“I’m pretty close with all my family, but Archie and I do have the most in common,” she said, finally answering my question in a low voice. I had to duck my head down to hear her. “Some days he’s really annoying, though.”
I glanced back at him; he was laughing now. Though he wasn’t looking at us, I thought he might be laughing at her.
I was paying so much attention to this little exchange that I didn’t notice what she had on the tray till the lunch lady was ringing us up.
“That’ll be twenty-four thirty-three,” she said.
“What?” I looked down at the tray and then did a double take.
Edythe was already paying, and then gliding off toward the table where we’d sat together last week.
“Hey,” I hissed, jogging a few steps to catch up with her. “I can’t eat all that.”
“Half is for me, of course.”
She sat down and pushed the overflowing tray to the center of the table.
I raised my eyebrows. “Really.”
“Take whatever you want.”
I sank into the seat across from her, letting the dead weight of her bag slide to the floor with mine. At the other end of the long table, a group of seniors watched her with wide eyes.
“I’m curious. What would you do if someone dared you to eat food?”
“You’re always curious.” She made a face, then daintily tore the tip off a piece of pizza, popped it in her mouth, and started chewing with a martyred expression. After a second, she swallowed, then gave me a superior look.
“If someone dared you to eat dirt, you could, couldn’t you?” she asked.
I grinned at her. “I did once… on a dare. It wasn’t so bad.”
“Somehow, I’m not surprised. Here.” She shoved the rest of the pizza to me.
I took a bite. I wondered if it really tasted like dirt to her. It wasn’t the best pizza I’d ever had, but it was decent. While I was chewing, she glanced over my shoulder and laughed.
I swallowed quickly. “What?”
“You’ve got Jeremy so confused.”
“Tough.”
“He really let his mind run wild when he saw you get out of my car.”
I shrugged and took another bite.
She tilted her head to the side. “Do you truly agree with him?”
I had to swallow fast again, and I almost choked. She half-rose, but I held my hand up and recovered. “I’m fine. Agree with him about what?”
“Why I’m here with you.”
It took me a minute to think through the conversation. I remembered things I hoped she hadn’t been paying attention to—like the fact that apparently everyone knew I’d been obsessed with her from day one.
“I’m not sure what you mean.”
She frowned. “Obviously, it’s just some pity thing?” she quoted.
I was surprised that she looked irritated. “It’s as good an explanation as any.”
“And I’ll be getting bored soon, will I?”
That one stung a little—this was my biggest fear, and it seemed all too likely—but I tried to hide it with another shrug.
“Beau, you’re being ridiculous again.”
“Am I?”
She smiled a funny half-smile, half-frown. “There are several things I am currently worried about. Boredom is not one of them.” She cocked her head to the side, her eyes drilling into mine. “Don’t you believe me?”
“Um, sure, I guess. If you say so.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Well, that was an overwhelming affirmative.”
I took another bite of pizza, chewing slowly and deliberately this time. She waited, watching me with the intense little scowl that I knew meant she was trying to get inside my head. When I took a second bite without speaking, she blew an angry breath out her nose.
“I truly loathe it when you do that.”
I took a second to swallow. “What? Not tell you every single stupid thought that passes through my head?”
I could tell she wanted to smile, but she didn’t give in. “Precisely.”
“I don’t know what to say. Do I think you’ll get bored with me? Yeah, I do. I honestly don’t know why you’re still here. But I was trying not to say that out loud, because I didn’t want to point something out that you might not have thought of yet.”
The smile escaped. “So very true. I never would have realized it myself, but now that you mention it, I really ought to be moving along. That Jeremy suddenly seems alluringly pathetic—” And then she cut off and the smile vanished. “Beau? You know that I’m joking.”
I wondered what my face was doing. I nodded.
Her forehead creased. After a second, she hesitantly stretched her arm across the table toward me, leaving her hand in easy reach.
I covered it with mine.
She smiled, but then she winced.
“Sorry,” I said, pulling away.
“No,” she objected. “It’s not you. Here.”
As carefully as if my hand were blown from the thinnest glass, she rested her fingers on my palm. Copying her caution, I folded my hand gently around them.
“What was wrong just now?” I half-whispered.
“Many different reactions.” Her forehead wrinkled again. “Royal has a particularly strident mental voice.”
I couldn’t help it; I automatically glanced across the room, and then was very sorry I had.