“I never considered it at all. I just needed time to figure out how to convince you to go. Unfortunately, you’re very stubborn.”
“You like it.”
I don’t expect him to respond, but a slow smile crosses his face as he looks at me. “I do.”
I let out a laugh, one of my first genuine ones since everything went down. Nate might be in vacation mode, but he seems more open than usual.
Maybe it’s not a bad thing that I came with him.
“We’re still gonna make it to the gate, right?”
He checks our tickets and the time. “It looks like you’re getting your morning run after all. We gotta go.”
That’s all he says before he takes off. Nate’s legs are far longer than mine and I have to sprint to catch up with him.
“Curse you and your long legs!” I call. “You’re about to leave me like Kevin fromHome Alone.”
“You’re out of practice,” he replies with a laugh, but he does slow down slightly.
It’s tempting to grab his hand, but something about the way he avoided touching me just the day before makes me second-guess it. Instead, I push my legs harder to keep up with him.
We barely make it to the gate on time.
Even though we’re not in economy, the seats are still tightly tucked together. There’s an old man on one side of me and Nate is on the other. When I sit, I have to choose between the old man and Nate.
I choose Nate.
He goes tense the second my leg presses against his, and I frown.
“You okay?” I ask.
“Uh, yeah. This is just very tight.” He shifts, almost like he wants to get away from me.
I blink. Does Nate not like to touch people? It’s the only thing that makes sense, but how would I have not noticed?Had I beenthatbusy with Rob?
“Sorry,” I say and move the best I can. Without bothering the other man, all I can do is make it to where I’m not squished against him. I’m just there.
A nervous feeling settles in my gut at my last-second decisionto come on this trip. No wonder he doesn’t keep his girlfriends around. No wonder he only hangs out with me and no one else. I know I’ll do my best to keep my distance if it’s what he needs.
Even if I don’t love the idea.
I’m not sure when this started. When we were kids, especially when we were graduating high school, touch was always something Nate initiated. Hugs were given freely, and we’d shared a bed more times than we could count.
“Is this better?”
“It’s tolerable.” His voice is tense and I hate that. My mouth tugs into a frown and I look over at the older man, wondering if I should get friendly with him. “Just ... tell me what you got up to this morning. Please. Your eyes were red.”
I blink. “No they weren’t.”
“They were. You were thinking about Rob again.”
“I wasnot. Mostly. I was crying at weddings in general. Not Rob. I’ve barely even thought about him.”
“Don’t lie,” he says flatly.
The thing is, when I’m with Nate, I don’t think about Rob very much. I never have. Which is why it may be a good thing that I came on this trip.
“A lot of the videos were happy,” I say. “And it’s hard that it’s the day after I was supposed to be happy, and I’m not.”
