Did I want him to look at me?
He’d said before that I was hot, did that still hold? Had hemeantit, or was it just something he was saying because he was my friend? Friends told each other they were hot, right?
… why the fuck did Icare?
“I, uh…” Felix looked at the towel, and then at my face. “I’d really like you to be wearing clothes.”
I raised an eyebrow. “You wanna say something to me that needsclothes?”
Felix nodded, biting his lip, a blush still making the ridges of his cheeks glow pink. “I’ll be outside,” he said, turning and scampering away before I could stop him.
Weird.
I dried off as quickly as I could and changed into jeans and a t-shirt, checking my hair in the mirror, then pausing to tuck the shirt in. Normally I wouldn’t have bothered, but something about doing that made me look a little moredressed.
Felix didn’t need me to dress up for him, but apparently I wanted to.
When I walked out of the change room, Felix was talking to one of my yoga students.
I stood back and watched as he took a selfie with her, grinning into the camera, obviously thrilled.
This was a side of Felix I’d never seen before. What happened to my quiet, shy best friend? When did he become a people person?
I wasn’t about to eavesdrop on what was obviously a private conversation, but I did overhear snippets likeloves your books so muchandgonna be so jealous of me, which I assumed meant she was talking about her kid.
Felix was glowing. Not just blushing—he was doing that, too—but his eyes were lit up and he was so clearly into the attention that I couldn’t stop staring at him. This was what he looked like when he was happy, when he was excited to be around someone.
I’d only ever seen him look like that atme.
… where was this sudden pang of jealousy coming from? Felix was allowed to like other people. Iwantedhim to like other people, because the alternative was that he’d been miserable and alone for the past fifteen years. He must have looked at dozens of people like that.
Which didn’t make thinking about it any less uncomfortable.
I didn’t have time to unpack that feeling before Felix waved at me over his new friend’s shoulder—Bianca, I thought. I hadn’t quite worked out all the names yet, because it felt awkward to go around the room asking. The women in my class were used to being instructed by another woman, I didn’t want to make them uncomfortable.
Especially considering what they probably all knew about me. Some of them had daughters my age, I’d probably broken a couple of their hearts.
“You know Kieran?” Probably-Bianca asked. She’d been about to leave, but I’d crossed the reception area a little too fast and made her stop in her tracks.
“We grew up together,” Felix explained.
“Well, he’s a great instructor,” Bianca enthused. “Really knows his stuff.”
Felix raised an eyebrow.
“I was just teaching a yoga class,” I said. “Before, y’know.”
“Before I walked in on you in the shower?” Felix smirked. Clearly, he was over the embarrassment.
Bianca’s mouth fell into a perfect O.
“You’ve hadallthe fun today,” she said. “If I was ten years younger…” she added, looking me up and down, one manicured finger tapping her lower lip.
“We were going to lunch,” Felix said, eyes wide. Obviously, he hadn’t realized he was about to turn me into a sex object in Bianca’s eyes.
Hell, maybe he’d done me a favor. Maybe older women were my best option now.
“Right,” I agreed. “Sorry, gotta run. See you next week?”
