I pull the door open. "You want a drink?"
"It's a little early for that."
"Caffeine."
Her gaze moves over the blue couch, the bookshelf overflowing with DVDs and video games, the bare walls. "What do you have?"
"I keep coffee here for Ryan."
"For Ryan, huh?"
I can't help but laugh. "Ryan is one of the people who drinks it."
"Uh-huh."
"I have tea too."
Her eyes perk. Her tongue slides over her lips. She shakes it off. Shifts back to neutral. "You drink tea?"
"Something wrong with that?"
"No, it's just…"
"I can't watch anime. I can't drink tea. Anything else Chloe Lee insists I can't do?"
"Be serious for more than three minutes at a time."
She might be right about that.
She steps inside. Presses the door closed behind her. So, it's just the two of us in my six hundred square foot apartment.
Fuck, usually this place feels plenty big.
But knowing I can't touch her?
"What tea do you have?"
"Everything."
"Really?"
"Really."
"Golden Needle?"
"Yeah." No. But she's bluffing. I can bluff back. I'm not a Philistine. I know tea. Even if I'm lacking that particular rare tea.
"Gyokuro."
"Of course."
"Of course?"
I nod.
Incredulity spreads over her expression. "Of course, you have a rare tea that most people have never heard of?"
I nod.