I laughed when he couldn’t come up with another sentence. After dinner I’d gone into the bedroom to study so that Alex could use the television without worrying that he was going to bother me. I’d felt relieved that the announcements were over and I could finally relax, assuming that my focus would improve and I’d start sailing through my assignments the way I used to.

I hadn’t actually been able to concentrate until Alex had come quietly into the room and sat down beside me on the bed. I didn’t think either of us had realized how raw we were still feeling until we’d settled into separate rooms to do our own thing.

“Hey, Hailey called me,” I said, turning my head to face him. “She was checking to see if we’re going to their Christmas party on the twenty-third.”

“You don’t celebrate Christmas, so we obviously won’t go,” he replied quickly.

“Nice try,” I said. “They’re doing a white-elephant gift exchange, too.”

“Oh, fun,” Alex mumbled. “We’ll come home with a popcorn popper we’ll never use and a personal massager that someone thought was hilarious.”

“I notice that you didn’t say we’d never use the massager,” I replied.

“Well, that’s useful,” he said innocently. “Your shoulders get sore after hunching over a computer all day.”

“I don’t hunch.”

“I love you sweetheart, but you hunch.”

I grinned. “You’ve never called me sweetheart before.”

“You like that?” he said, smiling back. “Thought I’d test it out, see how it felt.”

“It would have felt better without the hunching part,” I shot back.

“Your shoulders would feel better without the hunching, too,” he said with a shrug.

I laughed and poked him in the side, making him jerk.

“Are you ticklish?” I asked, my eyes wide with newfound power.

“Absolutely not,” he replied, stiffening.

“Yes.” I poked him again and got the same jerk in response. “You are.”

“This is a fight you’ll lose,” he warned, tilting his head to the side as he watched me. “Are you prepared for that?”

“I was born prepared,” I replied.

Alex’s laugh came out in a huff. “It’s ready, I was born read—”

I took advantage of his distraction by digging my fingers into his sides, making him practically leap off the bed. As he scrambled to get away from me, he fell off the side, ass first. I laughed so hard that my eyes began to water as his feet got tangled in the blankets and sheets so he was hanging awkwardly from the bed.

Knowing retaliation was coming as soon as he worked his way free, I slid off the other side of the mattress, still laughing.

“Funny, huh?” he asked, hopping to his feet. He was breathing heavily, and the hair on his head was sticking out at a million different angles.