He’s sitting on the grass, legs pressed to his chest, arms circled around them, forehead pressed to his knees.
“Oh.” He quickly sits up, looking away, and gingerly uses the sleeve of his hoodie to wipe his face. “Hey, Josie.”
“Hey,” I cautiously say, standing behind him. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” His voice is hoarse, but he clears it and nods. “Yeah, I’m good. Just came out here to get fresh air. The wind picked up a bit, and I got something in my eye. Pretty sure it was sand,” he explains, wiping his face again, still not looking up at me. “Yup, it was sand. Maybe you shouldn’t be out here; you might get it in your eye too.”
“I’ll take my chances.” I settle down beside him, but I don’t look at him.
“You sure? The wind is kind of aggressive.” He rubs his eyes and sniffles. “Trust me, you don’t want to get sand in your eyes. It’s a bitch to get out.”
“I bet it is, especially when it gets in your hair.”
“Yeah, so why don’t you go inside. I’d hate for you to get it in your hair.”
“If I get it in my hair, you can help me get it out.”
He goes quiet for a moment, then I hear him swallow.
“Thank you for the flowers.” I try to bite back my smile, but it slips, making it hard to hide how giddy they made me feel.
I hear him wince and feel him go taut. He stifles a laugh, dragging his fingers through his hair. “I made a mistake.” My lips fall,oh… “I didn’t mean to order that many. I mean I wanted to order all the flowers that are in there, but not two dozen of each. I hope you don’t have any allergies; I didn’t think to ask. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.” I’m smiling again. Why am I like this? “Wait, so you’re telling me you were probably charged a ridiculous amount of money and you didn’t think of disputing it or asking questions? You just let it be?” Who does that?
“It was for you. The price didn’t matter. I figured they’d be worth it.” He pauses and this time I feel his eyes on me. “I hope they were. Were they worth it?”
I look up at him and my fingers twitch to touch him, to embrace him, to ask him what’s wrong and who I need to fightbecause his eyes are bloodshot and rimmed with unshed tears. The tip of his nose is red, and his hands are shaky.
As much as I want to do that, I don’t because I don’t want to push and make him uncomfortable. So, I focus on his question.
I nod, not bothering to hide my smile from him. “Yeah, they’re worth it. I’ve never been given anything just because. I’m sorry I didn’t get you anything.”
His lips stretch as his gaze darts to mine, but then his brows knit together as if he’s registered what I said. “I didn’t do this because I expect something from you. I did this because I wanted to. It’s Valentine’s Day and well, what can I say, I love a good holiday.”
“Did you accidentally get everyone dozens of flowers too?”
“Just my toast mate.”
My heart stutters.
“Wait, are you telling me Bryson never—” At the shake of my head, he scowls. “Fucking piece of shit.”
“I know. My standards were low,” I embarrassingly admit even though he knows that. “I was stupid and?—”
“You weren’t stupid.”
“Trust me, I was. He treated me like shit and yet there I was.” I shrug. “Stupid.”
“Then I was stupid too. My ex-girlfriend didn’t treat me like shit, but she did shitty things.” He scrunches his nose.
“Look at us, bonding over shitty exes.” I bump my shoulder into his.
“Exes that will…” He pauses, gaze flicking away, fingers drumming along this thigh. “Stay exes, right?”
“You don’t want Amanda back?” I don’t know why I asked; it’s obvious he doesn’t.
“Fuck no.” He doesn’t miss a beat and winces. “Was that too harsh?”
