I miss your face! Let me text you some dates tomorrow.
Silas drifts through the hallway while I'm typing, shoulders massive in his t-shirt. He pauses just outside my door, long enough I know he can hear the audio playing. When I turn to acknowledge him, to maybe include him in the conversation, he mutters something under his breath and stalks away.
The door to his bedroom closes with a sharp click. I stare at the empty doorway, phone still in my hand, wondering what I did wrong this time.
Later, I unroll my yoga mat in the living room. There's no amount of scowling Silas can do that will make me not do yoga. My body slips into stretches on autopilot, long slow pulls that make tension leak out of my muscles. My wild curls fall forward when I fold. I breathe through each pose, trying to find the quiet center I usually access through practice.
I feel him before I see him.
Silas stands in the hallway, watching. His gaze is heavy, almost scorching on my skin. I arch my back in a deep backbend, hands reaching for my feet. The stretch opens my chest, pulls tight through my hip flexors.
"Want to join?" I ask, my voice breathless.
His gaze lingers too long. His jaw goes tight. Then he turns on his heel and disappears down the hall without a word.
Heat blooms low in my stomach anyway. He’s way more of a jerk than I remembered him being, but it’s still hard to convince my body his being thorny means he isn’t crazy hot.
When I'm done, I shower and crawl into bed with my phone. The apartment's quiet around me. Silas is locked away in his bedroom, probably counting Sudoku numbers or organizing his sock drawer by fiber content. I think about texting Jessa but I'm not ready to explain the weirdness of living with a man who alternates between ignoring me and watching me like I'm a problem he's trying to solve.
Instead, I open the dating app. There's already a message waiting.
StatMan12
How was your day?
My chest warms. I type back quickly.
Yoga4Lyfe
Complicated. How was yours?
StatMan12
Frustrating. I'm not good at asking for help.
Yoga4Lyfe
You don’t seem like the type that would be.
StatMan12
Oh yeah? What have you noticed?
I bite my lip, considering. There's so much I could say. That he seems guarded. That he might push people away. But I stick with easier truths.
Yoga4Lyfe
You're careful. You don't let people in easily.
StatMan12
Guilty. But I let you in.
My heart skips.
Yoga4Lyfe
Why?
