Page 19 of Fraternizing with the Enemy
Logan thought about that for a moment before attempting to wipe any trace of expression, scrunching his eyebrows together. But it so didn’t work. He looked like he was fighting off a smile.
I gave a mock-disappointed sigh. “Yeah, we’ll save the resting B face to me.”
He gave a light laugh. The sound could’ve passed for music they played over the speakers. “So, how was practice?” he asked. “Did Jade play drill sergeant again?”
“A little. It’s funny you already picked up on that. Do I talk about her a lot?”
Logan tipped his head side to side. “Here and there.”
Weird. I hadn’t even noticed. “She’s my best friend, so I guess it makes sense. But just—ah. Don’t tell her I told you she’s a drill sergeant.” I couldn’t imaginethatgoing over well, even though when I’d told Logan, it’d just been a joke. “She did bring you up to everyone at practice, though.”
His lips lost their curve. “What’d she say?”
“She just bragged you up. Everyone’s excited to meet you.” I shook my iced coffee, glancing around the somewhat empty café, and leaned in. Logan immediately mimicked me, tilting across the small table until our faces came close. “You’re going to blow up on Babble. That’s the school’s gossip site—Brentwood Babble. People are going to love you.”
I could already see all the posts and threads about him. Logan had a face that people wouldloveto take pictures of, and soon, the online pages of Babble would be filled with his cute, dimply, puppy-dog grin. Well, filled with himandme. We’d be all anyone talked about—the new Campus Couple.
I blinked, a thought resurfacing. “Is chalant a word?”
I hadn’t realized I’d gotten lost in my thoughts until I found Logan looking at me strangely. Well,strangemight not have been the right word—his expression was just different from the one I normally saw on him. There was no curve to his mouth or his eyes; instead, he just watched me blankly, as if he’d been lost in thought, too. “Chalant,” he repeated.
“Like, the opposite of nonchalant?”
And then, distantly, there was a spark in his eyes, silent for a beat. “No,” he said, tilting his head into a knuckle, a small smile touching his lips. “It’s not a word.”
I shrunk my shoulders toward my ears. “Oh.”
“But we can make it a word.” Logan propped his elbows onto the table and lowered his voice, as if we were sharing a secret. “What are youchalantabout, Madison?”
I took the straw of my drink between my teeth. “You.”
Every time I tried to flirt with Logan, it always left him flustered. It was like his brain emptied, leaving him to do nothing but blink at me, lips parted. It sort of was reminiscent of the stunned way he looked when I came into Expresso’s, like something about the situation struck him, and struck him hard.
He swallowed—he actuallyswallowed. “That was my line.”
“It sounded better on my lips.”
And then, just as I’d intended, Logan’s gaze dropped to my curving mouth.Lips. It was such a strange word, one I wouldn’t have thought sounded intimate before Logan. Despite how still I sat, my heart slammed in my chest, the iced coffee nearly slipping from my grip.
“Logan,” a voice called. We both turned to find a boy standing behind the counter, wearing the Expresso’s combo of a black apron and red polo. His black hair was short, and even though he had on black glasses, his flat expression was clear. “Dude.”
I blinked at him, because in the few times I’d visited Logan at work, I’d never seen this guy before. I hadn’t even realized there was another person here tonight. When I’d burst through the doors, my attention had zeroed in on Logan immediately.
“Five minutes,” Logan called to him, already in the process of turning back to me.
But his coworker wasn’t letting go that easily. “You’re not getting paid to flirt.”
“Five minutes.” This time, Logan’s voice was laced with hidden meaning.
The coworker’s eyes slid to me before he rolled them, the disdain clear.
“What’s his deal?” I asked Logan.
“Bulldog.” Logan eyed my sweatshirt. “He’s territorial.”
Well, that totally explained it. I looked over at the guy behind the counter again with a new stink-eye of my own, but he’d already ducked back behind the espresso machine.
Logan knocked his knuckles on the tabletop beforerising an inch, about to stand. “Can I walk you to your car?”
