Page 51 of The Lodge

“You’ll be losing work time, though, right?” Tyler asks.

“I’ll probably be able to make it up later as long as I pull some late nights,” I say. “But yeah, honestly, I can’t really afford to lose even a day or two. Maybe I can try to write by hand?”

Tyler’s quiet. He pops the last bite of his pretzel in his mouth, and a single fleck of salt clings to his lower lip for a half second before he licks it away.

“You should borrow mine,” he says, looking up at me with those gorgeous brown eyes. “My laptop.”

I blink. “You… won’t need it?”

He shrugs. “I’m a ski instructor. I use my laptop to catch up on world news and take care of scheduling, all of which I can do from my phone.”

“That would be amazing, if you’re sure it won’t be too much trouble?”

“Really, it’s no trouble at all.”

Chloe will be proud of me, accepting help like this—let’s just say I have a pattern of doing things the hard way just so I don’t inconvenience anyone.

I think what makes this feel different is that I can tell Tyler truly won’t mind being inconvenienced if it makes things easier for me.

“Okay,” I say. “Thank you.”

He holds up a finger, likebe right back, and I hear my front door click shut on his way out. As soon as he’s gone, it feels entirely too quiet in here: it’s just Puffin and me and the flickering fire.

I take a quick glance at my phone, notice I’ve missed numerous texts and a call from Lauren.

Call meeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Alix

ALIX

Locked myself out and can’t remember who I should call for your spare key???

One of your neighbors just hit on me, ew

WHERE IS THE LOCKSMITH

WHERE ARE YOUUUU

Back inside. Sorry for freaking out but ughhhhhhh Had plans to go out this weekend but now I can’t bc it cost more than $200 to unlock the door

My stomach drops.

So, so sorry I missed all this, I type out frantically.Glad you’re back inside… Chloe has my spare key if you ever need it again, she’s only a few blocks away

I take a deep breath. Lauren can come off as self-centered at times without meaning to—I honestly think she relies on me so much because she’s not quite sure yet how to be an adult herself. I’m trying my best not to be irritated over the fact that she expectedme to text back immediately even though it’s well after midnight.

I shut off my phone and set it on the floor—right beside my stack of True North research books, which I absentmindedly dropped off when I came inside from the balcony earlier.

They arerightwhere Tyler was sitting. As in, if he’d turned his head to the right, he would’ve been up close and personal with three thick spines, all of them betraying the fact that I’m most definitely writing a book about a boy band—aspecificboy band.

Did he see them? My heart’s in my throat just thinking about it.

I remind myself that he has no reason to blast my news all over the internet, no social media followers to blast my newsto. And it’s not like he has that many people to tell in person, either. Just Julie, as far as I know, and maybe the best friend he keeps up with over the phone.

Still. I should’ve been more careful.

I should probably move them before he gets back, just to be safe.

---