She shook her head at me and got into her truck. I took that as a yes and followed her home, parking my truck in the guest spot across from her.
We walked together up the steps to her apartment, and she unlocked her door and glanced back at me. “Come in. Don’t be a nuisance.”
“I feel welcome already.”
“I’m sure you do.” She went into her bedroom and came out a few minutes later wearing soft pink pajama pants and a gray T-shirt. “Jenny’s still out with her friend from out of town. She says she’ll be home at eleven-thirty.”
“Do you want me to go?” All joking aside, I wanted her to want me there, not push myself into her life. At some point, our teasing had to be backed by something real.
Lauren studied me before plopping down on the couch and holding out the remote.
I took it carefully, waiting for her to pull it back at the last second, but she didn’t. “Who are you, and what have you done with Lauren?”
“I’m too tired to pick.” She rested her head back. “I hate when Jenny’s not here.”
“Is she gone a lot?”
“Hardly ever. She doesn’t seem to mind when I’m gone, but I don’t like being here alone without her.”
“So I’m a space filler.” I sat down next to her and turned on the TV.
“Basically. It’s you or I start talking to my house plants.” She turned her head and smiled at me. “You offered, you know.”
“True.” I foundMiss Congenialityand left it there, knowing it was a movie she liked. I wasn’t really paying attention to the screen so it didn’t matter. Lauren had her legs curled up in the most uncomfortable position, and after watching her shift them to the floor and back up again, I reached out and draped them across me, wrapping my hand around her knee.
She stared at the screen as if she hadn’t noticed at all, but I felt her tense and then slowly relax little by little, though she kept her arms folded—a clear message ofthere will be no hand-holding.
A few minutes later, she yawned and grabbed the remote, pausing the TV. “I’m gonna get water. Do you want some?”
“I’m okay.”
I missed the weight of her legs on me the second she left, and I wondered if she got up on purpose so she could put more distance between us. Sure enough, when she returned, she sat down on her end and hunched over, staring at the TV. It looked about as relaxing as a massage from the world record holder for longest fingernails.
I reached over and stole the glass of water out of her hands, finishing it off.
She gave me an indignant glare. “I asked if you wanted water.”
“Well, now I do. You need more?”
She shook her head.
I got up to put the cup by the sink, sitting as far away from her as possible when I came back. “I’m so glad you decided to put some space between us. I was going to say something if you didn’t.”
She ignored me and watched the movie, absentmindedly rubbing her bare arms like she was cold.
“Do you need a blanket?” I asked.
“Shh.”
Yeah, because William Shatner’s singing was so riveting. I got up, walked straight to her bedroom, and pulled her comforter from the bed. It smelled like her hair, with that sexy bubble bath scent I hadn’t stopped thinking about since I’d first noticed it.
“Are you sniffing my blanket?” She looked mortified. “Does it smell?”
I smiled. “It smells like you, and trust me, that’s not a bad thing.”
She reached out, expecting me to hand it to her, but I kept walking and sat on my end of the couch with it balled up in my lap. Then I sniffed it again, just to make her extra self-conscious.
She stared at me for several seconds before launching herself across the couch in a surprise attack. At least, she thought it would come as a surprise.
