“Hey, didn’t hear you.” He took a few deep breaths and grabbed a t-shirt that he’d draped over the back of his desk chair.
“Your mum says dinner will be ready in a few minutes. I wanted to catch up before, as we’ve not spoken in a while.” My eyes danced around the room, avoiding his bare skin until he was covered.
“No. I got that impression.” He turned away towards his desk.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” He’d been just as bad as me, choosing when to respond to me or not. Plus, I’d not wanted to talk to anyone much since Oliver left.
He turned back to me and levelled me with a stare that warmed every inch of my skin. “Just that you’ve barely answered my texts since the fight. The night I kissed you.”
I looked away, my cheeks flushing at the memory. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to shut you out.”
“Oliver talked to you?”
“Yeah. Before he left. What about you?”
“Nope. Guess he assumed you’d fill me in on anything I needed to know.” He looked at me expectantly. He seemed… angry, or at the least, tense about something.
“He just said that he felt it would be better to leave. He’s got a graduate job at a company in London.”
“Anything else?”
I wasn’t about to tell Maddison that he’d kissed me, too. Although when I thought back to that kiss, it felt like a goodbye, not a declaration of something more. Not like the way Maddison had kissed me.
God, I’m an awful person. I was standing in front of one of my best friends, thinking about his kiss compared to his brother’s. This was exactly what I’d been trying to avoid all my life, but it had happened anyway. Like the harder I tried to stop it, the more likely it became. There had been rumours when we were at school about a couple of the girls moving from one boy to the next. They’d always received snide remarks and whispered comments. But they didn’t hide their intentions. Every boy and girl in the school knew their game. What I’d done was so much worse because I knew they both had feelings for me. And I had them in return.
Maybe it would have been better for me to leave rather than Oliver.
I looked back at Maddison and shook my head. “Just that he thought it would be best for everyone if he left now. What did he tell your folks?”
“Same thing, really. Job’s started. Didn’t want to wait. Good for him.”
“Yeah. Shall we go down? I’m starving.” I changed the subject.
“Sure. As long as you let me take you out for a drink after dinner. Call it a birthday gift. Now I’ve got you talking, I don’t want to give you up.”
His comment made me still, and I couldn’t help the warmth it brought out in me until I remembered the last time he’d taken me out and how that had ended.
“Okay.” I offered a weak smile, and he followed me out and down to the kitchen.
“Happy birthday!”
The cheer went up from Maddison’s parents, and we all took a seat at the table. The rich smells of baked tomatoes, cheese, and garlic made my stomach rumble as I looked forward to our meal. Vivien might have cooked lasagne for me a hundred times already, but it didn’t matter. I loved it.
It was a small thing, but the normality of this made the day a little easier, and after I’d stuffed my face, I felt a whole lot better. The worry of sitting here without Oliver eased.
“I hope you left room for chocolate cake, Grace?”
“Only yours, Vivien. It’s the best cake in the world.” And I wasn’t lying.
After dinner, Maddison ushered me out of the house, and he drove us to a local pub. Not what I had expected, but a marked improvement over the last venue. The building was all timber and glass, trying to be a restaurant over the pub it started as. We both ordered a bottle of beer and moved to the sofa off to one side.
“Cheers.” We clinked.
“Happy birthday.”
“Thank you.” I watched as his eyes flashed to the silver chain still wrapped around my wrist. I never took it off.
“I have an idea I want to run past you. And I want you to actually think about it before you give me your answer, agreed?” He turned to stare at me, giving me no room to be vague with my response.
“Okay.” I agreed, although a sinking feeling opened up in my stomach at the idea I’d just set myself up in his trap.
“What are you doing next year for Uni?”
“The same. One year down, two to go, Mads,” I answered, confused.
“Yeah, but don’t you all move out during that time? Get your own place?”
“I’m living at home. I don’t need to move out because it’s the same as it’s always been. No change. It’s not like I’m in halls.”
“Okay, look.” He shuffled forward and twisted farther around to face me. “I’ve been thinking of moving out. Sure, being at home has its advantages —”
“Yeah, like no rent and free food,” I mocked and took a long sip of beer.
“I pay rent. And it’s not always lasagne and cake. I can cook a half-decent stir-fry or spag bol. Maybe.”
“Good to know,” I giggled.
“But seriously, I want my own place. I’m earning some decent money, at least enough to get a place, and think it’s the right time. It would be even better if we shared.”
“Shared what?” I looked at him, a little lost.
“Shared the place. You know, housemates. Rent would be cheaper. We can look out for each other.”
His words repeated in my mind. Did he really just ask me to move in with him?
“Don’t look so confused. It’s not that hard to understand. You’re my best friend. You should be off at Uni somewhere, but for whatever reason, you stayed here at home. I’m not going to push, but you deserve to spread your wings.”
“And you want me to do it with you?”
He gave me a sexy grin that made it hard for me to start planning my excuses. “Yes, I do. As friends. I think we both need this.” He took my hand in his, and my heart gave a big thud in my chest.
I pulled my hand back and got busy with my drink, running through the objections that sprung to mind. I’d never wanted to move in with anyone. I’d been perfectly happy in my little world, but Maddison had smashed that wide open. Could I?
“As friends?” I asked timidly, making sure I understood this. We still hadn’t spoken about the kiss—the kiss that burned through my senses and ignited a flame in the centre of my heart before I fell back to reality.
“Sure.” His response was immediate and clipped.
“Why don’t I quite believe you when you say that?” My eyes scrutinised his, watching the depths of his gaze. He broke first, turning away.
“Come on, Grace. Let’s not go there now.”
“If we’re going to live together, I think we should know where we both stand, don’t you?”
“Fine. You know how I feel about you. I know how you feel about me, and we seem to be dancing around what’s right in front of us. But that’s your call.”
“You’re putting all of this on me?” My irritation was clear.
“Do you want me to be honest or not?”