“You were looking for me?” I wrinkled my nose at him.
“I—” Ethan blinked at me for a second, his cheeks turning a shade of pink that had nothing to do with being in the sun.
“You’re telling me you didn’t look for me?”
“Nope.” I shook my head as he raised an incredulous eyebrow at me. It was almost adorable watching him squirm. I sighed. “But Nittha did. She says you’re into cars.”
Ethan’s face erupted into a grin. “Oh, I see. You got someone else to do your dirty work.”
I rolled my eyes. “It’s not like I asked her to.”
“Sure. I believe you.” Ethan’s gaze followed in the direction I nodded, where Nittha was holding Cricket above the water fora photo. “Don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone how you research the competition.”
I shook my head and tried to focus on my computer. “So, you admit that we are in competition, then? Do you always fraternize with the enemy?”
Ethan studied me. “We’re not enemies. Our grandmas are.”
“But you just said we were.” I grinned as an idea turned over in my mind. If I couldn’t make him go away, maybe I could make Ethan useful. Tilting my chin toward Sterling, I asked, “Do you know that guy over there, the one with bleach-blond hair?”
Ethan’s gaze followed the direction I’d pointed him in. “You mean Sterling?”
“Yeah.” I nodded, fighting the urge to get too excited.
“I do. Did. Kind of. We’re friends-ish. We used to play soccer together in Portage Park.” Ethan stumbled through his explanation of his relationship with Sterling, then readjusted in his chair slightly, as if the question made him feel uncomfortable. Pulling at an invisible loose thread on his shorts, he added, “He works with someone I used to date, so it’s complicated. We don’t talk as much anymore, but we were close. If you are asking because you think he is cute, bad news: He is gay.”
“Google already told me that, but thanks for lookin’ out.” I laughed, then explained. “My grandma thinks she might want to work with him, but I wanted to do some reconnaissance before she talks to him. Don’t tell her I told you.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.” Ethan’s frame relaxed a little. He said, “Don’t let the glitter fool you. Sterling is supersmart, highly competitive, and dead serious about his business. The guy istwenty-four/seven thinking about his brand and how he positions it. Honestly, he’d probably be the perfect match for Ms. Mini. They both have big personalities.”
“Thanks for the intel,” I said before returning to my work.
Ethan leaned back in his chair, ostensibly soaking up sun. Meanwhile, I tried to focus on BamBam’s content schedule, so I could figure out where I wanted to slot her latest brush video into the plan. She had a sponsored video for a hydrating face cream going out soon, too, and I wanted to time the brush video’s release so that it didn’t draw potential viewers away from it—
“So, you and Nittha seem close. She was with you in the lobby.” Ethan’s voice interrupted me. I faced him only to find him watching me, tension tracing his jaw as he tried to sort out how to say whatever it was he was getting at. Ethan took a deep breath and gestured in a circular way as if the motion would help me connect the dots. “Is she your friend…girlfriend…platonic life partner…”
For a moment I blinked at him, and then I started laughing. Ethan’s face looked like he might crawl into a hole at any moment. This happened a lot with Nittha and Gabby. They were both so pretty and outgoing. I couldn’t really be mad at people for asking the sidekick friend if they were single, even if Ethan’s attempt was clumsy.
“We’re just friends. But, bad news for you. She typically dates girls. And trust me, right now, she’s got a whopper of a girlfriend.”
“I wasn’t asking about her for me.” Ethan looked shockedthat I would think he was asking about the dating status of an objectively pretty girl for benign reasons.
“Sure. You and everyone else who’s ever asked me.”
“No, really.” Ethan sputtered. Clearing his throat, he tried again. “You’re not interested in her?”
“Girls aren’t for me so far, but even if I was interested, I’m not Nittha’s type. Everyone she dates is about a foot taller and ten times louder than me.” I laughed, envisioning Nittha’s current girlfriend. That girl was basically a walking megaphone. Anytime she needed to do anything, the entire world got an announcement about it: tying her shoe, losing a pen, changing a tampon.
“So, what would be your type?” Ethan asked, drawing out theoinso.
I snorted. “Nice try. You seem like the kind of guy who’d flirt with a light post if it were in front of you.”
“Nah,” Ethan said, suddenly very interested in the seam of his swim trunks again. I pursed my lips together and waited. “Can’t a guy ask his new friend about her life?”
“Again. We’re not friends. You’re the one who said we were competition, remember?”
Ethan laughed, and I caught myself smiling even as I tried to scare him off. “Okay, then how about we know just enough about each other to be cordial when our grandmothers aren’t around? What’s your favorite color? It’s probably dark purple.”
Great. He’d noticed my nail polish, and now my imagination was working overtime to bring the whole friend scenario from the plane back again. That couldn’t happen. Sometimes fibs were for the greater good…
