“I know.” A sigh. “But it’s nice to hear. But, okay. Here we go. Um, I was thinking that since Blaise doesn’t have a game tonight, and he just texted that Jordan and Zellman both weren’t in class so … would you and Cross be interested in a double date? With us, I mean. Tonight.” She rushed on, not letting me answer, “I mean. You know. It doesn’t have to be anything big or a lengthy time investment. Or, it can be short. We don’t even need to talk. We can do dinner and a movie. Yeah. Maybe a drive-thru so Cross and Blaise don’t have to talk, then a movie.”

I bit my lip to keep from laughing. “I think both will endure a date for us.”

She sighed again. “You don’t know Blaise—” She cut herself off. “Wait! You do. You totally know him, but yeah. Let’s do that angle. If I tell him it’s important to me, he’ll watch himself.”

Which was something I wasn’t surprised about.

Aspen was the giant pinkie finger and Blaise was wrapped around it. Totally and completely.

“We can do dinner and a movie, if you’d like?”

“I would.”

We decided on a venue and a time, and then I delivered the news.

Cross’s response was, “What?!”

I laughed. This was going to be a fun night.

Aspen picked a diner that was off-campus and set a little off the normal path, meaning when we pulled up, the parking lot was half-empty. Cross parked the truck and just shook his head. “Why are we doing this?”

I laughed.

I’d been laughing most the day.

“Because Aspen called and it’s Aspen.”

He growled. “That doesn’t work for me. Why the fuck are we doing this?”

I grinned. “Because Aspen called and it’s—”

He threw open his door and stalked out.

I laughed, following. Meeting around at the front, Cross shook his head. “You owe me for this.” And his hand dropped to my ass, giving me a good squeeze.

My mouth dropped, but I felt a whole zing go through me. Yeah. Maybe I would owe him, and he relaxed, grinning. “You okay with that?”

I was just fine with that. A full fucking throb was starting in me, and now I was pissed we had to do dinner and a movie.

I hadn’t told him about the movie part yet.

“So.”

Aspen looked at me.

I looked back. “So.”

Cross and Blaise were glaring at each other.

The waitress had come and gone. We had our drinks. The orders were put in, now we waited. And we had ordered so quickly, because yeah, the silence. All the silence.

Aspen cleared her throat, picking up her drink. “So, um…Cross.”

He looked at her.

She swallowed, her head dipping. “How’s your sister?”