"Rhys—"
I hang up.
Three seconds later my phone starts ringing.
Blake.
I decline it.
"Absolutely not," I say. "I'm about to sleep."
My phone immediately starts ringing again.
Jamie laughs.
The hardest I’ve ever seen him laugh.
I stare at the screen.
"He's obsessed with me."
I pick up quickly. "Blake. Boundaries. Go to bed."
I hang up. Put my phone on the nightstand and turn to Jamie.
He's sitting there with his hand still over his face and his ears still red.
"He needed to know," I say.
"He really didn't."
"He worries."
"About what?"
"About me." I sneak a look at him. "He's been worried about me and you for a while. This is good news for him. He’s overjoyed right now."
Jamie finally drops his hand.
"You're insane," he says, but I know he loves it.
"Little bit." I lie back on his pillow, realization suddenly creeping in. "Shit, are you mad he knows?" He looks at me for a long moment. Then he reaches over and pulls the duvet up over me, tucking us in. "No," he says, honestly. "I'm not mad. I know you trust him. And I don't want to be something you have to hide from your best friend. It’s okay."
He clicks the lamp off. The bed dips beside me. His arm comes around me. I find the place on his chest where his heartbeat is and put my ear there and relax.
"Jamie," I say into the dark.
"Jesus Christ. Go to sleep."
"I just—" I stop. I'm drunk enough to say the true thing. "You’re the best thing that’s happened to me here."
"Yeah," he says back. "Me too. Best thing that’s happened to me, probably ever."
I close my eyes to soak it all in and the spinning stops along with my heart.
For the first time in six days, I don't feel like I'm drifting away.
Right now there's just this.
