“But you just said—”
“I just want toseeit. That’s all. Don’t get any ideas.”
“Okay, but it’s boring,” I said. “We moved into this house when I was thirteen so it’s all teenage girl crap.” I motioned for him to follow me up the stairs. “Dad hasn’t done much with it since I left.”
“That’s fine,” David said, and I could tell he was grinning. Maybe he thought he could use my adolescence as an opportunity to tease me. I opened the bedroom door, and he strolled inside with his hands in his jean pockets. He took a moment to assess the room before he said, “Looks pretty normal.”
“Were you worried it wouldn’t be?”
He chuckled. “No, not really.” He made a beeline for my bookshelf, picking up a framed photo of Gretchen and me in our high school cafeteria. We had huge, red-stained smiles plastered on our faces as we both held heart-shaped lollipops. He looked between the photo and me before shaking his head and setting it back down. “You are so fucking cute. I would have died over you in high school.”
“Doubtful,” I said.
“Are you kidding me?” He held up my prom photo, me in a champagne-colored polyester-spandex dress that grazed the floor. “You were a knockout.”
I cringed. “I hate that one.”
“Why?”
“I look young and awkward.”
“Hmm,” he mused. “That’s not what I see at all. Who’s the lucky guy?”
“That’s Gretchen’s older brother. You met him at Lucy’s wedding.”
David pressed his lips together. “I didn’t realize . . . did you guys date?”
I shook my head. “Jonathan was home from college, and he was one of my best friends.”
“So you never . . .”
“No, never,” I said. “He’s just a friend, but a really good one.”
“Does he want more than that?”
“I’ve never seen him that way,” I said.
“That’s not a ‘no.’ But I like him,” David decided. “He has good taste, and he looks out for you. As long as it’s from a distance.”
He put down the photo, drew my yearbook off a shelf, and flipped through it slowly. Watching him do anything was entertaining, I was discovering.
“Just as I suspected,” he muttered, pointing to something on the page. “You were votedBest Eyes.”
“It’s stupid,” I said, waving him off.
“Is it?” He stared at me and I stared back, as mesmerized now as I’d been that first night I’d seen him. What magic did his gaze have over me?
As it occurred to me, I cocked my head. “You, too?” I asked.“Best Eyes?”
He smiled slowly. “Yeah.”
I told myself it was a silly coincidence, but something sweet passed between us. He broke the stare and flipped through a few more pages before replacing the yearbook on the shelf. I sat on the edge of my bed and observed as he looked through everything, stopping now and then to read the title of a book or DVD.
After a few minutes, he came to sit next to me. “It’s nice being here,” he said. “I get to see a different part of you.”
“And do you like what you see?” I asked, arching an eyebrow at him.
His eyes moved to my lips, and a grunt was his non-response.
