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“Fuckin’ weird,” Jake finally mutters, almost to himself, and then he leaves through the front door.
We both let out a breath once we hear his car start up and drive off. It’s a testament to how distracted we were that we only realized he was outside when he slammed the door shut.
I pause the movie again.
“That was close.”
“It’s good he came. We can’t… That wasn’t a good idea.”
“Why?”
“You know why.”
“I don’t know if I do. I’m single. You’re single. Yeah, my brother is overprotective and thinks he gets to say who I do or do not date, but so what? We’re all adults.”
“It’s not that simple.”
“Because of her?”
He makes a non-committal grunting noise.
“Oh, interesting,” I say. “So you really think–” I mimic his grunting sound. “I was actually thinking–” I do a different variation of the grunt. “But if you think–” I grunt again.
He smiles. “Very funny. But not entirely because of her, no. Just kind of.”
“Do you still have feelings for her?” I ask.
“No,” he says quickly. “No,” he says again, shaking his head. “Some of the… scars are still too fresh. I’m not ready to say what I want, or to make promises about what I can offer.”
“Maybe I’m not, either.”
He looks up. “So you agree with me? We can’t let this happen again?”
“No,” I say. “I mean… who says we have to promise things? Can’t we just see where it goes? Stop acting like we don’t feel it.”
“That sounds dangerous.”
“It’s not like we’re nuclear bombs, Jesse. We’re just people. Worst case is we hurt each other's feelings, right? People survive that.”
He looks like he wants to argue with me, but he nods very slowly. “If I agreed with you, it would be under one condition.”
“I’m listening.”
“Nobody can know.”
I chew my lip. “I hate to break it to you, but I think we might be the last people to realize this was going to happen.”
He chuckles, but then frowns. “I still don’t want to talk to Jake about it. About–whatever ‘it’ would be.”
“Something casual,” I suggest.
“Casual,” he says slowly, as if he’s testing the concept aloud. “I think I could offer casual. Yeah.”
“And I can keep a secret. Even if everybody and their grandma already suspects we’re doing the dirty behind closed doors.
Jesse lets out a long sigh. “Okay. Yeah. Okay.”
“Does this mean I can cuddle you now?”
