Theo rang herbuzzer exactly when he said he would: at 6:30 p.m. on the dot.
Luckily, Violet was out at happy hour with her colleagues from the office and likely wouldn’t be home until late, so Audrey had a bit of time to tidy up their apartment in the twenty minutes between flying back through the door from the lab and when he’d promised to arrive.
She’d just shoved one of her stuffed animals under her comforter and swept the curtain over her bottom bunk closed when he knocked, and she could practically hear his hesitation through the door. Her hair was a mess, and she tried to smooth it back into some semblance of order before lunging for the door and yanking it open.
Theo’s relief at seeing her was palpable. “Oh thank god, I got the right apartment,” he breathed through his usual mask. The left corner of his face brightened when she grabbed his hand and dragged him inside, locking the door behind him. But then silence suddenly descended upon them both, and that’s when it hit her:
This was the first time they’d ever been truly alone somewhere.
There were no crowds, no coffee shop regulars, no unobtrusive lo-fi playing in the background. Josh wasn’t there behind any sort of register, and neither was Tío, potentially bursting through the door of his food truck at any given moment. There was no New Yorkbackdrop, no ever-present traffic noises, no other movie patrons or people packed like sardines around them on the subway.
It was just her—
—and Theo.
Audrey had never been nervous around him before. Not once. But now? Now, seeing him towering over her and feeling his warmth radiating inside her tiny studio, butterflies fluttered in her stomach. When she caught a whiff of his familiar woodsy scent of cedarwood and juniper, her nerves settled into her stomach in full force and the butterflies flipped over on themselves in the quiet of her apartment.
“This is my place.” Her mouth went dry. “It’s not much, but…”
His eye crinkled as he looked around with interest. He was dressed like he usually was at the coffeehouse, still wearing his hat, his mask, and his hoodie. His satchel was draped across his chest as always, and he wore the same dark jeans and his Air Jordans. But at least his hood was still down, and his fingers tightened around the handles of a brown paper bag he carried while his eye swept along her belongings, landing and lingering first on the art and photos they’d tacked up on their walls, and then on their meager collection of books and movies. His hand holding the brown paper bag trembled, and his throat bobbed as he shifted on his feet.
But the crinkles around his eyes deepened when he turned back to look at her. “I like it! It’s really nice.”
“Thanks.” She beamed anxiously up at him. “Do you want to—”
“Oh! Oh yeah, uh…do you mind if I use your oven?” He held up the bag and waggled it enticingly. “You’re hungry, right?”
“I’m starving, actually. But Theo—”
He’d already turned toward her kitchenette. Her studio was so small it only took him two or three of his long strides to reach it, and he was busy cranking up the temperature of her tiny oven in the corner. “I hope you like this. You don’t have any food allergies or sensitivities, do you?” He paused as he rummaged around in the bagand started removing aluminum to-go containers before suddenly paling. “Oh shit, I should have checked sooner, I’m so sorry. Gluten and dairy are fine, right? Well, you did have cheese when we had the tacos, though, and I guess the cookies had gluten and nuts, so I thought—”
“It’s fine, I don’t have any allergies and I’ll eat almost anything, I’m a human garbage disposal. But Theo—”
“Thank god.” He sighed in relief and put the containers in the oven, closing the door carefully and setting a timer on his phone. “I just really wanted to make sure that—”
“THEO.” Audrey stepped forward and put both hands on his chest. He stilled at her touch, except for his hand. It was shaking harder than it usually did, and his heartbeat…
She stared at her hands.
His heart wasracingbeneath her palms.
Her eyes trailed up along his throat. He swallowed anxiously, and when she finally reached his eyes, the one she could see looked terrified.
Oh.
So he was nervous too.
“Come here.” She took his hands in hers and guided him over to the couch. “Sit.”
He did as he was told, trembling while he untangled himself from the strap of his satchel still slung across his chest. He placed it on the ground and sat, his gaze darting frantically all over her face while she lowered herself onto the cushion next to him. He looked almost comically large on their loveseat.
“You didn’t greet me when I let you in.”
“I know.” He closed his eye. “I panicked when I saw you.”
“Why?” She covered his right hand with her own in an attempt to calm him.
“You’re overwhelmingly gorgeous,” he muttered. “I don’t know why you like me.”
