“Well, it’s not anyone you know. You’d have to let them into the building.”
We waited in silence. The banging didn’t stop. My heart rate went up.
“They’re not going away,” he said. “It’s freaking me out.”
“Yeah, me too, kinda.”
“Let me just see who it is.” He stepped out of the shower.
I followed him into the bedroom. He wrapped himself in a robe and left to get the door, shouting, “I’m coming. Jesus. Stop. I’m coming!” I found my underwear and borrowed a pair of gym shorts from his drawer.
Before I left the bedroom, Ryder had opened the door. “Jesus Christ, is everyone okay? Is the house on fire?”
The rest of the apartment muffled Lena’s voice, and she wasn’t yelling like her brother. “Everyone’s fine. You weren’t answering your phone, and I figured you were asleep, so I was trying to wake you up. Then I got worried.”
My chest, which had just been filled with a rainbow of joy and love, felt like it was going to explode. I froze, not sure whether to close the door and wait there or hide under the bed. There was no good reason for me to be at Ryder’s apartment, both of us soaking wet and almost nude.
Well, no, there was a great reason. I was Ryder’s boyfriend. We were both off for the rehearsal, woke up horny, and wanted to get busy in the shower. Like any normal, red-blooded pair of boyfriends, I’d imagine.
We were going to come out soon, anyway. I’d have to get used to stuff like that. We could trust Lena not to spill the beans before the wedding, right? If she asked, that is. If not, I’d let Ryder handle it. Maybe she wouldn’t even notice.
I heard Ryder lead her into the living room, saying, “What are you doing here?”
“The house is already so crowded. I just needed to be gone before she showed up, sauntering in like the queen of the fucking world.”
“It’s like nine a.m., Lee. I didn’t get to bed till after three.”
“I know, but Spence is working, and I just don’t want to be home right now. I already sat at Starbucks for an hour and had two espressos.”
I took a deep breath, trying to remember how happy I felt just minutes before, and walked out of the bedroom.
“How’d you even get into the building?” Ryder asked.
“I piggybacked with someone,” Lena said as I rounded the corner.
We made eye contact, and her face, which I expected to show surprise or shock, broke into the biggest grin. She looked at her brother, then back to me. “What areyoudoing here, Finnegan?”
“I uh…” I stumbled over my words. Ryder offered no help, but his face looked like he was trying to figure something out.
“Oooooh, are you boys kissing?” Lena said, mocking in a schoolyard way. But her smile was the furthest from cruel.
Ryder, pale-faced and open-mouthed, looked like the apocalypse had come. Lena kept glancing back and forth between him and me.
Nut up or shut up, right? “Well, we weren’t gonna tell anyone until after the wedding, but…” I looked at Ryder and swallowed. “Yeah, we’re like a thing or whatever.”
Lena shoved her brother so hard he stumbled back and had to clutch his robe not to expose himself.
“SEE!” she shouted. “I told you he wouldn’t care if I knew!”
What did that mean? Did she already know? Did Ryder tell her? Lena was right that I didn’t care if she knew we were dating, but it didn’t sit right with me if she knew anything before I had just told her.
Ryder’s shoulders fell after she said that, like he was relieved. “Yeah, I guess not.”
“You told her?”
The tension returned, but in his face, not shoulders.
Lena said, “Technically, he didn’t tell me. I guessed, and he didn’t deny it. Then I badgered him until he couldn’t take it anymore and admitted that you two were hanging out.”
