We laugh. “Love you, J.”
“Love you, S. Let me know how it goes.”
After we end the call, I look at my apartment windows. Both of our bedroom windows and the living room window can be seen from here. All of them except mine are on, meaning he’s home.
“Be a bad bitch, be a bad bitch,” I repeat to myself as a couple walks by. I wave awkwardly. “Have a good night.”
Time to go up before I lose my nerve.
Turning the key to my apartment, I find Levi flipping through an issue ofRolling Stonemagazine in his pajamas.
I take my coat off. “Hey.”
He gives me a tight smile. “Hey.” Levi goes back to flipping the pages.
That’s it?“Aren’t you going to ask me how callbacks went?”
My roommate takes a gummy bear from the bag we both share, and says, “I don’t have to.”
At that, I cross my arms. Um, rude. “Okay…”
“I was there.” He pops another gummy in and continues to read whatever is so damn interesting on the page. What? He was there? When? “You did a good job, it was a great song. You and Brad should be proud.”
His voice is completely indifferent. I don’t expect a party or anything, but the last time he saw me sing, he fingered me in a closet as a reward.
Tired of seeing him mindlessly turn the pages, I rip the magazine out of his hands. Finally, he looks at me, nothing but more indifference shining in those stupid, pretty blue eyes.
“Why didn’t you stay? Why didn’t you come and say hi afterward?”
He stands, towering over me. The smell of his clean-scented cologne surrounds me. Memories of us in bed flash through my mind, taking me away from the argument for a second, but Levi’s words steer me back in.
“I didn’t want to interrupt. You and Brad seemed to be having a private moment.”
Levi walks away to the kitchen. So, he saw us?Great.
“Levi—”
“He seems to like you, Stevie.” He opens one of the cabinets and grabs a glass. “You should go out on that date with him.”
My mouth falls open. He heard that?Shitty, shit, shit.
“Levi—”
“Give the guy a chance.” He sets his glass down and pours juice into one of the purple cups I bought before moving in.
Taking a step forward, I tilt my head. Maybe this is some sort of prank or test. I haven’t dated in a while, but this doesn’t seem like a healthy way to start something new. “And you don’t mind if I go out on a date with him tomorrow?”
Levi’s shoulders slump, and he meets my eyes. There’s a flash of something so fast I don’t have time to decipher what it is. “No.”
He isn’t joking. That one word is all it takes to confirm what Jenny told me to.The worst thing he can say is no.
Well, Jenn, he said it.
With that, Levi leaves for his room and shuts his door while I’m left here standing baffled, wounded, and angry. What happened to my friend? To the man who was texting me over the weekend and flirting with me last week?
Tears threaten to fall, but I refuse to let them.
Fine. I’m not going to remain here wallowing over someone who wasn’t man enough to tell me everything he was feeling. He had days, hell,weeksto ask me out before Brad did. Enough is enough.
