To his surprise, Jessica reached out and laid a hand on his arm. “Zahrias, I never thought I’d say this to you, but you’re being kind of a dumbass.”
“I beg your pardon?” he said, certain he should be offended, although the exact meaning of the epithet eluded him.
“You two have been so busy dancing around each other that neither of you seem to realize that you’ve actually been dancing with each other the whole time. Julia’s just as interested in you as you are in her, but she went off to Los Alamos last spring because you basically goaded her into it.”
“I did not — ” Zahrias began, but she wouldn’t allow him to get any further than that.
“Oh, yes, you did, with that remark about how Los Alamos would be lucky to have her. When you said that, she knew she had to go. Because if you’d wante
