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He stood at the door and listened.
“Because—” That voice was definitely Jem’s. “You’re the only one he won’t yell at.”
“That’s an assumption.” The second voice was clearly Tean’s. “You’re assuming he won’t yell at me because he hasn’t yelled at me yet, but that doesn’t necessarily mean—”
“It’s because of your beautiful eyes.”
Silence.
“Probably,” Jem added.
“Probably? Jem, he doesn’t care about my eyes—”
“That’s what you should do if you get into trouble. If he looks like he’s getting mad, or like you’re bothering him—”
“I don’t want to bother him. I don’t even want to be here.”
“—you just take off your glasses and—ok, try batting your eyelashes. No, you’re staring at me. Batting your eyelashes is more like blinking but—do you have any mascara?”
“Why don’t you go talk to him?” Tean asked.
“I already told you: you’re his favorite.”
“I’m not his favorite. One time he put a blanket on me and then later I heard him tell Shaw he didn’t see me sitting on the couch.”
“See? You’ve already got your meet-cute.”
“Jem!”
“Please?”
North had heard that tone before, and he knew that Teancum Leon, wildlife vet, had lost the battle.
After a moment, Tean snapped, “Fine.”
“Thank you.”
“But if anything goes wrong, I’m not batting my eyelashes.”
“No, not without mascara.”
“I’m going to say, ‘Boy, it’s so hot out here.’ No, that doesn’t sound natural. I’m going to say, ‘It’s really hot out here.’ And then you come charging up the stairs and save me.”
“I don’t know if me charging up the stairs—”
“This is why I have a husband!”
“Ok, ok. I’ll come charging up the stairs. As soon as I hear you use your safe word.”
Jem grunted, and the sound suggested he’d been punched. Probably not hard enough. Steps rang out on the concrete, and when the sound drew closer, North threw open the door.
“What?” he demanded.
Tean stared at him, his hair wild, his eyebrows crazy. He did have beautiful eyes, North thought. Jem hadn’t been wrong about that.
“Boy,” Tean said in an unnaturally loud voice, “it’s hot out here.”
What sounded suspiciously like laughter came from the bottom of the stairs.
