Page 40 of Loverboy

I didn’t push my luck by asking for more.

All that time I’d spent begging Sofia not to leave felt distant. The longer I thought about it, the more embarrassed I was that I nearly let it be the end of me—the end of this. I already had someone who wanted me around without compromise.

They’d been right here all along.

18

Jasper

MILO WAS UP to something, though I wasn’t sure what. He’d been moving around the living room with all the grace of an elephant, making it impossible to sleep in. I hoped he slept better than I did after taking up all the space on my mattress that definitely wasn’t built for two.

There wasn’t any way for me to deny him when he came into my room the way he did. He looked so pathetic standing in the doorway, and I still wasn’t sure how to take away his suffering. When we were younger, he used to barge into my space all the time, sharing every little thought that crossed his mind, and I missed it enough that I couldn’t be bothered to scold him about the lack of privacy.

I grabbed my glasses from the nightstand and sat upright, slipping them on before rummaging through the garbage bag of clothes that I’d brought and hadn’t gotten around to sorting. We’d have to make a few more trips, but for the most part, I was moved in. I didn’t need much.

Finally investigating the source of all the noise after getting changed, I couldn’t help but cock an eyebrow at what I saw. Milo had his arms full of video games, pulling them off the shelves around the television.

“What the hell are you doing?” I asked.

“There’s no space in your room,” Milo explained, a few games spilling out of his arms onto the carpet. “So I’m going to put my video games somewhere else, and you can put books here.”

“Where?” I frowned.

“I dunno,” he confessed sheepishly.

Seriously, he did everything on impulse. I looked around the sparsely decorated apartment, trying to figure out where he thought he would go with a lifetime collection of games.

“You don’t have to do that,” I reasoned, leaning against the wall. “I can leave most of them at Mom’s.”

“But then you’ll go back there more often.”

He looked down at his arms, his bottom lip puffing out.

It was nearly the end of me. Seeing him standing there pouting with the best intentions made my heart ache with a longing I had no business feeling, and I wondered if he knew just how fucking adorable that shit really was. Though if he thought the two shelves on either side of the TV would be enough for my collection, he was sorely mistaken.

“You realize I could fill up two whole bookcases, right?” I smirked.

“I know that,” he said dejectedly.

We worked together in silence, putting all of his games back where they belonged.

“I’ll bring all my books over, and they can sit in boxes until I bring more shelving,” I offered. “Does that sound good?”

“I guess.” He was still pouting.

“You don’t have to do anything,” I assured him, patting his back. “We’ll get it done. Give me a few weeks to move things over between school and work.”

“Okay, okay.”

His phone chime went off, and he pulled it out from his pocket to check whatever notification he’d received. I didn’t think his complexion could get any paler than it was, but I was wrong. I watched his face closely, knowing that if I didn’t say anything, he would eventually.

Except for once, he didn’t. He tilted his phone secretively instead, and irritation sparked in my chest. I didn’t want to sound too interested. I’d much rather have him come to me naturally, but after another moment ticked by and he still hadn’t said anything, I was forced to pry.

“You okay?” I kept it casual.

“Yep.”

Yep? My fucking ass.