A lazy smile spread on his lips as he turned to look at me. “So good. I didn’t expect that at all.”
I let out a slightly hysterical bark of laughter. “Me neither.”
He looked worried immediately. “How was it for you?”
“I liked it. A lot. I just…” I looked away and swallowed. “I want to be there to cuddle you right now.”
When I turned my gaze to the phone again, he was looking at me with such longing that my heart skipped a beat.
“I’ll come back as soon as I can, I promise.”
He nodded, then grimaced. “I need to clean up.” He glanced down at himself.
“Yeah, I saw some of it,” I teased.
Instead of asking how it made me feel, he chuckled sheepishly. “Apparently I felt more pent up than I thought.”
“Remember to remove the makeup when you go to the bathroom.”
“Oh, good call. I’ll be right back.” He rolled off the bed and I moved under the covers in mine.
I’d had a long day and I felt ready to fall asleep after I spent some more time with River first.
We ended up talking about nothing important, sharing our days mostly, for the next half an hour. Then, during a lull in the conversation, we yawned at the same time.
After the ensuing laughter died down, I smiled. “Maybe it’s better that we go to sleep now.”
“Yeah, I think so.” He sighed and looked at me wistfully. “Good night and stay safe, Ben.”
“Will do. You, too.” I kissed my fingertips and touched them on the phone screen. I saw him blush a little right before I ended the call.
I put my phone away and curled up under the covers. Yeah, it was safe to say I had a huge crush, was probably halfway into falling in love with my former best friend. I might’ve been asexual, but I sure as hell wasn’t aromantic.
* * * *
Mom called me the next day while I was on my lunch break. I worked from home most of the time, so I tried to keep a schedule which she knew and took advantage of.
“Hey, Mom,” I answered the call, having rapidly swallowed my leftover pizza.
I knew what she was going to ask next, and…yeah. “Did I catch you at a bad time?”
“Just having lunch.” Like every time she called me at this hour. But I didn’t say that.
“Well, we have some good news!”
“Oh?”
“Your dad had his doctor’s appointment this morning, and he’s healing really well, better than they expected at this point.”
I felt relieved and exhaled loudly. “That…that’s really good news, Mom.”
“I know!” She sounded joyful. “He has a long way to go, but we’re on the right track!”
“All right. Well, do you think you two can handle it if I take some out of state jobs soon?”
“Oh, sure. In fact, let me…” She said something to Dad in the background, then put the phone on speaker. “Here we go.”
“Hello, son,” Dad rumbled.
