Then his eyes landed on my hand. “Are you gonna eat that?”
My stomach twisted at the thought of putting anything inside the churning bin that was my insides. I lifted the spoon, but the moment the smell hit me, I knew I couldn’t do it. I was too wound up, too anxious over what had happened.
I needed tea.
Setting down the yogurt, I quickly moved about the kitchen. “Tea?”
“Ha! I knew it! This is because of the neighbor!”
“It is not.”
“It so is,” he laughed. “What did he say?”
“Nothing. It was absolutely nothing. We argued about the dog.”
“Right, the dog,” he nodded as I continued to do my level best to be busy.
I found my teacup and got to work on making my tea, but still, he didn’t let up.
“Oh, come on. You’ve seen me at my lowest, and you’re not going to tell me?”
“There’s nothing to tell,” I said, spinning around and pinning him with my best aggravated look, though I was pretty sure I probably looked constipated.
“Nothing to tell. Right, that’s why you marched over to his house.”
“Because I was arguing with him!”
“Arguing about your love for him?”
My cheeks flamed red as the kiss we shared flashed through my mind.
His smile dropped at the look on my face. “Holy shit,” he whispered. “You love him?”
“Of course I don’t love him!”
“Then why are you being all weird? What happened?” he asked, chasing me around the room as I stormed away, trying to reclaim my sanity. “Did he kiss you?”
I spun around so fast I bumped right into his chest. “Listen here, mister. There is nothing to tell. And even if there were something to tell, which there isn’t, I wouldn’t tell you. Not even if my life depended on it.”
“Why not?”
“Because you’re a sap. You fall in love with the thought of love, and the last thing I need is you acting all…lovey dovey over some imaginary thought in your mind that I’m getting together with the neighbor!”
“So, you have thought about it,” he grinned.
“Do you want me to stab you in your sleep?”
Tossing his head back, he laughed raucously. “Oh, man. This is so good. Him?” he pointed in the direction of JR’s house. “The grouch next door is the man you’re falling for?”
“Not falling for!”
“You kissed him! I can see it all over your face! Man, wait until Grandma and Grandpa hear about this.”
I snatched his arm as he turned to go, my eyes pleading with him when no sound would leave the voice box that was suddenly useless.
“Alright,” he sighed. “I won’t tell them, but this means you can’t give me any shit over any of my relationships for at least a month.”
“Two weeks,” I countered.
