“Ihave pizza. It's the biggest pizza I’ve ever seen. I figured you’d be hungry bynow,” Declan said, desperate to stop his voice from shaking.
Hecouldn’t justforgetwhat he’d been running away from. He didn’t evenwant to.
Itwas just hard to know what to say. He wasn’t even sure what outcome he wantedright now.
Allhe was sure of was that he’d wanted to come home, and that meant dealing withthis.
“Noolives?” Ash asked, his voice small. He suddenly seemed tiny.
Anda lot less scary than Declan had made him out to be in his head. Ash was stillhis best friend of the past decade. This was new, but… they could handle it.
Somehow.Declan had no idea where to start.
“Noolives,” he confirmed.
“Iguess you can come in, then,” Ash said. “Is that garlic bread?”
Declansmiled to himself. He knew what Ash liked. “I figured I needed a way to getback into your good books, so yeah.”
“Youcandefinitelycome in.” Ash turned to head up the stairs, leaving Declanto catch up with him.
Hefelt a little as though he wasalwayscatching up. To Ash, to his ownfeelings, to whatever was going on here.
Hestill didn’tknow. He didn’t know anything, not for sure.
Buthe needed to be honest about that. He hated to admit that he had no idea whatwas going on, but for the sake of his friendship with Ash, he had to.
Ashflicked on the light in the kitchen as Declan approached, closing over the lidof his laptop on the kitchen table.
Declanwas used to finding Ash working in the dark, oblivious to the passage of time.
“Iwas starting a spreadsheet,” Ash said. “Of what we still have in storage. Iguess I need one for what’s already on the shelves, too. I want this tosucceed.”
Declanswallowed, the lump in his throat back with a vengeance. “So do I. And Ialready know I couldn’t do it without you.”
“Iwasn’t saying that.” Ash wet his lips. “I was just saying… I’m not packing upand leaving, or anything. If you were afraid I would.”
Declanlooked down at his feet, sighing. OfcourseAsh was still looking outfor him. Despite Declan jerking him around.
Thatwas what Ash did.
“Iowe you an apology,” Declan said.
“Ididn’t stop you,” Ash said, tapping his fingers on the edge of the table. Hehad nervous written all over him. “You don’t need to apologize.”
Thatwas fair. Declan’s stomach was still tied up in knots, though he felt betterjust being near Ash.
Whichwas probably part of what he had to say next.
“Yeah,I do,” he said. “For jerking you around. For running away after. I was just… Idon’t know. Surprised, I guess?”
“Declan,it’s okay,” Ash said.
Declanshook his head. “No, it’s not. It’s not even alittleokay. Whatever'sgoing on in my head right now, I can’t take that out on you. I’d like you toforgive me, but I don’t want you to pretend I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“I’vealready forgiven you.” Ash took a step toward Declan, leaving just a handful ofinches between them.
Declan’sheart pounded in his chest. That felt like trust. Trust he maybe didn’tdeserve, but he was willing to take whatever was on offer right now.
