irritationwith.”
She steps back and lets me into the room. There’s a tiny entryway with a kitchen to the left, and beyond that a living room just big enough for a dining area, couch, coffee table, and TV. I set the whiskey bottle I brought with me down on the coffeetable.
“Alice mentioned whiskey, so I thought I’d go with thetrend.”
“Perfect!” exclaims a voice from behind me. I turn to find Alice walking out of what I assume is a bedroom. “Let’s getturnt.”
“Ugh, Alice,” Christina groans as she throws herself down on the couch. “Please don’t say things like ‘turnt.’ It reminds me of how young youare.”
“Or how oldyouare,” Alice retorts, taking a seat next toher.
