The moment Marcus pulled up outside Mezzo, Khae was already reaching for the door. He barely had the SUV in park before she and Aiah were climbing out. Marcus gave them a quick wave through the windshield, and then he was gone, the taillights disappearing down the street before they'd even made it to the sidewalk.
Paolo was waiting by the entrance, Khae's keys spinning lazily around his finger.
He'd volunteered to drive the night before, which meant he'd spent half the evening shuttling people around and the other half acting like the city should name a street after him. He'd already dropped Fea and Angela off, and now he looked entirely too pleased with himself to be trusted.
The second he spotted them, his face lit up.
"There she is."
Khae slowed, eyeing him with suspicion. "That sounded less like a hello and more like you're about to ruin my morning."
Paolo's grin widened. "Ruin? Please. I'm here to deliver a full report on the near-death experience you called 'I can walk by myself.'"
Aiah made a thoughtful sound beside her. "I was going to believe her," Aiah said, "but gravity had other plans."
Khae let out a long sigh. "I hate both of you already."
Angela appeared behind Fea with a laugh, clearly having caught the tail end of the conversation. "That's fair. You did hand us excellent material."
Fea came over with a warm smile and held out her hand. Paolo dropped the keys into it, and she passed them to Khae. "For the record, your car survived the night."
Khae took them carefully, as if they might be evidence in a case she didn't want to discuss. "That sounds exactly like something people say right before they confess there's a scratch."
"There isn't," Paolo said, lifting his chin. "I parked it like a professional."
Angela looked him over, amused. "You say that like you just saved a village."
"I did save a village," Paolo said. "I drove everyone around, got you and Fea home, and didn't scrape a bumper. That's leadership."
Fea laughed softly. "He's been waiting all morning for someone to call him a hero."
"I have not."
"You absolutely have," Angela said, folding her arms. "You've been standing there like you expect a parade."
Paolo pressed a hand to his chest. "I'm wounded. Deeply. Publicly."
Khae narrowed her eyes at him. "You're being unbearable."
"Only because none of you are appreciating my sacrifice."
Aiah accepted the iced coffee Angela handed her and watched the exchange with a small smile. Every so often, her gaze slipped to Khae and stayed there a beat too long before she looked away again. "So this is what Paolo sounds like when he's proud of himself."
Fea's expression turned fond. "Apparently, he becomes impossible."
"Impossible?" Paolo repeated, offended in a way that made it obvious he was enjoying himself. "I was reliable. I was patient. I was the only reason nobody ended up stranded at two in the morning."
Angela tilted her head. "You're leaving out the part where you narrated your own sainthood the entire ride home."
"I was clarifying the facts."
"You were begging for applause."
"I was not."
"You were," Fea said, still smiling. "Very earnestly."
Khae exhaled through a laugh, shaking her head. "Can we all agree to pretend last night never happened?"
"No," Paolo said immediately.
Angela pointed at him. "Not even a little."
Fea's smile turned sympathetic, though her eyes were still bright with amusement. "I'm afraid I'm with them."
Khae turned to Aiah with exaggerated desperation. "You're supposed to be on my side."
Aiah took a slow sip of her drink before answering, her eyes lifting to Khae's and holding there just long enough to make Khae's expression falter. "I am on your side. I'm just not foolish enough to defend you in front of three witnesses."
Khae stared at her. "That was cruel."
"That was practical."
"That was betrayal."
"That was self-preservation," Aiah said, and the corner of her mouth twitched.
They settled around one of the empty tables inside, the morning quiet wrapping around them as the teasing eased into something softer.
For a while, the conversation wandered from the night before to work, to coffee, to whatever nonsense Paolo had decided was worth complaining about before noon.
Then Angela went quiet.
She looked from Khae to Aiah, then back again, her expression sharpening with interest.
"Hold on," she said slowly. "I've got a question."
Khae immediately braced herself. "That tone is never followed by anything good."
Angela ignored her and leaned forward a little, clearly enjoying herself. "You two keep doing this thing where you look at each other like you're sharing a private joke. Is that deliberate, or are you both just catastrophically bad at pretending?"
Aiah blinked, then glanced at Khae before looking back at Angela. Khae caught the flicker of something in her face before she smoothed it away. "We are sitting at a table and drinking coffee. That's the whole crime."
Angela gave her a long, knowing look. "That is absolutely not the whole crime."
Paolo made a low sound of agreement, leaning back in his chair like he'd been waiting for someone else to say it first. "She's got you there."
Khae shot him a look. "You are enjoying this far too much."
"I'm enjoying it exactly enough."
Fea laughed into her cup. "This is what happens when people spend too much time together and start believing they're subtle."
Khae opened her mouth, then closed it again, clearly searching for a response that wouldn't make things worse.
Aiah, to her credit, looked only mildly embarrassed. Still, when Khae glanced at her, she found Aiah already looking back, her expression unreadable for a second before it softened. "You're all overthinking this."
Angela's grin only widened. "Am I? Because from where I'm sitting, the two of you have been orbiting each other all morning."
Khae leaned back in her chair, trying for unimpressed and landing somewhere closer to flustered. "That is a very dramatic way to describe two people having coffee."
"It would be," Angela said, "if you weren't both smiling every time the other one speaks."
Fea's eyes flicked between them, delighted now. "She's not wrong."
Khae groaned and covered part of her face with one hand. "I hate all of you."
"No, you don't," Paolo said, far too pleased with himself. "You're just annoyed because we noticed first."
Aiah glanced at Khae again, and this time the look between them lingered just long enough for Angela to catch it.
"Oh, this is better than I expected," Angela said, settling back with obvious satisfaction. "I'm going to need both of you to keep pretending you're normal, though. This is too entertaining to end yet."
