“Bodie is helping,” Bryce adds, smiling at me.
“Oh, so nice of you boys.” She’s already looking at us suspiciously, inquisitive eyes bouncing between Bryce and me, and she’s been here less than a minute.
The three of us finish cooking together and sit down for our meal, all while Ms. Diane is giving us the third degree with her eyes alone. Even though we’ve been keeping our distance—we’re not exactly announcing to the world yet that we’re exploring more than a friendship with each other—Diane is still a very intuitive woman.
“So, anything new with you boys?”
“Not really,” Bryce answers a little too quickly.
“Bodie, how is hockey going? Any exciting games lately? I try to watch when I can.”
I let her know about last night’s shutout, and that there was a scout there for me.
“Bodie, that’s amazing. It was inevitable you’d make it to the NHL.” With a clap of her hands, she gets as excited for me as my mom was when I told her this morning.
“Let’s not count our chickens yet.”
“It’s in the bag this time, ba—Bode.” My eyes shoot up to his, and I can’t help but chuckle with him while Ms. Diane looks back and forth between us with a smile.
By the time we say goodnight, she’s full-on beaming with excitement, and I hear her whisper to Bryce as they hug, “I knew you two would find each other.” She leaves me with a hug and a pat on the cheek. “See you soon, Bodie.”
“She’s as nosy as ever,” Bryce says, giving me a well-needed hug after closing the door. “Sorry about that. No one should be forced to—”
“It’s okay. She didn’t force anything. We don’t know what this is yet, right?” My heart rate spikes, and I need to rub my palms on my pants before I even finish my sentence. I don’t know why I said it like that—or what I expect his answer to be.
He holds onto my waist while looking at me—more like inside me, seeing right through my nervousness—and tells me, “You’re right. We don’t know what this is yet.” My stomach drops. “But I think I know where we both want this to go. We’ve known each other for eighteen years, and we’re just starting to figure it out. Let’s take our time.”
I swallow the lump that was building in my throat and nod vehemently.
“I love you, Bodie. Always have. You’re my best friend first and foremost.”
“Same.” I wince, not liking my response at all. Bryce seems unbothered by it, though, pressing a kiss to my lips before going to finish cleaning up the kitchen.
Whether he knows I’ve loved him for years as my best friend or not, I owe him more than a mediocre answer.
Chapter Seven Part Two
Bryce
Bodie hasn’t slept in his bed in weeks, and it’s been incredible. I’ve always had trouble sleeping, something most don’t know—I keep those issues to myself , after all. Bodie lying in bed with me makes the reasons I don’t sleep well disappear, at least for the time being.
Bodie is the only person, aside from Calisse, who has even come close to knowing how little I sleep at night. He’s randomly caught me in the early mornings in the kitchen or watching TV inthe living room. I usually head to my room and try to sleep then. He’s mentioned before that he’s amazed at how I sometimes sleep so much after working nights. Truth is, I pretend to sleep when he checks in on me. Luckily, he doesn’t do it often, so I don’t have to feel bad about lying to him. I just don’t want to worry him. He gets stressed out about so few things in life, but I’m one of them. And when he does get stressed out, it’s amplified. I can’t do that to him.
Tonight, it was even harder to deal with the sleeplessness now that I’ve gotten used to him in my bed. Bodie is on an away-game stretch, which means I don’t get to see him for the next ten days. He had a game in Tucson this afternoon, so I haven’t talked to him since this morning.
The wondering what he’s doing all day is so unfamiliar to me, I don’t know what to do about it. The mindset switch from best friends to—boyfriends?—was so sudden, I didn’t even notice it had happened until yesterday. When I walked to his room twice to find him and realized how much I missed him, it hit me like a brick to the head that I didn’t seek him out this way before.
I put a movie on to avoid the endless tossing and turning and circling thoughts, just to switch to a hockey game for comfort.
My phone lights up, and I grab it—maybe a little quicker than normally.
Bodie
You awake?
Me
This sounds like a booty call.
