Page 101 of Debugging Love

The redhead squints at her monitor and then refocuses on me. “I have you down for two rooms. Two queens and a king.”

I grab the key cards from her. “We reserved two double queens,” I say.

She flits her eyes to her computer, tugs on a pigtail, and then regards me with sad puppy eyes. “I’m sorry. We’re booked solid. I don’t have any more queens available. Do you still want both rooms?”

“Sure.” No way am I sharing a bed with Drew, so I keep the keys to the two queens, and give the girls the king room. “Sorry, you get to share a bed.”

Morgan puts her arm around Danni and squeezes. “We don’t mind. We love each other.”

Danni doesn’t look as convinced, but she doesn’t complain. She seems a little less grumpy since she ate. Maybe she was just hungry the whole trip. Or maybe I’m misreading her again.

Dadi’s voice threads through my brain,Indian girls are less complicated.

Yes, Dadi, I know. Navya probably doesn’t have mood swings. She’s probably even keel, always the same-o, same-o.

Which sounds boring,

I guess I don’t know what I want.

Per the redhead’s directions, we meander to the elevators, Danni in front of me, her glossy hair sashaying with each step and her shorts fluttering against her svelte, athletic legs.

Yes. I do. Her name is Danni. She likes pink Hello Kitty shirts and flowers and other pastel things, and she has occasional mood swings, but she knows how to code, she’s not afraid to challenge me, and I’m not going down without a fight.

The elevator doors close, trapping us in the small little box on pulleys that we’re expected to trust with our lives. Is Danni having intrusive thoughts about the cable breaking, sending us to our deaths?

“The elevator was inspected five months ago.” I point to the certificate. “We’re safe.”

She looks at me with one eyebrow arched again, her expression exquisitely, beautifully cranky.

We make it to the third floor with our lives intact. The girls stop at Room 305. Drew and I split off to Room 307.

I hover the key card in front of the lock and listen for a click.

“Want to hit the swimming pool tonight, boys?” Morgan asks, obviously not as exhausted by the road trip as I am. Being a passenger has its benefits.

“I’m beat,” I say. “I need to rest up for all the note taking tomorrow.”

“Fine, then. Night night.” She flashes Drew a grin before following Danni into their room.

I lead the way, Drew trailing behind me with his suitcase thundering over the fake hardwood floor. I’m about to collapseon the bed by the window when Drew pushes me out of the way and dives onto it.

“I call the bed by the window.” He crosses his feet at the ankle and folds his hands behind his head.

“Dude.”

“I need to sleep by the air conditioning. I have asthma.” This is the first he’s ever mentioned it. He fake coughs.

“Okay, first, I don’t care where I sleep. And second, don’t push me again. Ever. And third, Morgan is into you.”

Drew looks at me like I’m speaking Kannada, which my dad never taught me, but I picked up while living in Bengaluru. Regardless, I’m speaking English and he still looks as confused as a fly banging against a window.

“She’s into you,” I say again.

“That is not possible. You do not put together puzzles very often, do you?” He uses hand gestures to make it more cringe.

I drop onto my bed. The one by the bathroom. “You’ve never heard anyone say that?”

“The key goes into the lock. The nail goes into the wood. The staples go into the stapler.”

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