Henry winced. “I haven’t asked him about meeting up.” He raised a hand, cutting off whatever sage advice Jason was about to bestow on him. “I’m working up to it.”
“Okay.”
Oh. Henry hadn’t expected him to let it go so easily.
He’s not Ella, he reminded himself. “Right, I’m off to bed, see you tomorrow.”
Jason waved at him, eyes glued to the TV, and Henry left him to it, trudging upstairs to his bedroom.
He waited until he was in bed to reply to Dom’s text.
Henry:That’s ok, I was busy too.
He’d almost told Dom about food retail being one of the worst places to work this time of year, but something stopped him.
Did I tell him where I worked?
They’d talked about so much in that week, Henry couldn’t remember if he had or not. He didn’t want to remind him of the fact that he had a degree he couldn’t get a job with. Not one he wanted, anyway.
Maybe staying friends was for the best. Real-life Henry might be a huge disappointment.
His phone chimed again, startling him.
Dom:Going to sleep. Knackered.
Henry stared at the phone for a while before replying. If a simple text goodnight made his stomach flutter and his pulse race, maybe it was worth taking a little risk?
Henry opened the message app and typed his reply.
Henry:Night, Dom. Talk to you tomorrow. x
Biting his lip, his finger hovered over the Send key, but he chickened out and deleted the kiss.
Fuck.
Next time.
Dom replied just as Henry reached to turn his light out.
Dom: Night, Henry.
Chapter 9
As much as Dom loved all things Christmas, being surrounded by it all day, every day was getting a bit much even for him. Christmas songs played on repeat in the café and in the shop.
Decorations adorned everywhere that the general public were likely to go, and if he had to wrap one more fucking tree, he might scream.
Okay, that was probably an exaggeration, but by the time lunchtime came around he was more than happy to retreat to the blessedly quiet staffroom and put his feet up for half an hour.
Sandwich in one hand, he pulled out his phone with the other. He kept it turned off while working, less tempting that way, so seeing two new messages from Henry came as a pleasant surprise.
The first was a photo of someone’s living room, with the caption, “What’s wrong with this picture?”
Dom frowned. It looked like a nice, normal room to him. Big sofa, TV, etc.
He scrolled to the next message.
Henry: I’ll give you a clue. I took that at my house this morning.
