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"I'm sorry I couldn't do what you wanted."
It shouldn't have been about me at all, at least not to me. But maybe that's how he saw it. "It's fine." I blew out a breath. "Look, I'm sorry too. You are a nice guy, and I was having fun with you. But I was hurt. Like seriously hurt that you didn't even give me a heads up that your family didn't know anything about us or that you couldn't talk to them about you. If you'd told me that you weren't out when we first got together maybe I wouldn't have cared so much. I would have probably still had a problem with it, but that's on me. You come out when you're ready to, not when I want you to. A friend drilled that into me pretty hardcore."
"Sounds like a good friend," Jeffrey said, his voice quiet. And maybe he even had a bit of jealousy going too. He didn't need to be jealous, though. Not of Bolivar.
"He is. Thanks for talking to me about this. I mean it. It's nice to get closure."
Jeffrey nodded. "Yeah. I guess it is." He bumped my shoulder, and then he was gone, back into the crowd of people also trying to get something quick to eat in between their classes.
I went to my classes, I did my homework, I even studied here and there. I did well enough to pass my tests, but I was never going to be one of those perfect students, and that was okay by me. I was just trying to get by and do enough to keep going. By the time spring break came around, I was ready to go back down to the Keys and get away from the cold. But I still checked with Bolivar first just in case he didn't want me there.
Hey. So, I'm on a break from school. Can I come down to the resort?
He took nearly four hours to get back to me. It felt likeforever.How are your grades?
I really wished that he hadn't asked me that.Mediocre.There was no way that I'd get away with lying to him.But I am passing everything. Just not by a lot.
That's fine. I'll get a room rented for you. If you were failing though I'd tell you to stay there and study more. Imrel is here though, if that matters to you.
Ugh. I definitely didn't want to see him again, but I did want to see Bolivar, and I definitely wanted the sun and the coast.That's fine. I'll stay out of his way.
I'll make sure he doesn't come near you either. See you soon. I missed you.
I smiled down at my phone. He missed me. That was really sweet of him.I missed you too. I'll be there tonight.I wasn't very good at waiting, especially not right then, since I really wanted to see him.
Bolivar hugged me as soon as I stepped into the lobby. His hair was green now, and underneath the green it was brown. "How often do you dye your hair?" I'd never seen someone play with colors as much as he did.
He touched his short strands. "About every week or so. Depending on my mood." He let go of me to take my hand. He looked older, but not a few months older. He looked closer to my age now.
"How does the aging thing with you all work?" I quietly asked as he dragged me to the elevator. We were surrounded by humans, and I didn't want to start tossing around the word dragon casually in case anyone actually thought I was serious about it.
Bolivar smirked, and then he flat out laughed as we got into the elevator. We were alone there at least. "I'm accelerated, but not by much. You won't see me this summer and think that I look forty or anything, but it is nice to not have people think I'musing a fake ID to get into a club anymore."
The elevator doors opened, and he took my hand again, pulling me down the hall to a room. "This is where you are," he explained, handing me a key card.
He'd been hugging me and holding my hand. I half expected him to start kissing me here soon. Or at least definitely before my week-long vacation was up. "Where's yours?"
"Next door. It's better than having some noisy stranger sharing a wall with me. I hate that." He took the card back and opened my door for me, then I got the card back and he went to my window.
I leaned against the door and had no idea what we were now. Were we just friends? Were we together somehow and I'd missed it?
He was still looking out the window when I came up behind him. I touched his shoulder, and then ran my fingers down his spine. I didn't even know where to begin with us. Or even how to ask him if there was an us in the first place. We were friends. I knew that. And I didn't want to mess that up, but I couldn't quiet my thoughts. I did want to be with him though. In the last year he'd been a solid constant in my life. Even if we didn't talk for a month, I knew there wasn't any change in us.
"Bolivar?"
He turned and looked up at me. "Think carefully about what you're doing here, Wesley. No matter what, the next twenty years of your life are taken care of. Even if you break my heart, I won't ever take your future from you. But I'm old, despite how this body looks, and I don't play the games humans do. I don't think the way you do, either. You've had two very short-lived relationships that I know of. I was with someone for two hundred years. I know what love is, and I'm not someone to play with. So if you want to wait, if you want to explore who you are and what relationships are like, then there are plenty of peoplehere to do that with. I'm not a jealous person and I won't stand in your way. But don't come here expecting to be with me and then thinking that getting bored of me is going to be fine."
I stopped touching him. I couldn't do that. I wasn't ready to settle down with someone, maybe not ever. I wanted to have sex with him—he looked good, and I wanted to see what he would be like in bed, but that was about it. I liked him, but not in the way he was talking. Not in the way he deserved.
"I'm sorry."
Bolivar shrugged. "Don't worry about it." He came up and kissed my cheek. "Come down to the pool with me later. Maybe we can hit a club or something. Miami isn't that far away and there are some great clubs there."
He left me then, looking out the window and feeling like crap. Bolivar definitely deserved better than me and what I wanted for us.
After a few hours of hanging out in my hotel room and feeling like crap, I knocked on Bolivar's door. He opened it, but I was surprised to see Imrel in there with him. They were dressed and everything, so I shouldn't have felt so instantly jealous or pissed off, but I was.
Bolivar just rolled his eyes and stepped aside, though, letting me into his room. "What's up?"
