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"What are you doing here?" he asks

"My father is a director of the Biocircuits Institute He works justover there" I point past him and he follows s "We’reup for lunch"

When he looks back at me, his brow lifts, and he lets out a quiet, "Ah"

"But I saw you there, and wanted to talk to you"

Ansel nods once, a clear So go ahead and talk gesture

"I was a coize"

His dark brows shoot up and his head jerks back slightly, telling me this isn’t what he expected me to say

"I knew Mia ith someone," I tell him, "and I knew that she’d moved on I mean," I quickly add, "I had, too, of course But I didn’t know she was married It threw me"

He nods, but his expression remains unreadable "I can understand that"

"Still, I was a little surprised by my own reaction e e over a girl four years later, right?"

He laughs, eyes relaxing so about Mia here I h a little, too "Fair enough"

His s about a very trauether for a very long time, and then she nearly died"

I feel like I’m punched in the stomach anytime I think about that day: the call fro rooery And it never really got better It was the worst thing I could have ever said to her but no ret it, it still feels true: It feels like the girl I loved died under that truck

"She needed someone after the accident, and it wasn’t --maybe for the first time--how true it is "It really is that si away and overyou need to fix with me," he says "I know that those memories cause Mia pain and she feels like she’s lost someone in her family because she doesn’t know you anyood idea to try toever happened" His easy sht returns, and I find myself thankful; his professional expression is so much more intense "You should co new house and Mia is dancing again--she is very happy She would love to see you there"

With a pat to my shoulder, he moves past et out of the house Dylan texts just as I’rab some soyriza nachos and when he asks if I want to le reason to say no I’m not really in the mood for the whole club scene, but as o to Fred’s, either There’s a fine line between hanging out to flirt with so pathetic I feel like I’erously close to that line

We meet up at Clove--a newer club I’ve only been to a few times--and unless London has obtained a third job, I assu like a total and complete dick

We find a table near the bar and have a few drinks, and by the tiood The irls are hot, and if I’ed brunette in the corner who definitely see lance over Andrew’s shoulder I blink away, hoping it looks like I’aze across the rooood fuck tonight would be aood But the other half of me still feels a touch of hesitation over the reood I wonder if o back and poke at her, tease her, find that easy rhyth like the only way I can talk to her is if we’re going to fool around I prefer the idea that she was right, that I don’t need my dick out for soh the crowd, and once she’s within a few feet of ain and I know there isn’t an easy way to escape this without being a total jerk

"Hey," she says, and then perches her straeen her glossy pink lips

"Hi"