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“Yet you ask me to sit with you while you eat your cake anyway and do your best to take your sweet time. Are you trying to keep me here longer?”
With my mouth full of cake, I shake my head. I swallow and lick the crumbs from the corner of my mouth. “Why would I do that?”
“That’s a good question. I’ve been told I’m nothing but an old bore. Is that why you’re forcing me to stick around at night? So I can help put you to sleep?”
My jaw tightens. “Who told you that? You’re anything but boring.” With the pad of my thumb, I sweep away the icing from his chin. “And if I were to have you stick around longer, it wouldn’t be to sleep.” My tongue swipes over my thumb. “Oh and by the way, you were right about food tasting better when it comes from somewhere besides your own plate.”
I lick across his cheek, collecting the last bit of frosting that clings to his skin. His eyes are wide and his mouth is agape as he remains frozen beside me. My worries of him never moving again dissipate when he stands up from the bench. Fumbling with the bottom of his shirt, his gaze doesn’t meet mine. “I should go.”
“Let me walk you home,” I offer, rushing to my feet.
He places his hand on my shoulder, holding me in place. “Really, Finn, it’s fine. You need to put that in the sink anyway.” He nudges his head toward the empty plate.
“It won’t take me but a few seconds to do.”
He glances behind him and back at me. “Yeah… Alright then.”
Following him inside, we walk toward the kitchen. I rinse off my plate and set it in the dishwasher to avoid my mom’s future scolding and snake my arm around the shoulders of a very confused looking Theo.
“Shall we?”
He nods, his lips pressing into a thin line. I guide him out the front door, only separating myself from him for a few minutes before pulling him into me again. We’ve been this close for years. Nothing about touching this much should feel weird or different but it does.
“So is what’s his face coming over tonight?”
“Huh?” His expression is blank, as if he’s too busy with something else on his mind to have heard what I said. Hopefully my tongue is what he’s thinking about. I shouldn’t have licked him the way I did but I couldn’t resist the urge to clean my little bird.
“Your boyfriend.” I cringe at my last word. “Is he stopping by?”
“Oh… No. He has to work early. Why do you ask?”
“Just wondering if he’ll freak out the way he did last time when I showed up randomly for breakfast.”
He sputters a laugh. “About that… You should probably tell me when you plan on coming over.” We step onto his porch and he fumbles with his keys while standing in front of the door.
“I never have before, so why start now?”
“Because you could accidentally catch me at a bad time,” he responds quickly.
“How about I jiggle the doorknob in warning before walking in?”
He huffs out a breath. “You sure are stubborn.”
“Tell me something I don’t know.” I lean into him, so close I can feel his warm breath scattering along my lips.
“Finn,” he breathes out, and his gaze holds on to mine.
“Yeah?”
He looks down at his feet and then back at me. “Good night.”
“Night,Tio.” I press a kiss to his cheek and he tenses, more caught off guard by the gesture than usual. I’m not sure when I started saying goodbye to him this way but it usually only happens at night when no one else is around, and it feels so natural for me that I don’t second guess it. “¡Hasta mañana!”
“I… Yeah.” Turning around, he sticks the key in the door. “Don’t forget to let me know when you’re coming by,” he shouts behind him as I walk down the porch steps.
“Yeah, sure thing.” I wave my hand in the air with no intention of following his request. If he really meant what he was saying, he’d lock the door and stop leaving me the spare key inside the potted plant by the door.
Four
