He spots me on the bench and rushes over.
“Hey,” I say, waving my half-eaten granola.
He walks over. “Are you okay?”
“Define okay,” I say.
He checks my arms, my face, the protein bar in my hand. “Is that all you ate today?” he asks.
“I had three. They’re healthy.”
“Stan.” He sounds like he’s scolding me. I’m scarily into it. “I’ve seen you eat heaps of meat in one sitting. These aren’t enough.”
“That’s dramatic,” I mumble, taking a bite of the bar. “Even for me.”
“Could you just—?” Nil stops himself to let out a sigh. “You worried me. A lot.”
“I’m fine,” I say. “Just thinking. Bad idea, I know.”
“You weren’t in the room,” he says. “You didn’t come to lunch. Or dinner. And I didn’t know where you went.”
I lift my protein bar like it’s evidence. “I’ve been here.”
He looks around at the mirrors. “Why are you here?” he asks.
“Because nobody else is,” I confess. “I didn’t want to bother anyone.”
“You don’t ever bother me.”
My brain short-circuits a little. I act like it didn’t.
Nil sighs again and sits next to me. “You disappeared on me, Stan.”
“I do that sometimes.”
“Yeah, I get it.” He looks at me, but I don’t meet his eyes yet.
“It’s our M.O., I guess.”
“But you don’t have to hide from me,” he says quietly.
“I’m not hiding from you,” I say, chewing. “Just needed some space. I didn’t want to dump my feelings on you.”
“You don’t dump anything on me,” he says, his voice so soothing. “I don’t mind listening to you, Stan.”
Well, there goes my heart, sprinting out of my chest like it’s late for a meeting.
“You say that now,” I tell him. “But give it five minutes, and I’ll say something insane, then you’ll rethink everything and start writing your will.”
He actually smiles back to that. When he doesn’t hide how funny he thinks I am, it makes me believe in soulmates. For fucking real.
He nudges my knee with his own. A little bump. A nothing gesture that sends fireworks straight into my bloodstream. He doesn’t move away. I don’t either.
“I came looking for you,” he says.
My dumbass heart bumps around like it’s trying to find the emergency exits. There’s no way out.
“You left the MedBay so fast,” he says. “I thought something was wrong.”
