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"Why?" It was her turn to be offended. "I thought I was doing a pretty good job of listening there. And look, all of our clothes are still on. We're like, 200% better off than the last time we hung out."

She squished up her face, studying him carefully. "There's nothing wrong with hanging out with me, is there?" It was a hesitant, careful question - she didn't like the idea that she and her company had been cast in a negative light. She thought the whole 'friendship' conversation (if two sentences could be considered a conversation) had changed that. She didn't need whiplash.

Unless.

"Oh, s**t." She whispered. "Hold on. Did your lady tell you never to see me again? If being around me is going to get you in more trouble, then we need to renegotiate our terms. I've been the other woman before, Lex. It's not as fun as you might expect."

The hurt turned into a flash of anger. Who the hell did this woman think - no, stop it, Maebe. You know exactly what she thought. She thought her husband was visiting another woman, and that made that other woman the worst thing in the world. It didn't matter that Ami had no idea who she really was. It didn't matter that - if she did - she'd probably think a lot worse than dulling was occurring. All that mattered was that Ami was insulting a blank target, and said blank target wasn't appreciative of the insult.

But she understood. She didn't like it, but she understood.

"Yeah. I don't know about that. I bet I could dull your mind a little. I mean, you're smart, right? So, maybe I'll dumb you up a little. Here's the thing, though, and it's a secret so you have to promise never to tell."

She pushed herself back up onto her feet, and put her hand next to her mouth, to whisper conspiratorilly near his ear.

"Being dumb is a hell of a lot more fun."

Damn it. She hated when people assumed she was just playing dumb. She hated when people were right about her, almost as much as when they were wrong. The life he was describing sounded painfully familiar. She had memories that she'd been doing a damn good job of pushing away from, but they were never truly forgotten. Just like she'd said not one night previous, there was no erasing the past. There was only living with it.

She hummed in the back of her throat, moving to climb on top of her desk and perch there. One leg hitched up to give her a knee to rest her chin on. "I only miss it at night. When it gets quiet. And lonely. And God. God." She hadn't known Lex had been that kind of guy in his past, and she never would have guessed it. Yet, she didn't look entirely surprised. It was just another piece of information to lock away for later.

It had gone right over her head, when he'd first said it. But in the moments of silence, reminiscing about a lifestyle that both of them had abandoned, Maebe suddenly realized Lex had mentioned hooking up with a French girl. Was that some kind of dig? She narrowed her eyes carefully. She'd never told him that.

"Comment avez-vous su que je étais français?"

Oh. She rolled her eyes at herself, and quickly moved on. Her lips parted to immediately ask him to repeat it in German, Hindi, and Russian, but snapped shut again, keeping her snark at a bare minimum.

"I didn't learn the language very well, myself. My family didn't speak it, but my second boyfriend did. He taught me just enough to get him off. Funny, how the French language always seems to have that power over people." She rose an eyebrow at him, followed by an amused smirk. "I really didn't think we'd have this much in common when I first met you, Lex. It's kind of hilarious."

She leaned over to try and reach her drink, and her fingers just barely managed to touch the cup, but came nowhere near close enough to get to it. "Nnnngh. Give me my orange mocha frappuchinooo. Give iiiit."

"Don't feel too bad. Most people do." She paused for a second at the mention of H, slightly intrigued at why Lex would know about the seduction and shattering techniques of a division leader (which of course, had her grinning wickedly at the mere thought) but her pause did not last when he pushed her drink away. Her entire body crumpled onto the desk, going absolutely limp.

"You are a b*****d. A full on b*****d." She dropped down off of the desk, landing on her feet like a cat, and simultaneously slapped him over the head while reaching for her drink. "The only manners I have are bad ones, Lexi." She growled out, sipping from her drink triumphantly in front of him. "And it's Maebe Grace, thank you."

She let out the most undignified squeal when he pinched her, and smacked his hands away in true girl-fighting fashion. "Hey. Hey. Don't you blame me for that one. You were the one too stubborn to believe I would do it. I was 100% justified."

His smirk had her frowning this time. "Fine. You're not worthy of calling me by my full name, anyway. That's only reserved for special, super sexy people."

At least she had her drink now. She brought the straw to her lips, took a long, noisy sip, and rose an eyebrow in challenge. In a quick movement, she pinched the meat of his cheek between her fingers. Revenge.

"And the humblest, too." She deadpanned, clearly not impressed with his view on his own looks. But that didn't matter, because he'd made a terrible mistake. He should have learned by now not to tell her to stay off of something - and yet, for all the 'smarts' talk, Maebe never did think that Lex was the kind of man who learned his lesson quickly.

Maybe he'd learn. One day.

Until then, she slammed both of her hands on his face, and squished his cheeks up until his mouth made a ridiculous pout. "Who's a precious little Lexi Wexi, yes you is! Yesyouis!"

Maebe stared at him in wide eyed shock while rubbing her side.

"Are you going to punch me, Lexi?" She scrabbled behind her, until she felt what she was looking for, and hastily put her glasses on her face. "You wouldn't hit a girl with glasses on, would you?"

She didn't wait for an answer.

Launching forward, she reached out to try and smush his face with both hands.