Page 25 of No Freaking Way

He shoves my shoulder. “What the hell did you do?”

I shove him back. “Dude, chill.”

He shakes his head at me as he lifts the hem of his shirt to wipe the sweat from his brow, clearly annoyed with me.

“It’s just…I think I kind of messed up…”

Gage’s brow lifts, like he’s surprised at my weak, defeated tone.

“What happened?” he asks, the hardness in his voice dialed back.

There’s no way I’m going into specifics. I don’t want to violate Tori’s trust by telling everyone what I overheard her saying. But I could use his advice and help. He’s in a happy long-term relationship. He’d know how to fix things better than I would.

I exhale. “I made a stupid joke and it hurt her feelings. I apologized and she said it was all fine, but I can tell it’s still bothering her. I’ve reached out to make sure she’s okay and she let me know that she’s good, but she hasn’t reached out to me in return. We haven’t talked much since then.”

Gage nods like he understands.

“I just don’t know what to do,” I say. “I want to make things right, but I want to give her space too.”

“I get it,” Gage says.

He goes back to his next set of deadlifts.

“How long’s it been?” he asks.

“A week.”

He nods once before crouching down to mess with the barbell.

“I wish I knew what I’m supposed to do,” I finally say. “I don’t have any experience when it comes to being a good boyfriend. But you do. What would you do?”

He lets out a chuckle. “Honestly, you’re doing pretty well so far, Tyler. You apologized, you made sure she was okay, you gave her the space she asked for.”

I wait for him to say more.

“That’s it?” I finally say when he says nothing else. “That’s all you’ve got?”

Gage shrugs. “You know her better than I do. You two are best friends. When she’s upset, what does she like? What makes her feel better?”

A lightbulb goes off in my head. I check the time on my phone.

I look at Gage. “You care if I dip out a little early? I know what I need to do.”

Gage starts to laugh and shake his head. “Yeah, go ahead. Good luck.”

I hit the mat on the other side of the gym to do a quick stretch session, then head to the locker room to shower and clean up.

And then I jump in my car and drive home.

Chapter 9

Tyler

Iwalk as quietly as I can to the door of Tori’s apartment. The walls are thin in this building and I don’t want to bother her. I just want to drop off the sandwiches I made her and then leave.

One of the things I’ve learned about Tori is that when she’s upset or sad, she doesn’t have the energy to cook and sometimes doesn’t eat enough. The least I could do is make sure she’s getting enough to eat, since I was the one who upset her.

I stop at her door and start to set the paper bag down, but then the door opens.

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