He sighs, “Let me just make sure you get up the stairs, if you faint and fall there will just be more for me and poor Betty to clean.”
“Are you making jokes right now?”
“Not funny ones,” he smirks down at me.
I roll my eyes, but I can’t help but lean into the warmth of him, the strength. There’s just something steady about him. Like he’s dependable and…well, honest. If he didn’t want to help me up the stairs, he wouldn’t say so. He wouldn’t try. I exhale, “Fine, you can help me up the stairs.”
He does. My room is right off of the landing, so he walks right in with me. He looks around with scrunched eyebrows.
“What?” I ask him as I toe off my shoes with his help.
“I suppose I expected palm trees,” he says. I point to my sheets. He leans in, looking at the tiny pattern. He grins like he’s pleased to be right. A common feeling for him, I think.
I yawn, “It used to be a California explosion in here but Lily had me redecorate after…” my voice trails off.
“After JimBo?” He asks.
“Yeah,” I say, yawning again.
He pulls back my bedding and points, “In you go.”
“You are not tucking me in,” I say.
He makes a show of looking around, “All evidence points to the contrary.”
“Aiden! Go away!”
He holds the bridge of his nose likehe’sannoyed withmeand says, “Listen, I’ll feel better knowing you’re squared away, yeah? So just do this for me and get in your bed.”
“No, this has been embarrassing enough,” I say.
He peers down at me. I’m not surprised to hear the words, “Let’s negotiate.”
“Ugh!” I growl, “You are so annoying!”
“Ditto.”
“Ughhhhhrrrr!”
I don’t negotiate, since I get the feeling he would really love it. Instead, I throw myself into my bed, cover myself in one swift motion then turn to face away from him. Like a child.
“Happy now?” I ask.
“Hardly,” he says. “But I will leave anyway.”
“Good.”
He turns to go but pauses, I think in the doorway. He clears his throat before saying, “I know you’ve said we’re not friends but, if you need something, just text me. I can come right over, because I’m just there, yeah? I’m right across the street.”
I don’t respond.
He leaves.
We both know what neither of us said out loud.
He’s across the streetfor now.
But not for long.
