Page 52 of The Grump I Loathe
I grumbled to myself as she darted for the elevator. I took my phone out to text Max.You’re fired.
You’ll never find a better game engineer than me,he shot back.
You’re not fired from LockMill—you’re fired from being my friend because you spread gossip that leads to me acting like an idiot.
Max’s response was five cry-laughing emojis in a row. At least one of us found this entertaining.
16
EDDIE
“Why is it so hot? June is never this hot,” Noah complained, tugging at the collar of his shirt. The Garden was packed for a Wednesday night, but it was close to the office, and Leigh had really liked the place after going there with Aidan, and she’d suggested we all head over after work for some food, drinks, and games. Among the pretty mirrored bar and vibrant greenery were an array of pool, ping-pong, and air hockey tables.
“It’s practically July, my man,” Max said, clapping him on the shoulder. “Time to lose the sweater vests.”
“It’s mid-June,” Leigh argued. “Don’t wish the time away. We need every second forShadow.”
“Okay, but we’re a little ahead of schedule,” I argued, pinching my fingers together. “Hence the mid-week celebration.” We’d also had a successful playtest on the updated Juni Protocol. The kids had responded much more positively this time, and their feedback from this round consisted of minor tweaks that would be relatively easy to implement.
“A little,” Leigh conceded, sipping her drink. “But we can lose that ground in an afternoon if we’re not on top of things.”
“You sound like someone I know,” Max teased. “Connor’s rubbing off on you.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen him smile like that in a meeting,” I joked. Connor had grinned reading the surveys after the playtest.Grinned!Like a kid on Christmas morning. He had not, however, grinned when Max had invited him along for the office hang. His eyes had briefly drifted across the office to me, and my breath had caught, wondering if he might throw caution to the wind, come out with us, and actually have some fun. But he’d pulled back, just like he had that day I’d stayed late, muttering something about picking up Grace.
“I think he was excited to see how the kids responded to his ideas. Andyours,” Max added. “Connor said you two spent an entire Saturday afternoon reworking the protocol.”
His eyes narrowed playfully, and my pulse skipped. Maybe after the club, he suspected there was something brewing, or maybe Connor had said something to him about the kiss. The way he looked at me now…hehadto know there were feelings—which were made even more complicated by the fact Connor took four giant steps back every time we got close.
But I couldn’t say anything, couldn’t acknowledge it, so I simply shrugged, playing it cool. “I just asked him what Grace liked in her video games, and that opened a new narrative line.”
Noah laughed. “I thought you were joking when you said you wanted me to write a story arc for Mr. Cheesers.”
“I thoughtConnorwas joking when he told me he was getting a pet for the office,” Max said.
“We’d never joke about our beloved rat,” I teased. “Who else is going to remind us to have a gouda day?”
“He still gives me the willies,” Leigh said, pretending to shiver.
“Even with those little whiskers? No. Oh, we’re up,” Max said, putting his drink down and hurrying over to claim our ping-pong table. We were trading off with a group of college kids in between rounds of appetizers.
I picked up my paddle, standing next to Noah, facing off against Leigh and Max. “So you never finished telling me about how things went with Aidan.”
Leigh shrugged. “We ate, we drank, we ping-ponged. It was good.”
“Is ping-ponged a euphemism for…” Max trailed off as Leigh whacked him with her paddle.
“It was a perfectly nice evening,” she said, serving the ping-pong ball.
“And you want to see him again?” I asked, returning the serve. Aidan hadn’t told me anything. But he never did because “Eddie, you know I don’t kiss and tell.”
Leigh lifted her shoulder as Max volleyed back. “I don’t know. I had fun. I just don’t know if I see anything…”
“Serious?” Noah suggested, missing his swing. He chased after the ball.
“Exactly. After Tristan, I know better than to settle for anything less than what I want, and with Aidan, the vibe isn’t really there. I mean, there was definitely a vibe, but a temporary one.”
“You know it doesn’t have to be serious, right?” I said. “Aidan can do casual. And you’re allowed to have some fun figuring things out before you jump into something long-term again.”
