In agreatdirection, Aiden decided, and he skipped into a little run and jumped up to slap his fingers against a low-hanging awning. He and Cade had plans. They were going to do things together. Learn from each other. They were going to be friends.
And if Aiden played his cards right—if he was careful, but persistent—maybe they’d be more than friends. Eventually.
He knew he was grinning like an idiot and he knew the expression would still be on his face by the time he got back to the frat house. Matt and Brent would make fun of him, and he didn’t care in the least.
Chapter Thirteen
Cade andAiden took things slow. Very slow. So slow Aiden was pretty sure they’d actually stalled. Stalled in a good place, he had to admit. Being friends with Cade was great.
They set up a routine of having lunch together on Saturdays and Sundays, and usually on Sundays Aiden could convince Cade to take the afternoon off and do something fun with him. Hikes, movies, even going to the occasional football game. Cade sometimes got a worried look, as if he was trying to calculate exactly how to make up for all the study hours he was wasting, but mostly he seemed to have a good time. And Aiden started going to the engineering library on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons after classes. Cade would join him for a couple hours of work, and then they’d get dinner somewhere.
Aiden tried to pay for their meals, but Cade wouldn’t let him. Whenever Aiden offered, Cade’s face would get tight and unhappy, so Aiden stopped offering. And then he found out Cade had picked up an extra job working at one of the local restaurants over the Thanksgiving weekend when all the rest of the students were going home.
“But what aboutyourThanksgiving?” Aiden demanded.
“It’s not a big holiday for me. And it’s a good way to get a foot in the door at Chapman’s. If I could get work there permanently, I could work fewer hours overall. I only make eight bucks an hour making sandwiches. In a licensed restaurant? A busy one? I could make way more than that. So this is a good chance.”
“I thought maybe you’d come home withmefor Thanksgiving,” Aiden said. He knew he sounded a little petulant, but he didn’t care. He’d been looking forward to spending more time with Cade. Sleeping under the same roof. Seeing what Cade looked like when he woke up, maybe making a few more steps toward seeing what he looked like when he was sleeping, or even slightlybeforefalling asleep….
But Cade didn’t seem to have the same interests. “Can’t. I’m working.”
And that was a little too tidy. Sure, Cade needed the money. But he also seemed pretty happy about being busy for the holiday. Which made sense, Aiden reminded himself. Just because his own family was looking forward to getting together, that didn’t mean Cade had the same happy memories. So Aiden would go home and Cade would stay in West Lafayette, and that was just the way things were going to be.
But Aiden’s momdidlove houseguests, so he ended up inviting an Australian exchange student home with him for the weekend. Ian was big and blond and he laughed a lot and touched Aiden a lot. Aiden wasn’t sure if the guy was gay or straight and wasn’t all that interested in finding out. Ian was attractive enough, but he wasn’t Cade. He was just a nice guy from a couple classes who had nowhere to be for Thanksgiving.
The weekend went fine, but as soon as Aiden and Ian got back to Purdue late Sunday afternoon, Aiden headed for Cade’s apartment. He’d never been there before but he was pretty sure it was where Cade would be and that meant it was where Aidenshouldbe. Four days apart had made that even clearer to Aiden than it had been before he left town.
The wooden door at the bottom of the stairs was ajar and Aiden pushed it open cautiously, then eased inside. The staircase was narrow, but well lit by three exposed bulbs in fixtures on the ceiling. He’d seen several mailboxes on the main level, but once upstairs Aiden found no indication of which door belonged to which tenant, so he knocked cautiously on the one straight ahead of him.
A blonde woman in not a lot of clothes opened the door. She looked… well, she looked like she might be on her way to work, and like she might not be putting on a lot more clothes before she went. “Sorry to bother you,” Aiden said politely. “I’m looking for Cade Martin. I think he lives in one of these apartments?”
“Is he the cute one?”
“Adorable,” Aiden agreed.
She pointed. “Next door.”
“Thank you!”
She gave him a look like she thought maybe he was being sarcastic with his enthusiasm, but he wasn’t worrying about her too much anymore. He’d already shifted sideways and was knocking on Cade’s door.
But when Cade opened it, he didn’t look too pleased to see Aiden. Not angry, really, but certainly a little tense.
“Hi,” Aiden said. He felt suddenly bashful, and it didn’t help that the blonde hadn’t closed her door and was watching the whole exchange with sleepy interest.
“Hey,” Cade said. “You’re back.”
“Yeah.” This wasn’t quite the conversation Aiden had been dreaming about. He pulled the cooler bag off his shoulder. “My mom sent this. Leftovers. They’re a couple days old, but they should still be good.”
Cade looked as if he was trying to decide whether to take the bag or not, and Aiden suddenly lost patience with it all. “It’sleftovers, Cade. It’s not charity, it’s not a bribe, it’s just something… well, I was going to say it’s something nice people do, but giving leftovers is more like making your problem into someone else’s problem. My mom made too much food, as usual, and she doesn’t want it to go bad and doesn’t want it clogging up the freezer, but she’s embarrassed about throwing it out so she gives it away and makes other people deal with it or throw it out. Honestly, it’sleftovers, Cade!”
“I’ll take them,” the blonde offered.
“They’re forCade,” Aiden responded a little warmly.
“Cadedoesn’t seem to want them,” she replied with more heat.
“He just needs time to think about it.”
