“Camden!” I call out the open passenger window.
The sound of his name has his head lifting groggily for a second, only for it to slump back down. I call to him again, and though it takes him a second to place the direction it’s coming from, his gaze lands on my car this time.
A huge smile crosses his face as he stumbles to stand, almost tripping over his own feet in the process, before trudging toward my car.
“There’s my man,” he slurs while I shove open the passenger door from the inside.
It’s meant to be a thoughtful move, saving him from the tedious task of pulling on the handle while he’s three sheets to the wind, but his body collides with the door instead, effectively closing it again.
I peer up at him through the open window. “Hi. You doing okay?”
“Yeah. But you hung up on me,” he grumbles.
“I think your phone died, actually.”
He frowns and pulls his phone from the pocket of his hoodie. Tapping on the screen a few times, his frown deepens into something of a scowl.
“That was fuckin’ rude of it.”
I can’t help the snort that sneaks out before I motion toward the passenger seat. “Well, are you getting in?”
“For why?”
“So I can take you home.”
He smiles, all big and dopey. “My boyfriend wants to take me home?”
Heat singes my cheeks, not really sure how to answer, especially when he’s looking at me like that. Thankfully, he saves me from having to by clumsily yanking on the door handle and clambering inside. I’m expecting I’ll have to buckle him in, but apparently his hand-eye coordination is still in working condition, sparing me from discomfort once again.
It’s only when I pull back onto the street in the direction of home that I think to ask about Willow and Lexi. After all, they’re the ones he came here with, and they were nowhere to be found when I picked him up.
“Where did the girls go?”
“Food with Willow’s sisters, I think?” he replies, and I quickly piece together he means hersororitysisters, since Willow onlyhas a brother biologically. “But I dunno for sure. They said something about waffles at the house?”
It takes all of two seconds to figure that one out too.
Keeping my attention locked on the road, I ask, “And you didn’t want to go with them? Sounds like your kind of time.”
The words come out more bitter than I intended, and I don’t understand why. There’s no reason for me to be jealous if he’d gone with them—we’re notactuallydating.
“No, the holes freak me out. Pancakes is where it’s at. I like those better,” he says, the ramblings enough to pull me out of my spiraling thoughts. “I like you reading to me too. It’s really nice to listen to in the shower. Is that weird?”
I frown, not sure where the random subject change came from.
“What are you talking about?”
“The notes you read to me from Theo and Holden. They really work. I’ve learned lots about…Can’t,” he babbles, pronouncing the name wrong, but I don’t have the heart to correct him. A little smile tugs at his lips as he rolls his head to look at me. “But I just like your voice. So smooth and silky, like a blanket I wanna snuggle in.”
“Uh…thank you?”
“Welcome. Now, keep talking.”
My brows collide when I glance at him again. “Why?”
“I just said I like your voice as a blanket, okay?” He lets out a noise—some combination of a scoff and huff—before muttering, “And you call me dumb.”
His sass is on a whole different level, which may have annoyed me in the past. But if anything, I’m entertained. And also kind of glad he mentioned the recordings I made him. I hadn’t realized he began listening to any of them. Sure, that’s what they’re for,but I guess I hadn’t given much thought to it after giving him the flashdrive, and he never mentioned themuntil now.
