That silence continues the entire ride home because Blue gets a phone call almost immediately after we leave. From what I can tell, it’s about another issue involving one of the Beta Activation facilities.
The conversation lasts basically the whole drive, and by the time we arrive, my head feels so tangled up I can barely think straight anymore.
The elevator ride happens in silence too. I just keep looking at him while he looks down at his phone, answering messages, probably work-related texts.
We walk into the penthouse, and Blue says calmly,
"Good night, Gabriel."
And that’s it.
That’s all.
Feeling this painful knot twisting in my stomach and throat, I head back to my room. While pulling off my expensive tux, I can’t shake the feeling that something rare and important just slipped through my fingers tonight.
The moment is gone.
And the magic disappeared.
The question is whether I should force myself to forget about it too?
???
The rest of the week is weird.
From the moment I wake up, I know my worries from last night were completely justified.
Everything reset back to cold and distant normal.
Blue walks into the pool room like nothing happened, says hi, and that’s it. He immediately starts swimming, then heads straight back to his room afterward to get changed.
Meanwhile, I keep going over possible things to say in my head, but every single one sounds stupid.
Hey, did you feel that too yesterday?
Some weird magic, huh?
Or maybe:
You wanna try it again? Maybe hold my hand and, y’know… see if it comes back?
Or:
Look, since you kinda looked like you were about to let me kiss you, maybe we should revisit that?
Or even…
You definitely seemed hard, so maybe… we could explore that?
No. Fuck no. Every version sounds either like some shameless small-town pickup attempt or the most painfully awkward, nerdy flirting imaginable.
Blue has a meeting today with a few directors, so we go down two floors together to the tiny Malden branch.
We turn into a glass-walled conference room at the end of the corridor, and I notice Simon already inside, standing near the table with his tablet.
Blue walks past him without breaking stride and takes his seat at the head of the table, setting his tablet down. I don’t sit. I drift toward the wall instead, positioning myself where I can see the door and most of the room.
"Schedule," Blue says.
