AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter Five
Silas
Present Day
Sunday
I opened my eyes slowly, my face warmed by the sunlight from the open window. I had an alarm set, but I usually woke ahead of it, like my body knew the sun was up and it was time to go. I still braced for the loud chirping of Erin’s alarm, which she’d snooze and then silence again seven minutes later. This time it was only the heavy breathing of my best friend asleep on the other side of my bed. I’d told her once she snored and she’d insisted it was just normal breathing. Teagan’s normal breathing shook the walls, and it was one of my favorite sounds.
I rolled to find her sprawled over my comforter, her worn T-shirt riding up to reveal a sliver of her lower back. As soon as I realized I was thinking about how warm and soft her tanned skin would feel beneath my fingers, I climbed out of bed to walk away. I didn’t need to be thinking about the skin on Teag’s back and I scrubbed my palms down my face as I walked to the bathroom. We’d both passed out on the most uncomfortable couch on the planet the night before watching a movie and I’d told her to crash with me on the bed instead of driving home at three in the morning or waking up to a sore back. We’d started watching a movie after pizza and both fallen asleep after dissecting the pros and cons list she was so interested in. I still didn’t understand, especially not making it a no-veto pick. She was leaving the country, leaving me for months, and I figured there’d be something bigger, more significant for her to use the rule on.
When I returned from the bathroom, she was stirring, sliding back and forth on the pillow the way she did when she didn’t want to wake up.
“C’mon, sleeping beauty,” I said, swatting at her calf peeking out from under the blanket. “Rise and shine.”
“Sorry,” she said, rubbing her eyes and pushing her hair off her face. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep. Why didn’t you boot me out?”
I pulled boxers and a T-shirt from my dresser, my uniform already pressed and hanging in my closet. “Because it is physically impossible to wake you up. I tried once and you kicked me in the groin. You sleep like an ogre.”
Teagan grinned, knowing it was true. “Still, you could have rolled me onto the floor. Your girlfriend will not appreciate me sleeping over.”
I glanced back into the drawer, pretending to search for socks. “It’s not a big deal.” I didn’t want to talk about Erin, not with Teagan, and not really at all. “What time do you have to be in today?”
She rolled off my bed and walked toward the bathroom door. “Not until this afternoon. I want to take another stab at that last French language lesson. I can’t believe I remember so little from college.” She pulled her phone from her pocket and tapped away. “And... et nous avons un mystère à résoudre!”
“I never spoke French very well, Teag.” I shut the drawer, casting a glance at the list I’d pulled from her sleeping fingers and set on the nightstand.
She called over her shoulder before closing the door. “We have a mystery to solve!”
I rolled my eyes and set my things on the dresser, wandering over to the list and the handwritten notes she’d scribbled the night before of potential list writers, staff who might have been near the candy shop, and a game plan for figuring it out. She was going to talk to Julianna first, which I would have paid money to see. I didn’t know the shop’s owner well, but if anyone could be described as severe, it was her. She was like a cross between the personality of Ursula the Sea Witch and the face of Mary Berry from The Great British Bake Off, and I couldn’t think of anyone less likely to inspire the kind of romantic angst reflected in that list. I reread the second-to-last item. She doesn’t know I’m in love with her.
Behind the closed door, Teagan was singing a Beyoncé song while washing her hands, her off-key voice coming through the closed door, and my chest tightened. She wasn’t meant for me. I’d decided that a long time ago, and she was leaving the country so she didn’t need to know what I had been thinking about. “My neighbors are going to complain about the noise,” I said instead when she came out.
“Your neighbors love me.” She pulled one of my hoodies from the closet and tossed it on the bed. “Well, maybe not love me. But the one really likes me.”
Erin had introduced them at a party we threw the year before, saying she thought they’d be cute together despite my protestations. I’d finally agreed, swallowing the bile in my throat when they left the party together. “That one moved. The new neighbors are an older couple, so you’ll have new people to charm.”
She raised her eyes and laughed before pulling the shirt over her head, planning to wear it home without asking, the way only she would. “What if the letter is Julianna’s? Can you imagine being in love with her?” She pushed the cuffs of the sleeves up.
“I can’t, but I guess there’s a lid for every pot.”
She searched the floor for her shoes, which I’d set neatly next to her bag. “I used to tell you that and you didn’t believe me. Julianna would need one hell of a lid.” She spotted the shoes and fell onto the floor to tie them. “Anyway, it’s too bad Erin had to be out of town for her birthday. Are you going to celebrate when she gets back?”
I gathered the stack of clothes, looking away. “Maybe.” My chest tightened again, this time at the lie. Erin was out of town, but I only knew that because she’d told me it would be another few days before she could pick up the box of her things I’d found at my place. “I don’t know. It’s just a birthday. It doesn’t really matter.”
“Si, you need to be a better boyfriend. Maybe it matters to her.”
I swallowed. It had mattered, and if we hadn’t broken up a couple of months earlier, I would have paid attention to the day, gotten my girlfriend of several years flowers and presents. I would have thought about buying a ring and probably put it off again. Instead, we’d ended it, and she told me she didn’t want to keep competing for my affections, knowing she’d never be the woman I loved more than Teagan.
“I brought this for Erin,” she said, pulling a candy-shop box from her bag. “For her birthday. It’s some of her favorites.”
I opened it on instinct and it was full of white chocolate options plus peanut brittle and gummy bears. “Ouch!” I pulled my hand back when she smacked it.
“Not for you,” Teagan said. “Don’t eat your girlfriend’s birthday present, you sugar fiend.” She stood from her cross-legged pose and tossed her bag over one shoulder. “I’ll get out of here so you can get ready.” She swiped the list off the nightstand. “And I’ll let you know what Julianna says.”
“Au revoir,” I said with a wave.
“Hey, that’s my line!” She blew a kiss and trounced out of the room, probably en route to my kitchen to make coffee before leaving, but I felt her absence immediately. It was a relief. Since Erin had left, I’d been worried I’d let too many things spill. It was right to break up. She wasn’t the one I was in love with. Trouble was, the woman I was in love with was in my kitchen making coffee and a mess, and there was nothing I could do about my feelings because that ship had sailed the day I reaffirmed having my best friend was more important than entertaining a what-if. Thinking about more than friendship wasn’t an option. No mystery there.
