obviously. I meant why are you out here?”
“I couldn’t sleep.”
So she dragged her pillow and a blanket to the couch?
“Guess Brent’s a light sleeper?”
She offers a noncommittal hum and goes back to reading.
I toss my pillow on the end of the couch opposite her head and walk over into the kitchen. Now that I plan on staying up a while, I need a snack. I flip on the light under the cabinets so I don’t crash into anything and then I search the pantry until I find a box of cereal. I fix us each a bowl. Once they’re filled, I carry them back to the couch. When I start to sit, Maddie groans in annoyance because she has to yank her feet out of the way just in time before I crush them.
I don’t say thank you; instead, I hold out her bowl.
“I’m not hungry,” she says with an icy tone.
Huh.
The Maddie I used to know would never turn down a late-night bowl of cereal.
I chuckle under my breath and place her bowl down on the coffee table in front of us.
“You know there’s plenty of other seating,” she points out.
“I’m fine,” I say, scooping some cereal into my mouth.
I like this. Maddie has a little bite to her. Maybe I’ll keep provoking her and see how hard she sinks her teeth into me.
Without another word, she holds her Kindle up in front of her face, blocking me from view, and continues reading.
I know for a fact she’s not absorbing a single word.
Can you imagine focusing at a time like this? I can barely succeed in getting my spoon to my mouth without spilling the cereal all over myself. She’s so close to me, her toes graze my thigh. I can smell the shampoo she used when she showered before bed. I’m aware of her every movement, no matter how small.
We continue sitting near each other in silence. Time crawls. The only sound in the room is me crunching on cereal with my mouth closed.
She eventually groans, shoves her blanket off herself, and sits up beside me. I glance at her out of the corner of my eye as she reaches for her bowl. She’s in her pajamas, a loose cotton tank and shorts. The side of her shirt dips low on the sides so that I catch more than a little hint of bare skin as she leans forward.
My body reacts instantaneously, like I’m a starving man in the desert who’s just caught a glimpse of fresh water. Blood rushes south as my heart hammers in my chest.
She leans back against the couch with her bowl, bending her legs up against her body and using her knees as a makeshift table.
I’m staring, and she notices. Her eyes cut to me, glaring as if to say, What?
I smile and she shakes her head and turns away, focusing on her food.
“What exactly is your goal here?” she asks. “To annoy me?”
“I’m just eating cereal. I think you’re reading too much into it.”
“I asked you to stay away from me.”
I shrug. “Yeah, well, if you were in your room with Brent like you’re supposed to be, we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now.”
That shuts her up.
“You know you can run back to your room any time you want,” I add.
She straightens her shoulders and continues eating.
If I didn’t know better, it would almost seem like she doesn’t want to go back to her room.
Trouble in paradise?
“Did you and Brent have a fight or something?”
“Of course not. We don’t fight.”
“Not ever?”
“No. He’s nice.”
“What about in the bedroom?”
She chokes on her cereal and I have to reach over and pound her back, making sure she doesn’t die on me. She coughs a bit and regains her breath then glares at me once again.
“That’s none of your business.”
I laugh. “We used to discuss this stuff all the time. There was no subject off limits for us, or have you forgotten?”
“I’m more mature now,” she says haughtily.
“Little Maddie Lane, so mature she won’t even kiss and tell.”
My taunt rankles her. She drops her spoon back into her bowl with a clink and turns to face me.
“If you must know, Brent knows exactly what I like in bed.”
“Oh yeah?”
“He’s not shy. No fumbling and tiptoeing around what he wants.”
I smirk, and she narrows her eyes.
“You don’t believe me.”
I shrug. “I didn’t say that.”
“It’s written all over your smug face!”
I go right on eating my cereal.
“Good to see you haven’t changed one bit. You’re as arrogant