My new trainers look good. I went with a neon yellow because bright colors are in and I thought I’d attempt to fit in.
Although, I might have gone a touch too far with the neon yellow shirt. It almost hurts to look at. Never seen a shirt as bright as it before.
After the rules were laid out, Renley and I exchanged numbers so I could text her in WhatsApp, something she was extremely reluctant about, but I promised her I wouldn’t abusethe ability to text her, especially since I’m not allowed to flirt and I can be quite flirty in text messages.
The only thing we said to each other last night was what time to meet this morning for our walk. Given how happy I am about the opportunity to walk with her, it almost feels like I’m a puppy waiting to be taken out on their walk with their owner. Maybe I should offer up a leash option. Could go either way—she could think it was funny, or she could choke me with it.
Given yesterday’s hot-and-cold behavior, my guess is that she’d attempt to strangle.
“It’s…too…early,” Rupert says, shuffling into the living room and flopping down on the couch, his robe-wrapped body landing face-first into the cushions.
“Then why are you up?” I ask.
“I wanted to capture the moment of you two going on your first official walk together.”
“That’s not necessary.”
“It’s not, but when you marry this woman, I’ll have some solid footage of the two of you.”
I mean, I like his optimism.
“But in that shirt, I hope I don’t get the sun reflecting off you, blinding the camera.”
“Fuck off,” I say as I head toward the front door, Rupert laughing in my wake.
When I reach the porch, I catch movement to the right. Renley is leaving her house as well, right on time.
I skip down my stairs and meet her on her lawn.
“Jesus, Theo,” she says, shielding her eyes. “That shirt. It’s so bright.”
Nervously, I chuckle. “Yeah, brighter than I expected. I was going for a whole matching ensemble.”
“It’s a bit much. I need…God, I need to grab my sunglasses.” She heads back into her house as I slightly nod to myself.
Yeah, smart move on her end. If I were her, I’d have done the same, hence why I’m wearing my sunglasses.
When she comes back, I ask, “Is that better?”
“It is,” she replies. “You have to be careful with a shirt like that. It’s offensive to the eyes.”
“So…you don’t want me to wear this shirt every day we go on a walk?”
“I hope you burn it tonight in your bonfire.”
We start walking down the footpath together. “You saw our fire last night?”
“I did.”
“Why didn’t you join us? We made popcorn, and we would have shared some with you.”
“Because I’m trying to not spend every waking hour I have with you.”
“Shocking—here I thought you were growing attached.” I bump my shoulder to hers.
She glances at me and says, “Are you flirting? Because you know that’s not allowed.”
“No, not flirting, just, you know, playing around. If it was flirting, I’d have said something like…‘Shocking—here I thought you were yearning to sit on my face.’”
