Page 103 of Debugging Love

Drew meets eyes with me. His wheels are turning. I think he finally understands what it means to be “into” someone. I’ve done my fatherly duty.

“I think you should go for it,” Drew says matter-of-factly, and then he rolls onto his back, crosses his ankles, places his hands behind his head, and grins at the ceiling.

Chapter 23

Danni

The first day of Chai World lives up to my expectations. Lots of techies wandering around wearing lanyards and carrying goodie bags from various onsite vendors. Informative, but dry discussions about templating, browser compatibility, consolidating the view layer for a lightweight architecture. Chance would be all over that one.

I eat lunch at a tech crunch-and-munch about Latte, a new templating framework that promises to take Chai development to the next level. I’m unimpressed. I’ll stick with JetAero’s in-house, tried and true, templating engine, FLUB. It’s as good as it sounds, but I am not refactoring our applications to use something new. Not happening. Doing so would be heavy on expenditures, light on profits, and that’s what JetAero is all about. Profit. Which is fine. It’s how they pay me.

At six o’clock, I’m hungry and my hands are numb from typing so many notes into my laptop. As I hobble out of my last session, my phone dings. It’s our group text. Morgan wants to knowwhere we’re going to meet. We decide on a place and then we all agree to eat dinner back at the hotel.

Drew entertains us during the ride home with little known facts about qubits. Turns out, he didn’t know all there is to know about quantum computing. I’m okay letting him jabber. It means Chance and I don’t have to talk.

I’m not upset about Bedhead Becky anymore. Being upset would mean that I care, and while I was falling asleep against a feather pillow last night, I decided I don’t care. So why should I be upset that he slept with some woman in a tight red dress the day after he kissed me?

Does this mean I want to get all nice-y nice with Chance? No, because he still wields my kryptonite. A simple, sultry “Danni” and I’ll be swimming in a pile of swoon all over again, and I do not want to tread those waters. Not with a player.

Chance can do Chance. He can surround himself with his Chancelings. I’ll be over here preserving my integrity.

Back at the hotel, Morgan and I stop in our room to unload our conference goodies and then we head straight to Toasties. Drew is already there holding down a U-shaped booth.

The low light in Toasties gives the modern space a cozier vibe and the moderate rumble of conversation adds to its liveliness. A bar stretches down one side of the room. Along the back wall, a brightly lit stage offers a microphone and karaoke setup. A techie girl is at the mic, still wearing her lanyard while singing “Careless Whispers” in a breathy, nearly nonexistent voice.

Morgan slides right up to Drew. I sit beside him, leaving plenty of room between us. Across from me is an empty space where Chance should be.

“Is Chance not coming down?” I ask.

“You look like Azura in Delta Droids Wear Pink,” Drew says, his gaze fixed on Morgan.

She side-eyes him. “Um. Okay.”

“It’s anime. I like anime.”

Morgan’s confusion melts into a grin. She giggles. “We’ll have to watch it sometime.”

“It is only in book form.”

“Well, maybe you could read it to me.”

“Would that excite your feminine hormones?”

“Maybe,” she answers demurely.

“So Chance isn’t coming down?” I ask to break through whatever weirdness is happening between Morgan and Drew.

“I can pull up a picture on my phone.” He grabs his phone from his pocket and jabs his index finger against the screen. Seconds later, he hands the phone to Morgan. Her grin turns into a full-fledged smile. I guess Chance isn’t eating with us.

Morgan snuggles closer to Drew.

“Can we order?” I try again.

“Can I see more?” Morgan asks. They become engrossed in his phone as he flips through pictures of Azura the Pink Delta Droid.

While they’re oblivious, a waitress approaches. She’s wearing a Toasties T-shirt featuring a toaster and two wine glasses. Her short hair is pulled back in a ponytail, but the strands around her face have escaped. Rough night I guess. Chai World attendees are a tough crowd.

“I’m Elaine. I’ll be taking your orders today. Can I start you off with something to drink?”

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