Page 7 of Down My Chimney

“Yeah.” He smiled breezily, like nothing had happened. “For a song that’s over three minutes long, that’s a crazy small number, and they filmed it so they’re almost impossible to see.”

“Just like Matty’s dick,” Taylor said with a grin.

“Fuck you.” Matty threw a chicken wing at him, but Taylor caught it.

“I’m just saying, maybe if you hadn’t watched so many girly movies growing up, you wouldn’t have such a microdick.” He took a bite of the wing.

My eyes cut over to Henry. Once again, there was a tightness around his lips, and my stomach went sour.

I knew Taylor was just joking. This was just how we were around each other. None of us meant half the shit we said. Honestly, if Henry hadn’t been there, I probably wouldn’t even have noticed. But with him at the table, it was impossible not to.

I swallowed, trying to figure out how to change the subject, but it was Henry who jumped in.

“What’s even crazier is that it took fifteen hours to film that one scene. Can you imagine? I mean, how long is a soccer game, like an hour?”

“Ninety minutes,” I said quickly, before any of the guys could respond. I didn’t know if they’d make fun of him for not knowing that, but I didn’t want to chance it. “Two forty-five-minute halves. Unless it goes into overtime.”

“Okay, and you’re probably exhausted after them, right? Now imagine playing ten soccer games, back to back to back.”

“God, I don’t want to,” Dev said. “That’s exactly what spring break is gonna be like. I’d like to avoid thinking about that for as long as humanly possible.”

“Amen to that,” Matty said.

He and Dev knocked their wings together like they were beer glasses. Henry smiled and laughed, and the conversation moved on to other topics. But I couldn’t shake the feeling that dinner had been a disaster.

* * *

“You still awake?” Henry asked, much later that night.

He opened the door to my room just wide enough to stick his head in. I was in bed, and the hallway behind him was dark, but there was enough light to see his pajamas—green and blue plaid pants and a T-shirt with a cartoon unicorn on it.

“I just texted you, didn’t I?” I grinned. “Come here.”

I set my phone down and flicked on the tiny lamp that was clamped to a shelf above my bed. It gave us just enough light to see by, while keeping the room dark enough not to call the attention of anyone passing by outside. Henry slipped in and flipped the lock behind him. Then he leaned against the door and stared at me, his eyes luminous.

“What are you doing, weirdo?” I patted the edge of the bed. “I saidcome here.”

He crossed and perched on the edge of the bed, and I rolled my eyes.

“Am I going to have to physically drag you into bed with me?” I asked. “Because I will, make no mistake about that. But I’d like to think you actuallywantto join me here.”

Henry laughed softly, and my chest unknotted.

“I do want to join you,” he said. “I just wasn’t sure if, you know, you still wanted to.”

“You think I texted you to come into my bedroom at one in the morning so we could have a nice, chaste discussion about the weather?”

“I don’t know.” He smiled sheepishly. “Maybe you’ve gotten really into meteorology in the past month. I didn’t want to presume.”

I snorted, then threw back the covers and grabbed him by the waist, hauling him down next to me. Unfortunately, I’d forgotten how ticklish he was. He yelled and laughed as my fingers grazed his skin. I clapped a hand over his mouth, and we both froze.

I could feel his heartbeat against my forearm. His eyes were huge, the blue of his irises a smoky gray in the dim light. After a minute of silence from the rest of the apartment, I sighed and moved my hand.

“Sorry,” Henry whispered. “I didn’t mean to.”

“My fault.” I shook my head. “I should have been more careful. But this is exactly why I need you here. It’s clearly been too long if I’ve already forgotten your tickle spots. We have a lot of time to make up for.”

He chuckled. “I believe I recall you saying something about not letting me leave this bed once I arrived? And fucking me until I couldn’t walk?”

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