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At least I don’t set the bread on fire. Max has some jam, which will have to do because I am officially at the extent of my kitchen skills. I add a coffee cup for me and carefully carry it into thebedroom, setting the tray down on the nightstand. Ani appears a moment later, still dressed in Max’s Harvard T-shirt. I pat the bed and she crosses to it, mumbling her thanks as she gulps down some water, and reaches for the coffee and toast.
Kicking off my shoes, I crawl into the bed beside her, snatching up my coffee cup. Ani eats her toast silently and snuggles down against me as I lift my arm to cuddle her close.
“What was he like? Andrew?” I ask her quietly, hoping I haven’t totally fucked everything up and that she won’t tell me to fuck off.
“Unflappable,” she replies after a beat. “Nothing could upset him. Nothing. He always used to tease me that he got all the calm genes, and I got all the teary ones.”
She sniffs and my arm tightens around her, but Ani doesn’t cry again.
We spend almost the entire day in bed at Max’s place. Ani answers question after question about Andrew. She’s never mentioned him before, not even in passing, and it’s easy to figure out why. She cries a fair bit as she talks about him, and it’s obvious that his loss is still a deep wound for her.
I think briefly about losing Timmy, but the thought is so painful that my mind shies away from even imagining it. And we’re not even twins. I’ll have to ask Max about it. He and Beau probably have the same bond that Ani and Andrew had.
It’s starting to get late, and Max is probably going to want his condo back, so Ani gets dressed while I call Antonio. She’s quiet all the way back to mine, but she holds my hand tightly the wholeway. When we get home, I order pizza and Ani disappears to shower again.
By the time she emerges, dressed in jeans and her oversized baggy red sweater, the pizza has arrived. We head upstairs, curling up on the outdoor lounges with our pizza and a cold beer each. You know, Ani’s ugly, shapeless sweaters are starting to grow on me. Staring out at the view, I trace a random circular pattern on Ani’s shoulder, and she giggles. After all her tears today, I’m not expecting it, and glance down at her in shock.
“You know, it wasn’t the way I would have chosen to find out, but at least now I know how you handle getting mad.”
I grimace at the reminder of how badly I fucked up. “I’m so sorry, Ani.”
It’s probably the eleventh time I have apologized today, but she waves her hand dismissively at me. “You can stop apologizing. It was a misunderstanding.”
I fall silent, watching her carefully.
“Besides,” Ani sighs, smirking up at me. “It’s kind of a nice guy move for you to be so adamant about not sleeping with women who are involved with someone else.”
I shrug. I don’t have that policy because I’mnice. I have a healthy respect for relationships. Just becauseIdon’t do relationships, doesn’t mean that I don’t respect other people’s relationships. I’m a big believer that if you want to fuck around on someone, tell them straight up and go do it. Don’t play both sides of the fence. That’s weak. Ani sits up, snagging the empty beer bottles, and I shove to my feet, collecting the pizza box. Itrail her down to the kitchen as we clean up, and she offers me a small smile.
“Goodnight David, I’ll see you in the morning.”
She turns, heading to her room. But I’m not ready for her to leave me. My hand darts out to grab her wrist. Not yet.
Anica
When David grabs my wrist, I start in surprise and turn around to face him again, wondering if I forgot something. Without letting go, David steps close to me, and I tilt my head back to look up at him.
“What’s up?”
His intense eyes stare down at me. “Sleep in my room tonight.”
My heart thumps wildly in my chest. This is a massive departure from our “no romance” thing. I mean, we’ve done it once before, but that was a while ago, and neither of us have ever mentioned it again.
“Uh,” I stutter, but I don’t get much more out than that.
“Please,” David says firmly, his eyes attempting to convey something to me I’m not grasping. “I was so worried about you this morning. Anything could have happened to you out there. I want to wake up knowing that you’re okay. That you’re here and you’re safe.”
There is a thread of earnestness in his voice, and he bends down and brushes his lips over mine.
“Okay,” I whisper against his mouth. He sighs gently, the air brushing over my face as he straightens.
“I’ll wait for you in bed,” he says softly, moving off to his bedroom.
I stand frozen for a moment and hurry off to brush my teeth and dress for bed. When I let myself into his room, the only light is coming from the lamp on his nightstand. He’s naked from the waist up, lounging in the bed with the coverlet up around his waist. I feel a little self-conscious as I tentatively close the door behind me. He’s only seen me in my cotton shorts and top once before, but that was a weird night. I fidget with the hem of my singlet top.
“Nice.” He grins, his eyes sliding over my outfit. I think that he’s trying to put me at ease. He holds out his hand to me and I step toward the bed, sliding in beside him as he turns off the lamp beside him. He might have gotten me into bed, but I’m still feeling super awkward.
“Well, goodnight,” I whisper, rolling away from him and lying still on my side. The room is completely silent apart from our breathing and I remember his words the last time we did this.Stop over thinking it. Right.
