Corey stood up. Stark naked, it was hard to keep a straight face. But Corey’s seriousness seemed to suggest he was now willing to play the same level of tough that I was.
“You’ve got to go before I say anything more,” he said. “I’m not doing this bullshit again, Melissa. Fine, I get it. You need time to think about last night; it was a lot. But take that time to really, really, really fucking think. Because either we do this for real, or we get the fuck out of each other’s way and don’t talk ever again. I’m good either way. But we’re too old to not communicate like fucking adults.”
His calm tone was betrayed by his cursing, but this was definitely not the same Corey as years past. That Corey would have screamed and shouted, never hit me, but scared me all the same. This Corey…
Was coldly firm in what he wanted.
I nodded. I had to do the somewhat awkward walk of finding my clothes scattered at the front of his apartment, but Corey didn’t follow me out. He gave me the space to put things back on. He came out only once, after I’d already gotten my jeans and bra on, and handed me a twenty-dollar bill.
“That’s for the Uber.”
“You’re not—”
“I’m not going down that road, Melissa. If I get you on the bike, we go back to square one. I’ll be happy to let you on the bike all you want if you’re in a hundred percent.”
I wasn’t so proud that I was going to say I felt like a whore. I knew full well the money wasn’t for sex. But there was still something just so…transactional about it. Like now that I’d said I needed space, Corey was not going to let himself get any closer—in fact, he was going to pull himself away. The only thing that could be said differently compared to before was he wasn’t going to be rude about it.
I hailed my Uber and made my way back to Hailey’s place. It was only when I gave the instructions for the drop-off spot that I realized I had even more awkward conversations ahead of me today.
