Page 99 of Game on, Love

He laughed, leaning back completely like he absolutely did it on purpose. “You can have as many real ones after you let me take you on a date.”

I watched him get out of the chair and round the counter before he opened the fridge. Taking advantage of his focus diverted, I let myself linger on him. He was wearing a maroon jumper, probably some merch, as I noticed the emblem just above the hem that he had paired with some grey joggers. Just as my eyes trailed up, I saw the awareness prickle the back of his neck, and I let myself be bold. When his eyes connected with mine, I just raised my brows, and he shook his head knowingly.

Getting out of the chair, I made my way to the coffee machine, starting it before searching the room for my cats.

“They’ve had their breakfast,” Oliver said, placing his ingredients on the counter and I gave him an appreciative look as I grabbed my mug. “And I was promised undivided attention.”

“My bad,” I laughed softly before sitting back in my chair that was directly facing him.

“Now, all I need is the answer to both my questions. Eggs?”

“Scrambled,” I replied, meeting his eyes.

“And can I?”

“Yes.”

30

Raina

THE LAST COUPLE DAYSwere the definition of walking on a thin line. Vedant’s move had triggered the domino effect in the silly season, and even if it was only two more drivers that had fallen so far, everyone was silently pacing as they waited for the rest of the pieces to fall.

That meant I had been stuck to my laptop, trying to balance that very thin and stretched-out line which was between productive and overwhelmed. Usually, when I had days like these, I would either bake or on days like today, when I was a week away from getting my period, and the sight of something sweet made me gag, I would clean. Only I didn’t haveanythingto clean.

I mean, I would’ve been surprised if the three of them actually lived in the house full time and it was still this clean, but considering Vedant was still in the US for the race on Sunday, not that even during his off time, he spent much time in the house, only really staying for one night; Rihaan was still around, though he wasn’t avoiding me that much anymore. After I gave him Majas, it was like both of us had waved the white flag, and now it was instead awkward acknowledgements before walking past each other. Truthfully, that has made me more hopeful at the fact that we would one day just wake up and be ready to hash it out, but my dead old friend, the voice in my head, liked to remind me that instead of it being happy to let’s sit down and talk it out, it will be when the bubble finally pops.

I wasn’t sure if the thing to push him over would be when he found out I was going on a date with his best friend, the clean freak of the house, tonight or when I finally got my hands onthe journals and realised the true reason why Vedant and Dev haven’t even questioned meonceabout what I told Ma, and then actually tell Vedant what me being there actually meant.

Speaking of the date, Oliver had walked into my room this afternoon and said,“Tonight. Be ready by 6 PM.”

No explanations and no hints. Gave me a wink and left.

I hadn’t even realised I’d agreed to it until he walked out of my room. But I was in the middle of an article and didn’t bother going back to him. As I got ready to log off, I realised that I had been sitting in a nearly dark room—the only light was the last hints of the sun that had set twenty minutes ago and the glare from my laptop.

Checking my emails one last time to make sure there wasn’t anything there that required immediate attention, I closed it shut before getting up. As I did a couple of stretches, I made a mental note to make better judgement calls when it came to the place I was working from. It was either between that, going to the office more often or looking for a new flat.

I paused in my step.

I hadn’t even looked at any flats in at least a month, and now the only reason I would need to do it would be because either my brothers kicked me out or this thing will Oliver that I had barely started to create ended badly.

Wow. So the surety of my accommodation was entirely out of my hands. Good thing Nanu left me enough money to get a—.

“Shut. Up.” I muttered to myself before taking a deep breath and walking out of my room to find Oliver.

Opening up my phone, I pulled up my tracker app. I could’ve called out his name or even started looking for him, but I was already running low on energy, and my best guesses were his room upstairs, or the gaming room downstairs—the two furthest spots from each other, and the idea to go up and down was as appealing to me as telling Rihaan about our date. Thankfully, foronce, I wasn’t annoyed at Milo for sticking by his side when he wasn’t getting attention from me because one blip told me they both were upstairs in his room, so that’s where I went.

Knocking on the half-open door, I pushed it back to find both of them on the sofa he had in his room, with a laptop in front of him.

Oliver looked up as I stepped inside, his expression brightening up instantly.

“Hey, Gorgeous.” He said, shutting his laptop close as I placed myself on the edge of his bed. “You… look exhausted.”

“I feel it,” I grumbled. I debated falling back on his bed for a second before giving in. I have no idea how he found my bed comfortable when his actually felt softer than a cloud. “What are we doing later?”

“It’s a surprise.” He climbed in next to me, leaning on his arm, but his eyes were lit with amusement as they met mine.

“I hate surprises.”