It wasn’t like that for Dom. Not anymore. He didn’t trust himself to make the smart decisions where his love life was concerned.
It wasn’t until he lay in bed that night that he finally replied to Henry.
Dom:Hey, sorry for not replying sooner. Was at a friend’s. I got back ok, thanks. And yeah, I’m not looking forward to work either.
He umm’d and ahh’d over adding a kiss for so long he accidentally hit Send by mistake.
Rereading the text made him wince.Jesus.He’d be amazed if Henry ever texted him again. And that was a sobering thought, because for all Dom’s doubts about exploring a relationship with him, he didn’t want Henry to stop messaging him.
He thought about sending a follow-up text, opened the app, then closed it again.
Nah, better to wait until I can get my head sorted.
* * *
Henry satat his kitchen table and stared at Dom’s text message for about the twentieth time and yet still had no idea where he stood.
Wheretheystood.
They’d been texting back and forth for a week now. Just one text a day to start with, gradually building up to three, sometimes four.
While Henry enjoyed what they were doing—he lunged for his phone every time it pinged with a text—he still felt in some sort of limbo. Granted, hislast message to Dom hadn’t been anything exciting, but he’d started the conversation and he’d hoped Dom might give him something to work with.
He read through their message thread again.
Henry: Looking forward to the weekend, only working Saturday morning, so get the rest of it off. What’re you up to this weekend?
Dom: Nothing much, work probably. It’s super busy at the minute.
He’d hoped Dom might take the hint that he was free and maybe, oh I don’t know, ask to meet up.
Nope.
Henry got the feeling Dom purposely ignored it.
“Oh my god, reply already.” Jason wandered into the kitchen in his pyjamas, yawning. Out of the three people that Henry shared a house with, Jason was probably his closest friend.
The only one he’d confided in about Dom.
Jason sat down next to him and bumped their shoulders. “Staring at it won’t make it say anything different.”
“I know that,” Henry grumbled. With a heavy sigh, he set his phone on the table and picked up his mug of tea. “I just don’t know what to say.”
“Well...” Jason reached over and snagged a piece of Henry’s toast.
Henry glared at him, but he wasn’t going to eat it anyway, so he let it slide.
“Well, what?”
“You could ask him if he wants to see you again.” Jason munched on his stolen toast, giving Henry’s phone a pointed look.
“I don’t know.” Henry thought about their awkward goodbye in the car park. “I get the feeling he’s not all that sure about keeping in contact.”
“He did reply to your text, though, and you might as well ask him outright instead of sitting here torturing yourself.” Jason glanced at Henry’s phone again and frowned. “And not to alarm you, but shouldn’t you be leaving soon?”
Henry looked at the time and cursed. “Why didn’t you tell me it was that late?Fuck.”
Downing a last mouthful of tea, Henry chucked his pots in the sink and then raced up the stairs to clean his teeth and get changed into his uniform.
