“Don’t walk away,” Bryce said, and he was begging. “Please, just talk to me.”
“I need to think,” they repeated insistently.
“What about what I need?” he asked, and they flinched.
One foot in their bedroom, one on the threshold, they hesitated. He saw it, the way they wanted to lean toward him. In the end, they shook their head and said, “Goodnight, Bryce.”
Then they were gone, closing their door in his face with a soft, yet soul-crushingclick.
Chapter seventeen
Romantic-Styles
Zef
Back to the headboard,Zef sat in the middle of their bed with their knees pressed to their chest, all four arms cinched tightly around their legs. They stared blankly at their desk at the end of their bed, thinking. Well, they were attempting to think, but it was difficult when the only thing ricocheting around their skull was Bryce’s voice saying,“I like you. I like you. I like you.”
Which was… Well, it was ridiculous, is what it was. Fully, stupidly ridiculous. The human was clearly confused. He did not like them; hecould notlike them. Because no one liked them. They were odd and strange and awkward and high-maintenance and inflexible, and it did not make sense for Bryce to like them.
“Then why did he say he did?”their brain whispered.
That was the crux of it, was it not? Bryce had promised to be honest and transparent, to ensure Zef knew what he was thinking. As far as theyknew, he had never lied to them before, so why would he say something so outlandish if he did not mean it?
But if hedidmean it, then that opened a whole other avenue of panicked thoughts and feelings Zef could not interpret. Their stomach was tied in knots, and their chest felt tight, like they were coming down with the flu. Tingles skittered over the back of their neck, and their palms were sweaty.
Burying their top hands in their hair, they squeezed their eyes shut and released a trill of frustration. Why had Bryce said it? Why could he have not kept it to himself? Because now everything would change, and Zef had been so happy with how things were.
They liked having Bryce as a roommate, and they very much liked having him as a friend. A close friend. But that was all they were supposed to be to each other. Oncefeelingswere involved, everything became complicated and messy and unpredictable.
And with feelings came other things, like touching and hugging and… kissing? Zef had never done any of those things. They had neverwantedto do any of those things. But Bryce would want that, would he not?
For a moment, they imagined Bryce’s big arms circling their waist, his body heat surrounding them as their chests pressed together, his chin on their shoulder, sighing into the embrace, and a wave of full-body tingles rushed over them. They swallowed to wet their suddenly dry throat as their stomach jolted.
Ancestors above, what didthatmean?
It was not bad. It did not hurt. If they were being very honest with themself, they could even go so far as to say that they did not dislike the feeling. But was the absence of dislike enough to mean they did like it?
With a huff, they pulled out their phone, intent on asking the internet for clarification, but they stopped themself before they finished typing intothe search bar. They did not want another porn incident; they would not survive seeing the culmination of Gem and Rusty’s cow-themed fantasy.
Instead of asking the internet for help, they went to the next best thing.
“Oi, keep him quiet for a second, I’m on the phone,” Tad said, sounding muffled and far away on the other end of the phone line before her voice came through clearer. “Zef? What’re you doing calling so late?”
“I am having a crisis, Tadora. A dire crisis,” they said fervently.
“You stuck in the vines again?” Tad asked.
“No.”
“Your wifi go out?”
“No!” they said indignantly.
“Is it a code red crisis or, like, a code yellow? Because, not gonna lie, I’m a bit caught up in something at the moment,” she said, and under normal circumstances, Zef would not have pushed. But these were not normal circumstances. They were extenuating circumstances. In fact, circumstances had never extenuated this much before in their life, and the fact Tad did not appreciate this made their wings hum in annoyance.
“It is most certainly a code red!” they insisted, and the Anura grunted.
“Okay. Give me a second.” Speaking to someone else, she shouted, “I gotta take this. What? It’s not like he’s going anywhere. Just keep him quiet!”
