“The news says you’re a couple,” I said.“I saw pictures of you together.He lives here.”
“We play a couple on the show.It’s not real.”
I didn’t say anything, because I didn’t believe what I was hearing.
“You know how you said your company is your family?”he said.“Well, Joel and Casey, my other costar, are my family.Joel’s my best friend, but he’s married.We’re just roommates.See?”
He walked down the hall, and I followed him, but way behind.
He tapped a door on one side of the hall.“That’s his bedroom.”Then he opened the door on the opposite side of the hall.“And this is mine.”He went inside and clicked a switch.
I went up to the door, slowly, because I was still processing what he’d said.
It was a huge room with a huge bed.He was sitting on it, leaning back on his elbows and smiling playfully.
“Are you serious?”That came out sounding angrier than I felt, but all my pent-up feelings had to go somewhere.
“Remember at the cottage when you got all upset because I didn’t have any friends besides you?Now, I have Joel and Casey.”
“But...if you’re not dating Joel, who are you seeing?”
“No one,” he said.“I haven’t dated anyone since we broke up.”
I felt myself crumple up inside.My eyes stung.
“Haveyougot a boyfriend?”he said.“A girlfriend?”
I shook my head twice.“I haven’t looked at anyone that way since the day I met you.I don’t think I ever will again.Is that too heavy for you?”
“No.”
We stared at each other.
“You got a change of clothes in that backpack?”he said.
I wasn’t ready for this.I didn’t know where to put everything I was feeling.
He tapped my ankle with his foot.
“It’s been a long time, Eddie.Things aren’t the same anymore.”
He patted the mattress.“You want to sit?”
I set my backpack on the floor and sat on the bed, not close enough to touch him.I was feeling too much already to deal with more feelings on top of everything.
“Do you want to stay the night?”he said.He hadn’t been the kind of guy who asked me for things, but he was now, apparently.
I tried to swallow, because I couldn’t speak.
“Just sleep,” he said quietly.“Like we used to.”
“Sure.”
He stood.“Gonna brush my teeth.You got a toothbrush?”
“Yeah.”
He went through another door, and I realized he had his own bathroom.I stood there like an idiot, listening to the water run, because my brain had glitched.I was alone in his bedroom, and he’d asked me to spend the night with him.What was I supposed to do?
