“I have to get to bed soon too.”
“Thanks for inviting me over.”
“Thanks for coming over,” Bernard said. “It was fun.”
“Yeah, I had a good time.”
They hugged. Bernard squeezed him.
They parted, and Bernard leaned in to kiss Rory.
Bernard backed away. Did Rory notice? How close had he gotten? His stomach churned. Rory’s eyes widened.
“Rory, I’m…” he choked.
“It’s nothing,” Rory said. “It was an accident.”
Rory walked out, and Bernard collapsed on the couch. What was wrong with him? He’d resisted this for years, and now he almost kissed Rory.
He picked up the phone and called Sarah.
“Hello?” Sarah asked.
“I tried to kiss Rory.”
“You did what?”
“We had dinner and watched a movie. We hugged as he was leaving and when we broke the hug, I leaned in to kiss him. I stopped before anything happened.”
“What did he do?”
“He backed away and said accidents happen. Then he left.”
“You didn’t talk about it?”
He didn’t want to talk about it. It all happened so fast. Would Rory never speak to him again? He broke Rory’s trust. He never hit on Rory, never. Now, he’d tried to kiss him. He couldn’t blame it on alcohol. He needed to fix this.
“No, it all happened so fast.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to give him time,” Bernard said. “I’m going to let him make the next move. If I do anything it might look like I’m trying to coerce him into something. I don’t want to do that.”
“Okay, we can talk about it more tomorrow. I want you to tell me everything that happened today.”
“Okay, I’ll grab you tomorrow.”
*
THE NEXT MORNINGBernard told her everything that happened. Every detail of their conversation and how Rory responded.
“You want my honest opinion?”
“You know I always do.”
“I think he’s falling for you but isn’t sure how to proceed,” Sarah said. “He’s testing the waters. Seeing if you’re interested. I think what happened last night confirmed his thoughts. He may want to be with you.”
“I always figured he was straight.”
