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He shrugs, eyes glittering, and I can’t lie, I love to see it—the attitude. The snark. The real Jeremy I’ve only ever gotten glimpses of.
“I have pictures. They’re in a box.”
I scrunch a face at that.
“Come on, let’s get this over with.”
“What every guy likes to hear,” I say, not thinking.
He stills, hands clenched white around his textbook.
I clear my throat, and sit, nudging his shoulder.
He peeks up at me warily.
I wag my brows.
Rolling his eyes, he shoves me. “Fuck off.”
“Hey.” I dig out my phone, and find the camera.
“What?” he mutters.
“Smile.
And I lift my phone, and lean over, grin, and?—
He flinches, flying off the bed like someone took a taser to his kidney.
My gaze snaps up to his wide, panicked one, and the phone slips from my hand, landing on the rumpled bedding with a soft thud.
“Jer….”
He shakes his head, cheeks pale. When he lifts his hands to his hair, fiddling with the ends, I don’t miss the tremble in his long, slim fingers.
“Shit, I’m so sorry. I didn’t even…I wasn’t thinking.”
“It’s fine. It’s nothing.”
“It’s not nothing,” I say gently. Grabbing my phone, I lock it, closing the camera app, and chuck it on the floor. “There. It’s gone.”
“It’s fine, Mason. You just…caught me off guard.” His jaw ticks in the corners, and he blinks rapidly like he’s trying to reorient himself. I’ve seen him do it before. Seen him talk himself down from panic attacks.
I wait, and finally, after about a minute, he comes and sits back down next to me, releasing a carefully measured breath. Extending his arms, he flexes his fingers along his knees. His sleeves stretched over his knuckles, and wrapped around his thumb like a cast.
I frown.
He’s always hiding…every inch of him that he can. Like he can’t bear to be even a little bit exposed.
He wasn’t like this when we were kids…
Especially not with me.
Makes me wonder what changed.
What I did to make him close himself off from me…
I can’t even pinpoint when it happened, but it did. And I just…try to tell myself it’ll pass. That it means nothing. That it has everything to do with him, and the shit he’s been through, and nothing to do with me.
