It wasn’t like we chatted the whole time. Or at all in some cases, when we got fully into the zone. It was just him. He was this soothing, positive energy that acted like a balm to all the sticky darkness trying to smother me from my past.

I’d learned that much when we’d had tacos together. The way he talked about wanting to be friends, and how rare true friends were. He didn’t want anything from me. Didn’t demand things from me or give me flack about how I spent my time.

We were the same, and yet different.

The Clue table roared with laughter, the clinking of mugs and metal spoons drawing me back to business. Not coffee business but blog business. I scrolled through a few more comments, my eyes glazing at the fourth dude to ask me if I preferred thongs to bikinis to bare.

Bells chimed, and I called my usual, “Welcome to Comic Brew,” not bothering to look up. Usually people were comic-bound more than coffee, and I didn’t want to hound them as they searched the endless selection.

“Whatcha working on?” Dean asked, his voice jolting every single sense I possessed.

I bolted upright from my leaned position over my laptop, slamming the screen closed.

“Nothing!”

He cocked a brow at me, his gaze widening. “We legit were just working together an hour ago.” He glanced at my closed laptop, my palm still lying protectively over it. “You’re already up to something that merits that kind of reaction?” He tsked me teasingly, wagging his finger.

I chuckled, calming my nerves. “What are you doing here?”

He leaned against the counter, his blue eyes scanning the shop. “I finished updating the school’s website with the list Tanner had emailed me, and it got boring in Code Club all by myself,” he said, returning that gaze to me. “Figured I’d finally come see where you worked.”

He came here to see me?

The breath caught in my throat, my heart filling my lungs, my stomach melting.

Relax! Friends, remember?

“You were lonely?” I teased, hating that my voice hitched at the thought of him missing the time we spent together.

“Maybe,” he said, flashing me that damn smile.

“Coffee?” I asked.

“Ah,” he said. “So you missed me, too.”

“What?” I furrowed my brow. “How’d you make that leap?”

“You just invited me to stay.”

My lips parted, then popped closed. I shook my head, storing my laptop in my cubby. “I work here. I ask everyone if they want coffee.”

“Just admit it,” he said, laughter in his tone. “You like having me around.”

I gaped at him. “You’re so full of yourself.”

“Full of truth. I see everything.”

I froze, the words sinking beneath my skin.