“Are you trying to avoid me?” he hummed in my ear, making me realize I hadn’t said ‘hi’ to him.

“What?” I laughed nervously. “Don’t be silly. I’ve just been busy with classes.”

“Are you busy now?”

“I’m busy drawing my picture.”

“Can you draw in a place where it’s a little warmer? Maybe at the cafe? I’ll buy you a latte, my treat.”

I grumbled because I wanted to avoid Hunter and him showing up and asking me to hang out at a cafe didn’t mix. But then I remembered I had a debt to repay him. “Alright, let’s go. I’ll buy though since you got the ice cream last time.”

We went to Huck Cafe. Upon my insistence, I ordered him a latte and he thanked me for the kind gesture. Then I ordered a black coffee for myself. We found a table and sat down across from one another.

Hunter took a long sip of his drink. “Mmm yummy. Want a sip?”

“No thank you, Hunter,” I said politely.

“So, Lorrie—” He looked at me seriously. “—Is it because you stayed over at my place after we watched those movies?”

His direct question caught me off guard. “Uh . . . no.”

He shook his head. “Why are you freaking out about staying over at my place? Just because you stayed over doesn’t mean anything.”

I was prepared to agree with him about me staying over not meaning anything but the “not meaning anything” part upset me, when I knew it shouldn’t.

“Why would you say it doesn’t mean anything? It does mean something. It means we went further than we should have as friends.”

“We didn’t do anything though. I didn’t even kiss you when you fell asleep. Are you saying that having my arm around you is inappropriate?”

I sighed. Hunter didn’t understand the implications of the situation. “When you hang out with Gary, does he fall asleep nestled in your arms after you guys down some beers?”

“What? No! Of course not. That’s different.”

“How is that different?”

“Gary’s a dude. Man Code doesn’t allow that.”

“Okay, well what does Man Code say about falling asleep with girls that are friends?”

“It says it’s acceptable if neither of them are attached to anyone else. Therefore, what we did was acceptable. You might even say normal. Unless . . . you are attached?”

“No, I’m not,” I clarified, hoping Hunter took the cue that I was including my feelings toward him as well.

“Good, then there’s no issue.”

“I hate to tell you this, Hunter, but I don’t abide by Man Code. I abide by Girl Code.”

He lifted one brow. “Alright . . . then what does Girl Code say?”

I took a sip of my black coffee enjoying the sobering bitter taste. “First rule of Girl Code: don’t talk about Girl Code.”

He narrowed his gaze at me. “So you’re already breaking the first rule?”

“I referenced it. I didn’t talk about it.”

He rolled his eyes. Although I’d done that plenty of times to him, it was the first time I saw him do it to me. “I’m pretty sure you referenced Fight Club rather than an actual rule.”

“Does it matter?”

“Yes, it matters! Dammit, Lorrie. Talk to me. I’m okay with you not telling me some things about yourself but please, don’t avoid me. I told you before, I don’t bite.”

I sighed. “Hunter, this—” I referenced to the space between us. “—is drama I don’t need right now. I have enough problems already. This is what I was concerned about in terms of us becoming ‘friends’ and now it’s come true.”

“Lorrie,” he sighed. “My dick’s not coming out. My lips are keeping to themselves. My hands aren’t roaming. You wanted that, and I’ve been following through. You want me to keep you accountable now? You want me to kick you outta my place when you fall asleep on my couch? You want me to be an ass**le?”

“No . . . yes. I mean, no. I can handle myself just fine, Hunter. I just want you to know that us sleeping together last night wasn’t a signal for you to move forward.”

He put his hands up briefly in defense as if I was going for a takedown attempt on him. “Consider it known.”

“It was a mistake on my part,” I added. “And it shouldn’t have happened in the first place.”

“It wasn’t a mistake. Nothing happened beyond sleeping. I haven’t forgotten our ‘friend’—” He put his fingers up and wiggled them to indicate quotes. “—friend agreement. But honestly, I’m a little pissed off you didn’t talk to me about this upfront. Avoiding me is such a drama-queen thing to do. I thought you were different from other girls. Maybe I was wrong.”

“Ugh, I hate to disappoint you, Hunter, but even if I’m cool with watching hockey with you and talking about threesomes, I’m still a girl. I have emotions you know.” I was beginning to see cracks in our friendship and as much as it sucked to consider, I wasn’t sure if we were going to work out. Maybe we didn’t understand each other as well as we’d thought. “If you still want to be friends, you’re just going to have to deal with that fact. Besides, didn’t you say yourself that I was both selfless and selfish?”

He grumbled. “And just because I’m a guy, doesn’t mean I don’t have feelings. Just because you see me getting punched in the face doesn’t mean I don’t get upset when you do shit like avoid me. Man, when I woke up and found out you weren’t there, I got worried.”

“Why would you get worried? I told you I had to go to class.”

“That was after I texted you first asking where you went. Even when I made that joke about you forgetting to take my trash with you and you responded with a smiley, I knew you were faking it. You usually respond to my jokes with L-O-L and then some snarky comeback that makes me laugh. I knew you were hiding your true feelings. They don’t call you Lorrie Hide for nothing.”

Hunter knew some of my habits better than even I did. “Only you call me that, Gunther.” I stuck my tongue out at him and he did the same to me.

“I know you have some personal issues you’re dealing with, Lorrie. I don’t know what they are and I haven’t asked you about them because I know you don’t wanna talk about it. I’m fine with that. I got my own issues and I’m more than happy to leave our skeletons in their closets. Just don’t leave me hanging especially since I care about you.”

After a few moments, I realized how poorly I handled the situation and decided to take responsibility. “Alright, fine. I’m sorry for being a bitch to you, Hunter. I care about you as well. I just sort of freaked out and didn’t give you enough credit. I’m actually surprised you’re being so level headed about this.”

His shoulders relaxed and he smiled. “I humbly accept your apology. And I’m sorry for being such a comfortable pillow for your face that I made you fall asleep on me.”

“Apology accepted,” I puffed.

He grinned. “That wasn’t so hard was it? I’m glad that we talked this out and got it resolved. Aren’t you?”