Invite Sean

There were precious few moments that I regretted being friends with Kaylee. This was one of them.

“Why don’t you just invite him over then?” I focused on the packet in front of me. I couldn’t see the reaction she made. I didn’t want to see it.

She didn’t answer right away, and the temptation to look over at her was almost overwhelming. The only thing that got me through was forcing myself to compare one of my answers with hers. We’d somehow managed to get different answers to the same problem. Now I had to figure out which of us was right.

“Nah,” she finally said. “You’re over here, and I don’t want to be rude.”

Something in my chest felt like it was quivering. “I’m the one imposing. Besides, it will take me a bit to go over this. He’ll be long gone by the time I’m done.”

She giggled, causing that quivering feeling again. “With Sean? No way.” I glanced over at her. She had rolled onto her side and was staring at me, a smile on her face. As our eyes met, her lower lip rolled inward as she nibbled at it. The wheels in her mind turned on as her eyes never left mine. “But you really don’t mind?”

I just barely caught hold of my surprise. I’d offered because it was the polite thing a friend would do. Never thought she would actually consider it. I mean, actually consider it.

“I wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t offered to help me out.”

She chewed on her lip some more. Her eyes slid from mine to the phone resting on her bed. Then back up to me. The packets in front of me forgotten, I watched as her attention danced between me and the phone. I don’t think I’d ever seen Kaylee like this, at least not in recent history. There was a whole bunch of emotions playing out. Excitement and curiosity I expected. Fear and anxiety I didn’t. She finally looked away, chewing at her lip as concern etched itself into her features.

“Are you sure? I really don’t want to—”

“Kaylee.”

“Yeah?” she asked, almost breathlessly.

“If you’re going to flop around all night mewling like a cat in heat, take me home so I can finish in peace.”

She grinned. Whatever mood she’d been in vanished. “Fine. But don’t complain later how you didn’t get any work done,” she said as she picked up her phone. A few texts later, she was grinning like she’d won the state championship. “He’ll be over in fifteen.”

My eyes fell on the work before me.

“Great,” I mumbled.