Page 44 of Faking the Goal

He looks away, jaw working slightly, and for once he doesn't seem pissed off or annoyed with me. He looks almost... uncomfortable.

Like whatever he came over here to say is stuck somewhere between his brain and his mouth.

"And I just... need to tell you something."

Here we fucking go.

I sigh and hold up a hand. "If you're about to spit more of your judgmental bullshit at me, save it. I'm working, and I'm really not in the mood."

His brows pull together. "No. That's not what I'm trying to say."

"Then what?"

He pauses before finally meeting my eyes again. "I went through the questions you emailed me."

My eyebrows shoot up.

Well, holy shit. Alert the press. Kentaro Azuma has finally opened his fucking email.

"I made some notes on the ones I don't want included," he continues. "But most of them are fine. If you're available tomorrow, we can sit down and go through everything together."

For a second, I just stare at him.

He keeps going before I can ask whether somebody hit him over the head on his way here.

"And we should figure out a schedule while we're at it. Actual days and times that work for both of us instead of trying to figure it out every time you need something from me." He shoves his hands into his pockets. "That way we can finally make some progress on the feature."

Okay.

What the fuck happened to him?

Few days ago, getting this man to read a list of questions was apparently comparable to asking him to donate a kidney. Now he's standing in front of me voluntarily proposing schedules and meetings?

"Is this some kind of trick?" I can't help but ask.

"Of course not." He sighs. "Look, I know I've been giving you a hard time with this feature and making your job more difficult than it needs to be. I already agreed to do it, so dragging my feet and refusing to cooperate isn't helping either of us. I'm sorry."

Glad he's aware.

"So from now on, I'll cooperate. We can go through the questions tomorrow and figure out a fixed schedule that works for both of us. That way you can actually get what you need for the feature and we can get this done on time."

Okay. Who the hell is this man and what has he done with Kentaro Azuma?

I'm not sure what suddenly changed his mind, but I'm sure as hell not complaining. I've spent the last week practically chasing him across campus just to get him to answer an email. If he's finally willing to take this seriously and work with me instead of against me, I'll take the win.

"Tomorrow works," I say, unable to keep the pleased smile off my face.

"Good. I'll text you when I'm done with class."

"Look at us. Communicating like functional adults already."

His mouth flattens. "Don't make me regret this."

I grin. "Too late, Sunshine."

*****

I thought we'd meet at a coffee shop or maybe the cafeteria, so I was a little surprised when Kentaro texted me this morning and told me to meet him at the ice rink at noon.