Why would I say that? Okay, it was true, it was impossible not to notice. But that didn’t mean it was what Ryder wanted to hear. He didn’twantme looking at him, and definitely not like that. He never had, there was no reason to think he would now.
“It has been ten years. Almost, anyway,” he said. “I mean, so have you,” he said, gesturing to me.
Which was when I remembered I wasn’t wearing a shirt either.
But it wasn’t as though Ryder was freaking out or running away. Maybe I was being oversensitive. Maybe treating him like he was made of glass wasn’t the right thing.
“Yeah, uh,” I said, looking down at my own naked chest. “I guess.”
Ryder raised an eyebrow.
“Still kinda awkward though,” I said, blushing for what felt like the thousandth time today.
“Kinda,” Ryder agreed. “I can live with it.”
“You were always the confident one.” I shrugged. “And—”
The doorbell rang, cutting me off. Either this was the fastest pizza delivery known to man, or I’d paced around waiting for Ryder to come out of the bathroom a lot longer than I thought.
“I’ll…” I trailed off, waving at the door. I could answer it shirtless, anyone who was in pizza delivery had definitely seen worse.
I grabbed my wallet and pulled the door open with one last glance to make sure Ryder wasn’t in view of it, and then blinked at what I saw in front of me.
“You’re not the pizza guy,” I said as Seth looked up at me from the doorstep.
“Not unless this is the opening scene of a nineties porno,” he said, pushing his way past me without another word. “That would explain why you’re not wearing a shirt, I guess.”
“Come in,” I muttered under my breath. “You know you’re always welcome here, Seth.”
Hewasalways welcome here, but that wasn’t the point.
“I painted that door, it’s basically my door,” he said.
He had painted the door, that was true, but I wasn’t sure about the rest of his logic. Either way, it wasn’t as though I was about to kick him out.
“I’ve spent all day sending out takedown notices for that video,” Seth said, turning to Ryder. “I got everything I could find. Oh, and if anyone asks, I’m your agent.”
Wow.
He’d said he was working on it, but it hadn’t even occurred to me to do something like that. I’d taken it for granted that once something was on the internet, it was out there, and there was nothing anyone could do about it.
“Seriously?” Ryder asked.
“Seriously,” Seth said, pouring himself a glass of water from the faucet.
“This doesn’t solve all of your problems,” Seth continued between mouthfuls of water. “But at least it’s not circulating anymore. Not in public anyway. Hopefully people will forget a little faster this way.”
“You’re a lifesaver,” Ryder said.
Seth shrugged. “I try. Anything for you,” he added, draining the last of the glass at impressive speed. “So, I was thinking we should go celebrate. Take you to a gay bar. Get you exactly two shots of tequila and encourage you to make terrible decisions about kissing boys.”
“But—” I interrupted, unsure where to start with why that was a bad idea. Ryder was exhausted, the last thing he’d want was to go to a bar, and he’d just been outed against his will.
“It’ll be good for you,” Seth said. “Silver lining. You finally get to go to gay bars and grind against hot strangers and go home with people you definitely shouldn’t but who’ll stop at wrecking the bed rather than your whole life.”
“I don’t know if—” I started again, but I still hadn’t worked outwhyI thought it was a bad idea.
“Seth’s right,” Ryder said before I could choose something to say about this.
