Page 52 of Holding On

"Seriously?" I look at him. "Again, I'm 21. Not 12. I can partake in adult activities."

Mike raises his voice. "You slept with him?"

"No! Would you quiet down? You'll wake the neighbors."

He takes a calming breath. "Just don't do anything you'll regret. A guy like Ethan doesn't keep a girl around for very long. I don't want you getting hurt."

"I'm not. I mean, I won't. He's not going to hurt me because we're not going to date. I like him as a friend, and if we happen to kiss, then so be it. It's not that big a deal."

"Kissing leads to other things."

"Yeah, well, in this case it won't." I say that with zero confidence and Mike notices and gives me his be-careful look, but leaves it at that.

"So I stopped down at Heather's." Now he's the one smiling.

"I thought you weren't going to her place until tomorrow."

"That was the plan but I went out to grab dinner and when I got back I saw her going into her apartment. She was getting home from work so I didn't want to bother her, but a couple hours later I stopped down just to say hi."

"How long did you stay?"

"About an hour. She invited me in for a beer and we sat and talked."

"So what do you think of her?"

"She's great. We have a lot in common."

"Did you ask her out?"

"Not yet. I didn't want to rush into anything. I figure she lives in the building so I'll have plenty of chances to talk to her." He checks the clock. "We should get to bed. You have to be up early for work."

I agree and we both go to our rooms.

In the morning, I'm exhausted. I normally don't stay up that late on a Sunday but last night was worth a few hours of missed sleep. Kissing Ethan? Definitely worth an hour or two of missed sleep.

By eleven, I'm done cleaning the first house and I head home for lunch. Mike is at the kitchen table, working on his laptop.

"What are you grinning about?" I ask as I walk past him to the fridge.

"Nothing." And yet he's still grinning.

"Is it because of Heather? Did you see her this morning?"

"Yeah. I went down there around nine. She had breakfast waiting. She cooks. Can you believe that? Who cooks anymore?"

Certainly not me. I burn toast. Mike's a little better than me but not much. And Tricia never cooked.

"What'd she make?"

"Some kind of egg dish and some muffins. It was really good. She said she just made it for herself and had extra, but I kind of think she made it for me."

"She totally did. She definitely has the hots for you."

"You really think so?" He can't hide his smile.

"I know so. Didn't you see how she was looking at you when you met her?"

"I didn't notice. I'm not used to paying attention to that stuff after being with Tricia for so long."

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