There was so much hurt and disappointment in those three words that he couldn’t think anything else. This was it.
“I…” Mike began, not sure what to say now. A thousand things swirled in his head, but none of them quite seemed like enough.
This was never going to be forever, anyway. Mike was going home after this. Back to his empty apartment to look for another crappy job he got no joy out of, because once upon a time he’d wanted to make a life for someone he loved, but now…
NowEzrawas the someone he loved, and he’d just ruined his shot to have that life with him. He’d fumbled the new, fragile thing between them while it’d been in his hands, and now it was shattered on the floor between them.
The worst part was that Ezra wasn’t asking him to choose. Ezra was giving him a way out, a chance to walk away, and Mike knew hehadto make a choice right now, but…
Ezra wasn’t pushing. Ezra was going to let him go with his parents and pretend this had never happened, too.
This was all on Mike.
And because he was a coward, he was going to take the easy way out. Even if it made him feel sick.
“Sure,” Mike said, turning to his dad. “It’s starting to get cold out.”
His dad’s face lit up, a cruel smile turning up the corner of his lips. There was no way he didn’t know what he was doing, the choice he’d just forced Mike to make, and he washappy.
Happy that Mike had stuck with the safe path, happy that he knew he could keep controlling him. Even though Mike was supposed to be his own man now.
Some things never changed.
“Great! We’ll grab dinner on the way home,” he said, putting a hand on Mike’s shoulder to turn him away from Ezra, barely acknowledging that he was still there.
Mike’s stomach twisted into knots as he let himself be led away. He forced himself to look back, and immediately wished he hadn’t.
Ezra stood on the sidewalk, watching him go. Their eyes met for a moment, just the briefest fraction of a second, and Mike couldn’t besure, but he thought he could see tears shining in them.
Then Ezra turned away. Turned his back and walked off in the other direction.
Because Mike was leaving him,again, to please someone else.
And just like last time, he wasn’t strong enough to say no.
