Page 39 of The Boyfriend Zone

Chapter 13: Lucas

Nate burst into the break room, a pizza box balanced on one hand.

"Food's here!" he announced cheerfully. "I come bearing sustenance for my fellow ink-stained wretches."

"Ink-stained wretches?" Ava repeated, amused. "Been watching old movies again?"

"Vintage movies, I'll have you know." Nate set the pizza down on the table with a flourish. "The Pulitzer we win starts with proper brain food."

As we dug into the pizza, Nate regaled us with a dramatic retelling of his morning shoot at the arts building.

"So there I am, trying to get the perfect angle of this naked sculpture that looks suspiciously like a giant—"

"Nate," I cut him off, glancing at the door to make sure no editors were within earshot. "Maybe skip to the part that doesn't get us reported to HR?"

"Spoilsport," he grinned. "Anyway, I'm contorting myself into this ridiculous position to frame the shot when who should walk by but the university president with a tour group of potential donors. Their faces when they saw me basically doing yoga with an expensive camera..." He mimed shock, making Ava snort with laughter.

I smiled along, grateful for the distraction from my ethical dilemma.

My phone buzzed with a text, and my heart jumped when I saw Sean's name on the screen:Still on for tomorrow? 2pm?

I typed back quickly:Absolutely. Looking forward to it.

A simple exchange, nothing revealing or intimate about it. Yet just seeing his name on my phone, knowing he was thinking about me, sent a warm current through my chest.

"And there's that smile again," Nate observed, peering over my shoulder. "Hockey Boy checking in?"

I locked my screen quickly. "Just confirming plans for tomorrow."

"Ah yes, the big private talk," Nate waggled his eyebrows suggestively. "Don't worry, I'll clear out, make myself scarce. Leave you two lovebirds to your nest."

"It's not like that," I protested, though the heat rising in my cheeks likely told a different story. "We're just talking."

"Talking can be good," Ava chimed in, her tone teasing but kind. "Communication is key in any relationship."

"We're not in a relationship," I reminded them both. "We're... I don't know what we are."

"Figuring it out?" Nate suggested. "Dancing around each other like awkward teenagers at prom? Slowly driving your friends insane with the will-they-won't-they tension?"

"All of the above," I admitted with a rueful smile.

"Well, for what it's worth," Nate said, his tone turning more serious, "I hope you figure it out in a way that makes you happy. You deserve that, Lucas."

"We both do," I said meaningfully, glancing between him and Ava. "Any update on the Zach situation, by the way?"

Nate's expression clouded slightly. "Not really. He gave me that photography book, which was... thoughtful, I guess. But I'm still not sure what he wants from me."

"Have you asked him?" Ava suggested bluntly.

"Not in so many words," Nate admitted. "But I did tell him he'd need to do better than a book if he wanted me to forget how he disappeared after the party."

"And?" I prompted.

"And he said he was working on it," Nate shrugged, trying too hard to seem casual. "Whatever that means."

I had a feeling we'd find out soon enough. Zach didn't strike me as the type to give up easily once he'd decided what he wanted. Much like his best friend in that regard.

As our lunch break wound down, I checked my phone again—a habit I'd developed whenever thoughts of Sean crossed my mind, which was embarrassingly often these days. Still no new messages, but just seeing his name in my text history made my heart do that strange little flip it had taken to doing whenever he was near.

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