Page 57 of Debugging Love

“Burn,” Heng whispers.

“Who are you burning?” Danni asks. “Me or Chance?”

“Both.”

Based on Danni’s visible unclenching, this seems like the right answer. Good enough anyway.

“I even included JetAero’s style guide at the end. We will be audited based on these standards.” She raises her eyebrow at me again. “Make sense?”

“Why are you only looking at me?”

“Because I’m not a chameleon.”

“Fair.”

For some reason, Danni insists on starting at the top of the document and reviewing every section. Although I haven’t read the document, I feel like I’ve heard it all before. Thus, my eyes glaze over, but not like they did on my date with Chelse. They descend southward and stop at Danni’s necklace, which is a dragonfly pendant with gems for eyes and intricate goldwork on the wings.

My eyes drift to her shirt–a poofy-sleeved number that looks feminine rather than extra. Danni likes plants and flowers. This shirt is no exception. It’s covered in medium-blue vines against a light-blue background. Subtle. A good complement to the blue gems in her necklace.

She continues talking about view layers and controllers and duplicate code, which should grind my gears, but I feel calm, more so when my eyes travel back to her face. Even when she’s saying goofy words like foobar and obfuscate, she looks perfectly put together. Pretty. Not just pretty. Gorgeous.

My cheeks go warm and my hands don’t know what to do with themselves. I anchor one under my chin and pan over to the wall. Danni’s blood-curdling scream snaps me back to attention. Now my heart is really pounding.

She launches from her chair and ducks under the table, screaming again.

I scoot out and peek at her. “Problem?”

She covers her mouth and points to the ceiling, her heaving breaths making it impossible to talk.

“Is the roof gonna cave in?”

She shakes her head furiously.

“That’s good.”

“Get it,” she squeaks.

“Get what?”

“Hurry!”

Heng’s eyes travel to the ceiling, his face turns white, and he runs out of the room. My eyes follow him out the door. “Dude. Heng just ran.”

“Getitbeforeitfallsonme!” Danni spits out.

“Say that again?”

Abeer pokes his head in. “What’s wrong with Danni?”

“Get the spider!” she yells.

“I’m on it!” I hear Morgan holler, her voice muffled by distance.

Violet and Juanita join Abeer at the door. They nudge him out of the way and peer into the room to see what the hubbub is all about.

“What’re you doing under there, Danni?” Violet asks in an alarmed tone. “Is it World War III or something?”

Bruce comes up behind them, towering above them both. “We doing duck-and-cover drills on top of active shooter now?” His large frame is no deterrent for Morgan. She pushes past him carrying a trashcan.

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