Johnny smiled at the tease. There were a lot of comebacks ready to spill from him, but he was cut off by what she said next. His own smile dropped, replaced by confusion. He couldn’t have heard her right. Despite being so close to her, she couldn’t have possibly said what he’d just heard her say.
“What?”
Time, he’d said. He knew what he’d said. He’d been wrestling with these things, these ideas, all the words that had passed between them, his feelings, how jealous he’d been. Evan and Lucas both getting a rise out of him merely by being close to her, nothing more substantial than that. And now she was telling him that they needed to take a step back?
That made no sense.
“You can’t be serious.” He smiled a little bit again, trying to encourage her to admit that it was a joke. A bad one, but a joke. w