This isn't weird.

Ghost

"It's really not that cold," Noah said, watching with a bemused expression as Millie shuddered like she'd spent days stranded in a Siberian tundra. Glowering, she wrapped the towel he had fetched her from the poolhouse tighter around her shoulders. He'd insisted that they wait until her clothes had stopped dripping before they went inside ("Believe me, Rebecca will have us both beheaded!"), and she was presently convinced that she would never recover from the chill.

"If I get frostbite, I'm suing you for everything you're worth," she grumbled.

"Sixty-five degrees," he said. "It's sixty-five degrees."

The approaching click of high heels indicated that their re-entry had made enough noise to capture Rebecca's notice. When she saw the state of their clothing, she regarded them with a look that was somewhere between reproof and incredulity.

"He pushed me in," Millie said through chattering teeth.

"Shut up, I did not!" Noah insisted.

"He did what?" came a furious fourth voice. Millie's face lit up as Ben rushed to her side, taking her face into his hands with concern.

"I didn't," Noah insisted, glaring at Millie. "Why are you like this?"

"Trauma," Millie replied glibly, her eyes never leaving Ben's as she reveled in his instinctive protectiveness. "I'm okay. I managed to fall in without any help, I swear. People with my level of situational awareness should never walk backwards."

"Words to live by," Ben said, and kissed her forehead before shooting Noah a sideways glance so quick it was nearly imperceptible.

Staking his claim, Noah thought with an internal huff. .

"I need to go up and change," Millie said, shivering. "Seems like a dick move to die of hypothermia on your birthday."

"You remember my birthday!" Ben's face brightened.

She nodded, then added soberly, "I didn't get you anything."

"Nor even a card?"

"Not even a card."

"Well, if you're trying to goad me into saying some trite shit like, 'being with you is the best gift I could ever ask for'..." Ben smiled. "It's gonna work."

"Listen, you. I don't need someone to tell me that my presence is a gift. Like I don't already know that."

"Yeesh. I hope you came with a gift receipt."

"Shut the fuck up."

"You shut the fuck up."

Grinning, Millie stood on the tips of her toes, planted a quick peck on his cheek then bounced back down onto her heels and zipped past him. He moved to follow her, but a hand suddenly landed on his arm.

"Wait," Noah said. "Can we talk?"

Annoyed, Ben turned around to face him. "Now?" he asked. "Aren't you cold in your wet clothes?"

"I'm not a reptile," Noah replied. He wore a good-humored expression, but there was a rawness in his eyes that betrayed how much it had pained him to witness that brief, affectionate interaction.

Ben shook his head wryly. "Yeah. You don't really strike me as Illuminati material."

Noah seemed unsure whether he should scowl or laugh. He went with the more diplomatic option. "I guess I should have anticipated some witty quips from someone so close to Millie."

"Finally, somebody notices my wit. About time." Ben smiled, pathologically friendly even as he burned inwardly with contempt, and hated himself for it. It would have disgusted him to know that Noah had made practically the same joke scarcely twenty minutes before.