He nodded again. “Yeah. They’ve been using it for… I don’t know, maybe six years now. I love watching them. I know it’s a little nerdy, but whatever. They make me happy.”
Warmth enveloped me as I realized he must’ve kept the birdhouse close for all these years. “That’s cool.” I tried to play it off, but I was truly touched to know it had meant something to him, my chest tightening with pleasure. I had mementos from our early years together, too, including one I kept on display every time I moved to a new location. “You know, I still have the picture frame you made for my birthday that year.”
He chuckled softly and shook his head. “You’re fucking with me.”
“I’m not. I still have that picture of us in it, the one you gave me, from that summer at the pool.”
Asher put down his pizza entirely. “You haven’t even changed the picture in it? Come on, give me a break.”
“I’m serious,” I protested. “I’ll take you to the rental sometime so I can prove it.”
“You’re on. Why don’t you show me tonight?”
“Tonight?”
He shrugged. “You have other plans?”
“Don’t you need to rest?”
Asher snorted and rolled his eyes at me. “I think I’ve been doing pretty well at resting. I’m bored. Let’s go do something.”
“How’s your shoulder feeling?”
He shifted his arm a little, rocking his shoulder back and forth. “Fine.”
“What about your hip? How’s walking going?”
“What are you, my doctor or my mother?” Asher gave me a little smirk. “I’mfine.”
“Why are you in such a hurry to see a picture frame, anyway?”
“I’m bored. I need to get out of this house before I go stir-crazy. It’s this or you take me out to the bar for a drink.”
It was my turn to roll my eyes. “You’re in no shape to go play pool.”
He shrugged his good shoulder. “Guess we’re going to your place, then.”
With a soft chuckle, I nodded. “Maybe we can watch a movie with Kieran or something.”
“That’s the spirit. It’ll be great.”
Once we were finished eating, we headed out to my rental car and I drove Asher the short distance to the place I was sharing with Kieran, a little two-bedroom house a little way across town. When we arrived, the lights were on and Kieran’s car was in the driveway. My stomach sank with disappointment, but at the same time, I was a little relieved. We’d hooked up the night before, sure, but that didn’t mean it was going to happen again, and with Kieran there the pressure would be off.
We made our way up the front steps and I opened the front door, calling out to Kieran as I did. “Hey, you home?”
Kieran called back that he was in his bedroom, and appeared a few moments later, his hair damp from a shower and dressed to go out in tight jeans and a tank top that left little to the imagination. “You brought a date,” he said with a grin.
I coughed in surprise, my face heating as I shook my head. “Not a date. He was getting stir-crazy,” I explained. “I thought we could hang out tonight, the three of us.”
Kieran shook his head and chuckled softly. “Sounds great, but I’m all booked up. I’ve got a date of my own.” He raised his eyebrows a couple of times for effect.
My stomach fluttered at the idea of being alone with Asher again, though I wasn’t entirely sure why. It wasn’t as if we hadn’t been alone together literally an hour ago, alone together even ten minutes ago. Somehow it felt different, though. It felt almost like being a teenager again, parents leaving the house while I had my boyfriend there. The possibilities felt endless. Intoxicating. Dangerous. Too much and not enough at the same time.
“Well, have fun,” I said as Kieran waved goodbye and stepped out of the house. Once he was gone, I nodded my head to gesture down the hallway. “Still want to see that picture frame?”
He grinned. “Hell yes.”
“Right this way, then.”
