Page 63 of Just Bromantically Invested

“So …” His thumb draws circles on my hip. “Tell them?”

I didn’t think I’d be in this position so soon, but now that I am, I still don’t have an answer. “About you?” I check.

I know it’s not the answer Madden wants, but this is all really fast, and I need to give my brain some time to catch up.

“Or lie,” he says quickly. “Tell them it was some overenthusiastic woman you met at a bar.”

I like that excuse about as much as he does. “No. I don’t want to lie. But I know that Dryden will be green with envy if they know it was you.”

Madden studies me curiously. “Penn, I’m okay. There’s no pressure from me to come out. I get it.”

He does. After what he went through with his parents and them being dismissive of his life, I know Madden would never push for me to do anything I’m uncomfortable with, but I also don’t want him thinking it’sbecauseof him that I’m not comfortable. Or even because of the whole being attracted to men thing. It’s more that there are a lot ofanswers I don’t have yet, and I don’t want to be faced with those questions.

“You’re the only person I have to come out to,” I tell him.

“Penn …”

“No, seriously. My circle is so fucking small, and yeah, that gets to me sometimes, but at the end of the day, your opinion is the only one I care about.”

“You’ve got Lana now.”

I nod because I really think I do. Now that the drama has ended with the dating a lesbian thing, I want to focus on building a strong friendship with her. “She already knows though.”

Madden’s eyebrows jump up. “She does?”

“Yeah. It was her who made me realize you were probably worried about me cheating on her.” I grab his arm. “Which I’d never do. Ever. Cheating is unforgivable to me.”

“Me too.” Somehow, that makes him smile. “I think that was what I was most upset about. That if you’d cheated, it meant you weren’t the guy I thought you were. My Penn would never do that.”

“Ever.”

His smile gets all toothy. I did that. I made him that happy. “Do you … does that … did you want to try for something? With me? Dating? Or a date, or?—”

“I think we’re past the point of a date.”

“True.” He looks down between our naked bodies. “This is normally third-date level.”

“Considering how long we’ve known each other, I think we can skip a few stages. But I’m not talking about the sex. We already know so much about each other, is there any point to going on a date? To pretending this is all new.”

“Itisnew.”

I’m not explaining myself very well. “The sex is, sure, but Idon’t want it to be the type of situation where wewerefriends and now we’re … boyfriends? Can’t we … be both?”

“You want to be my boyfriend, Penelope?”

My heart warms at his tone. “Yes. But I refuse to relinquish the best friend title as well.”

“Even if you did, no one else would fit it the way you do.”

That’s an enormous relief to hear. “So that’s it? We’re dating? Boyfriends?”

Madden doesn’t jump on it the way I hoped he would. “The thing is … I’ve wanted this for a really fucking long time. It’s still so new for you, and if it didn’t work out …”

“I’d be crushed,” I finish for him.

“There’s so much on the line.”

“At least you have your Bertha brothers. Without you, I have no one. I know exactly what’s on the line. If I lose you, I lose everything.”

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