“Sure, sure,” Raj nodded.
“Glad I ran into you, though,” she added, and Raj glanced up.
A slow smile curled his lips, and she returned it, her pretty blue eyes sparkling in the glare from the window.
“Did I help at all?” he asked, and waved a hand, sliding to the edge of the booth.
“I haven’t made a decision, no, but talking about it did help, I guess,” she admitted, with a roll of her eyes.
“Communication is key,” he replied.
If possible, she rolled her eyes harder, but slid out of the booth.
It was shaping up to be a pretty day, the sun bright and warm as they left the diner with a chime of the bell dangling above the door. It was later, too, than he’d expected, late afternoon, nearing the rush hour, much to his surprise.
“So, now what?” Eli asked.
“Well, you could wait until Jack gets home and then tell him about all your conflicting feelings,” he offered.
“Nah,” Eli said, shaking her head. “Not that.”
Raj’s lips twitched. Stubborn little thing.
“Well… if you won’t talk to Jack, we could make Jack talk to you.” It was a long shot, but…
Eli shielded her eyes from the sun as she glanced over at him. “What do you mean?”
“Well, I’m positive Jack has feelings for you. We just need to force him to face them.”
“We?” she asked, amusement curling her mouth.
“Oh, I’m in this now, it’s too late to go back,” Raj teased.
“So how will we do that?” Eli asked.
God, her smile was cute.
“We should make him jealous,” Raj told her.
Eli came to a dead stop, and Raj only realized a second later, had to spin on his heel to find her gaze. “And how would we make him jealous?”
“Easy. Make him think he might lose you to another alpha.” Here goes. “Let me court you.”
Her hand was still at her brow, blocking out the sun, and Raj stepped a little closer so he would eclipse the light. The tension around her blue eyes eased and she dropped her hand.
“You want to fake-court me to make Jack jealous,” she said.
Raj didn’t hesitate. “Yeah, that’s right.”
Eli laughed, the sound reminiscent of the welcome bell, ringing through the afternoon, oblivious to the people around them. Her head was tilted back, pink hair floating on the breeze.
Yeah. He’d fake-court the hell out of this omega.
Finally, Eli shrugged, arms lifting only to fall at her side again. “Fuck it. Everything is already messed up anyway. How wrong could it go?”
“That’s the spirit,” Raj teased.
It pulled another laugh out of her, and she continued towards him. She wrapped her arms around his left one and leaned into him.