Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 82415 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 412(@200wpm)___ 330(@250wpm)___ 275(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82415 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 412(@200wpm)___ 330(@250wpm)___ 275(@300wpm)
I followed him over to the couch. He handed me the remote, and I found a documentary for us to watch. When it was on, Danny pulled me close, his arm around me as we cuddled together the way we’d done countless times before.
I couldn’t help wondering why I wasn’t enjoying it the way I should.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Shaw
I was beginning to worry there was something wrong with me.
The other night at Elijah’s, I’d felt slightly jealous of Danny. Then I’d realized there was absolutely no reason to be jealous. I didn’t want Elijah. Well, I would sleep with him, of course, but I didn’t want anything more than that. Which meant there was no reason to be jealous. He didn’t do causal anyway, so anything between us would never go down, and again, I had no reason to care. Sure, I was physically attracted to him, but who wouldn’t be? I was attracted to a lot of people, and that never made me get jealous.
We really had nothing in common. He grated on my nerves. I made him crazy. All these were more reasons that jealousy should never enter the equation. Especially as I hadn’t been jealous in a long-ass time.
But I was that night. Or I had been until I’d talked some sense into myself.
Right after that, I hadn’t wanted to leave, which made me force myself to leave, because I’d done my job. Danny was properly jealous of me, which was the way it was supposed to be. I’d accomplished that quite quickly, thank you very much.
Elijah definitely owed me some gratitude, which he might be trying to give me if I weren’t avoiding him. That was a second worry of mine. Why was I avoiding him? Why did I care? The sarcastic, bendy little twink was making me act crazy, and I didn’t like it. I didn’t like it at all.
The only explanation I could come up with was that I was worried about him. This whole loving-his-friend thing was a tragedy waiting to happen. I knew all the rom-coms and romance novels said differently, but in my experience, it fucked up friendships and broke hearts. I’d let myself lose sight of that, and now Elijah would suffer for it.
Or maybe I was making myself a little more important than I was. I’d been told I did that.
It was Friday night, and I was trying to decide if I wanted to go out or not. Will would be down, I was sure. Or I could log in to an app on my phone and have someone come over. Elijah had said I could be discreet; plus, he was probably boning Danny now anyway. The phone calls and texts he’d sent hadn’t given me much information.
But I didn’t call Will and I didn’t pull up any apps. Instead, I sat at the desk in my living room, fiddling with photographs, before deciding to sign in to my Charades & Sexcapades email.
I hadn’t written a general post for the site in a while, so I could do that if there weren’t any pressing messages I needed to respond to. It was always hit-and-miss. Sometimes I’d get flooded with questions; other times they would trickle in.
There were a few emails from newsletters I’d signed up for and random shit like that, but at the top of the inbox was a message from an email address I recognized. A smile pulled at the corners of my lips, and ugh, why, why, why was I smiling?
Dear Anonymous, a.k.a. Shaw, a.k.a. Cocky Neighbor,
Okay, so I’m not sure what’s going on here, but you’re avoiding me. I’ve come to your apartment three times, THREE TIMES, Shaw. Do you know how rare that is for me? And you didn’t answer. I’ve called. I’ve texted. I’m beginning to think it’s me, but then I remember who I’m talking about, and it’s you. It’s always you. I’ve decided that. You’re to blame for everything.
Or not…
Is everything okay? Did I do something wrong?
I’m going to hit Send very quickly before I delete that last line.
Elijah
There was a small chance I read the email again. And maybe another chance that I was embarrassed I’d been ignoring him. I didn’t even know why I had been, as there were no good reasons. I filed it away with all the other things I pretended didn’t exist. Which meant there was no excuse for not responding to him, so I hit Reply.
Elijah,
Did you ever think that maybe I wasn’t home the three time, THREE TIMES, you came by? I’m a busy guy. In high demand and all that. Ask anyone other than you, and they’ll confirm.
Yes, I’m okay. No, you didn’t do anything wrong, but it touches my pessimistic little heart that you care. You like me! You really like me!
The ignoring is over. We’ll call it temporary insanity, and I’m all better now.