“You don’t need to be sorry, Blake. You didn’t do anything wrong.” She shakes her head and looks down at the ground. “I feel so stupid. I didn’t pick up on that at all.”
That ache in my chest intensifies. I hate that she feels so bad about this.
“You’re not stupid, Briar. Don’t say that. He was making sure to do it when you weren’t looking.”
She looks up at me. Her mouth curves up in a sad, embarrassed smile. “You noticed though.”
I give her arm a soft squeeze. “I was paying attention to him. I got kind of a weird feeling from him off the bat.”
She nods and swallows. “I guess I was too distracted by how nice the house was.”
“It’s okay.” I swipe a chunk of hair out of her face. “He was a creepy piece of shit, but his house was pretty nice, I’ll give him that.”
She lets a soft chuckle slip from her mouth. The tension in my muscles eases, hearing her make that sound.
“I’m sorry for upsetting you,” I say.
“Stop apologizing, okay?” The pained look on her face is gone. Her eyes are brighter now. “I really owe you one, Blake. You’re such a good friend for looking out for me like that. I hateto think of how that would have gone if you hadn’t been there with me.”
That protective feeling spikes up inside of me once more.
“You don’t owe me anything, Briar. I’ll always look out for you.”
That worried expression fades, and her smile grows. That edgy feeling inside of me fades. It feels really, really good to see her happy.
She moves like she’s going to hug me, but she hesitates.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “Nothing, I just…I was going to hug you, but I didn’t want it to be weird.”
“Why would it be weird?” I ask, confused. “I like it when you hug me.”
Her expression brightens instantly, and I wrap my arms around her. I hug her tight, tucking her head under my chin. I breathe in and get a lungful of that sweet perfume she wears.
“Never hesitate to hug me, okay? You know I’m a hugger. And you give really good hugs. It would send me into withdrawal if you stopped all of a sudden.”
She giggles softly. “Okay. Promise I won’t.”
I make an exaggerated “phew!” sound, which makes her laugh harder. We break apart and start walking again.
“I guess apartment hunting was a bust,” she says.
“I’m sorry it didn’t work out.”
“I just feel bad that this means I’ll have to crash with you even longer.”
“Don’t feel bad. I told you, it’s all good. I like having you around.”
“Yeah, but…” She bites her bottom lip, hesitating. “You’re not a little bummed out that because of me, you can’t sleep in your bed? Which means you can’t have girls over to…”
I stop walking as she trails off. She looks at me, her cheeks bright red.
“Wait, do you think I wish that I could have women in my bedroom? And that I want you to move out sooner because of that?” I can’t help the surprise in my voice. Why would she think that?
Her eyes are shy as she nods at me. “Yeah. I overheard you and your roommates talking this morning about how you didn’t end up hooking up with that girl, and you said it was because I was sleeping in your bed.”
She plays with the ends of her hair.
