Like, what had they done? Did they share a romantic candlelight dinner between friends? Did they catch a movie afterward, or go for a walk? Or back to Stacey’s place? Because it was close to eleven, so there was no way they just ate dinner. Did they spend hours catching up or making out? I hadn’t felt anything...weird through the bond, but that didn’t mean anything, since distance weakened it. And even though Zayne insisted they were only friends, Stacey was really pretty, and they had hooked up in the past. There was some level of attraction there, physical and emotional, and Zayne hadn’t...

He couldn’t be with me.

He probably didn’t even want to be with me now.

My stomach twisted in knots. I needed to play it cool. I told myself that as I whipped open the bedroom door so hard that I nearly pulled it off its hinges.

So much for playing it cool.

My narrow vision swept over the living room, stopping on the blurry form of Zayne. He was standing behind the couch as if he’d stopped there abruptly.

He stared at me.

I stared back, and the silence stretched between us until I couldn’t take it any longer. “Hi.”

Zayne was too far away for me to tell if he smiled, but it sounded like there was one when he spoke. “Hey.”

Resisting the urge to wave at him like a doofus, I clasped my hands together. “You’re back.”

“I am.” He took a step forward and then another. “I wasn’t sure if you’d still be awake.”

And waiting up for him? I cringed. Was it that obvious? “I was just getting ready to sleep and I was thirsty.”

That was a total lie, but at least I was in my pajamas.

I stepped out of the bedroom, telling myself to just walk to the fridge, grab a bottle of water and then head back.

That’s not what I did.

“Did you have a good time?”

“Yeah,” he said, and then there was a pause. “I guess.”

“You guess?” I crossed my arms. “You were out pretty late, so I would think you did have a good time.”

He tilted his head. “It’s not that late.”

“So...” I shifted my weight from one foot to the other. “What did you guys do?”

Zayne leaned against the couch, clasping the back of it with his hands. “We went to dinner and then went down to the mall. We just walked around and talked.”

Irritation flared to life, and I tried to stamp it down, but I wanted to walk the mall with Zayne and do nothing but talk and laugh like normal people, like we’d planned to before everything had gone to Hell.

I needed to get a drink and go to bed. That’s what I really needed to do.