Page 64 of Just My Type of wrong guy

“You were the one who grabbed me, and this is water, Alexandra. I took a shower at the gym, woman. Do you really think I’d pick you up while sweating like this?” A.J. finally puts me down.

“But you were going to take a shower…”

“I forgot my hair products, and I need to take care of them.”

“I was starting to think you were the first sweaty, good-smelling guy in the world.”

“Tomorrow I’ll come back all sweaty, and we can test it.” He laughs to the side and gives me a wink. “Now, let’s hang the posters.”

Sometimes, just sometimes,I wonder if these little jokes are doing more harm than good.But I usually bury those thoughts because I don’t want to make things weird between us.

A.J. takes the blank frames from the wall, and we stick the posters on them. But the artwork doesn’t really match the vibe, so we decide to move all the frames around until we find a good contrast and a nice color palette.

We move all of them, except for the Elvis one. Now we have song lyrics from an indie band calledSunset Curve, Elvis,Lady and the Tramp,Music and Lyrics, and mySamba is Hoton the wall.

“Now it’s perfect,” A.J. sighs, proud of his work.

“Yes. Go take your shower, and I’ll make coffee for us,” I warn, and he looks at me with a furrowed brow, glancing between me and the toast. “At this point, it’s already going limp, right?”

“Oh, yes. That’s right. That was part of my plan to have coffee.”

“I’m going to pick a good movie for tonight. I’ll think of one that I want to replaceSchool of Rockwith.”

“We’re not takingSchool of Rockoff the wall,” he snaps, frowning.

“We are, yes. I hate that movie, and you said the house is a little bit mine now,” I point out, crossing my arms. “We can’t keep something I hate on the wall.”

A.J. looks at the poster of Jack Black and a bunch of kids piled together, then back at me. He looks at the poster again and takes a deep breath.

“Fine, but we won’t be watching a movie tonight. So I can keep my poster up for a bit longer.”

I almost ask, “What do you mean we won’t have a movie tonight?” But A.J. left early this morning without texting or sending a message, and he mentioned that I’m at home now. Maybe that means he’s needing some space, so I respect that and just nod.

“I have a call with the guys today. We’ll talk a bit and sort out the details for Thursday’s dinner and the upcoming shows…”

“Alright, A.J. You don’t need to update me on everything. I was actually planning on going out today.”

“Go out?” he asks with the same resignation I felt when he rejected our movie. “By yourself?”

“We’re back on stage on Saturday, and I haven’t seen New York’s nightlife yet, right?” I lie with such ease that I almost feel proud of my acting skills.

“It’s beautiful. It’ll be good for you… do something in the city without dragging me around like your purse dog.”

The silence hangs between us, bringing the feeling that we’re about to have our second breakup. The first was when we stopped living like two unsupervised teenagers. Now, we’re stillgoing to share a house, but without needing to live like Siamese twins.

It seems like we’re both ready for this step, and since we’ll be hitting the road again in a few days, that’s a good thing.

Chapter Twenty-one - A.J.

If you got a girlfriend, I’m jealous of her

But if you’re single that's honestly worse

‘Cause you're so gorgeous it actually hurts

Gorgeous - Taylor Swift

“A.J., are you listening?” Rick calls my attention.

---