Page 133 of Debugging Love

“Chance,” I warn.

“We had a bad first date. I was wrong about everything. My scientific method was flawed.”

I set down my knife, lean back. A strong pout tugs on my lips.

“I’m deleting the spreadsheet. No one sees it but me. It was for me and only me. And since then, I’ve learned that sometimes love takes time.”

I’d lean back farther if I could. Instead, I grab the edge of the table with both hands to brace myself. I’m like one of those jittery rabbits in our backyard when I was growing up. If Chance moves a muscle, I might skitter away in panic.

Chance is eyeing me cautiously. Does he even know what he just said?

He reaches across the table, inviting me to hold his hand. He knows. How can a guy who just had his first kiss know anything about love?

The longer I stay quiet and still, the more fidgety he becomes. “C’mere. I want to show you something,” he says.

It better not be that spreadsheet. I don’t want anything to do with it anymore. In fact, I might like to go home.

“I think I–”

“Danni.”

I melt. Every. Single. Time. It’s actually kind of annoying.

Who am I kidding? It’s amazing.

I grab his hand, and he leads me over to his SpaceX control center. He lets me have his gaming chair and he pulls another chair over.

“I was going to show you this tomorrow,” he says. But…” He pulls up Visual Studio Code.

We’re coding now? After he used the L-word?

“I hope you don’t mind, but I made some changes to the architecture.” He expands his folders so I can see his files.

My eyes scan the folder structure, and I quickly surmise that we have different definitions for the word “some.” He reduced the view and controller to one object each and added a few utilities and a generic data retrieval layer. Nothing like my design document that I slaved over and emphatically instructed him to follow without any alterations.

“Why are you showing me this?” I snap my jaw shut and grind my molars into dust while waiting for his answer.

“My module is finished. I unit tested everything. I added my architecture to your design document.”

My eyelid twitches. I rub it to settle it down and then grab the armrests. “You did what?”

Worry draws lines on his forehead. Darn right he should be worried. This ismyproject.Myreputation.Mydesign. Not Chance’s opportunity to show me how brilliant he is.

“I—I have to leave,” I stutter.

“Let me talk you through it.”

“No. I already know. You did it to my R&D app. And Zane did the same thing to my Test Sample app. You guys are all the same. Arrogant. Overconfident. Condescending.” My tone could carve an ice sculpture. “You have no respect for anyone else’s ideas. You think your God’s gift to application development.” I spring up from my seat.

“Danni.”

It doesn’t work on me this time. I’m too seething mad. Good to know I have an antidote to Chance’s kryptonite.

“I think you’re going to like it.”

I can barely see my feet through my anger, but I manage to slide on my sandals. And then I hightail it out of Chance’s apartment.

Chapter 28

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