Page 51 of Maybe You

When I turn around, I find Jordan watching me intently.

“You look nice,” he says.

I let out a breath, and my shoulders relax. I guess I needed to hear that.

“Thanks.”

I rake my hands through my hair and try to tame it into some sort of style, all the while painfully aware of Jordan’s gaze on me.

“So?” he finally asks. “Who is he?”

“Nope. We’re not doing that.”

“At least give me a name.”

I shake my head. “Still no.”

“For safety reasons,” he says.

“For snooping reasons, is what you meant to say.”

“It’s not my fault the two are somewhat connected.” He’s quiet for a second. “And safety actually is a thing, you know?”

“Yeah, well, you can calm down. I’m meeting a friend. And just for the record, I was also meeting a friend yesterday, and there was no clapping of any kind involved. It was just late, and I stayed over at his place. That’s all.”

He narrows his eyes at me. “You don’t have friends.”

“Thank you.”

He shrugs. “Well, you don’t.”

“I took your advice, and I made one. You should be happy for me and not scare me off with your investigating, you know?”

“I do enjoy it when my wisdom is appreciated,” he says thoughtfully. “So where did you meet this new friend of yours?”

“At work.”

He’s immediately suspicious again. “You work alone.”

“There are other people there, too. Look, it’s a long story, but there’s a dude. We hit it off. Now we hang out. Okay?”

He wants to dig further. I can see it. It’s Jordan. He’s the closest thing to an overprotective big brother I’ve ever had or ever will have. To his credit though, he backs off. He gets up and claps me on the back as he passes me.

“Have fun,” he says.

“Thanks,” I call after him.

In the doorway, he turns around, stuffs his hand into his pocket, pulls it out, and throws something at me.

I fumble to catch the box.

“Use protection,” he says with a grin.

I flip him off, and he laughs as he walks away down the hallway.

I eye the condoms for a second before I stuff them into my jacket pocket.

ELEVEN

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