Echoes by Michelle Rowen Page B

you hungry?” I asked.
    “Hungry?”
    “It’s a question. Are you going to answer it, or reply with another question?”
    A glimmer of a smile played at his lips. “Yes, I’m hungry.”
    “I’m starving. We should grab something to eat.”
    He looked at me skeptically. “You mean in a restaurant.”
    I fought a grin at his disbelief. “I know it sounds crazy, but it just might work.”
    “And let me guess, in this restaurant you’re going to do some of that grilling of yours.”
    “Maybe.”
Definitely.
    He crossed his arms and appeared to mull it over. “How about I make you a deal? A question for a question, five each. You ask me a question and in return I get to ask you whatever I want, too.”
    “And the other has to give a truthful answer, no matter what the question is?”
    “Yes.”
    Sounded a bit dangerous depending on the question. But I was getting used to that when it came to hanging around with Ethan Cole.
    “Deal.” I held out my hand.
    He took it and didn’t let go for a long moment. “Where do you want to go?”
    “There’s a little diner just around the corner I like.”
    He nodded. “Lead the way.”
    We entered the diner and grabbed a booth in the back. The plastic menus were already on the tables. I knew the service here was fast, the food cheap and good. My dad and I sometimes went there for breakfast on the weekends.
    McDonald’s would have been faster and cheaper, but there I ran the chance of bumping into Helen, or Peter, or a multitude of other friends I’d rather avoid if I could.
    The waitress—one I recognized from other times I’d been here—came over and took our orders. Ethan ordered a burger, fries, and a Coke. I ordered a turkey burger, garden salad, and a Diet Coke.
    “Are you on a diet?” Ethan asked, then grimaced. “That shouldn’t count as one of my questions.”
    “You’re the one who made the rules. No, I’m not on a diet, but I still try to eat healthy most of the time.”
    “It shows. I mean...you look very healthy. Or...” He sighed. “I’m no good at this, am I?”
    “At what?” I winced.
Damn.
“I didn’t mean to waste a question there either.”
    “Rules are rules.” He pushed his hair back out of his eyes, which now held amusement. “I’ll tell you what I’m no good at. Being out with you and holding a cohesive conversation. It’s different from how I’ve always been.”
    “A loner.”
    “Yeah. Just the way I am.”
    The waitress delivered our drinks and I sipped on my Diet Coke as I studied him. His long bangs almost kept me from being able to fully meet his eyes. Almost, but not quite. “You’re shy. That’s nothing to apologize for.”
    He snorted. “Shy. Yeah, you could say that. Seventeen years of feeling awkward, keeping to the sidelines, trying to be invisible, and being alone most of the time. Calling it
shy
makes it sound cute.”
    “You don’t have to be shy with me. And when you’re with me you’re definitely not alone.”
    He wrapped his fingers around his soda. “You’re not really giving me much of a chance to be alone lately. You’re very determined.”
    “I can be when I want something.”
    “Noted. Okay, my turn again. Are you mad at me for introducing you to Frank?”
    “No, I’m hoping he’ll be more helpful on a day when he hasn’t been drinking since dawn. However, based on what I just witnessed, I do question your taste in friends. Other than me, of course.”
    He raised an eyebrow. “Are we friends?”
    My gaze locked with his. He studied me intently, his dark brows drawn together. “You and me—we’re definitely friends.”
    He didn’t speak for a moment. “So I couldn’t become invisible again around you even if I wanted to be.”
    “I’m thinking that would be extremely impossible. Unless you have some super powers hidden up your sleeve I don’t know about.”
    “Super powers might help, actually.”
    My mind momentarily drifted away from Ethan’s copper-colored eyes toward