Page 88 of The 21-Day Boyfriend
“Is this because of the kiss earlier?”
He shakes his head and averts his gaze. “We’re a mess, Mila and me, and you already have your own issues. I don’t want you to get muddled up in ours, too. Maybe it’s best if you just move on with your life and forget about all this.”
“It sounds like you want to get rid of me.”
“What? No!”
“You want this to be over. You want me to turn my back and never show my face again.”
“Hell, no! That’s the last thing I want.”
He blushes when he realises the weight of what he’s just said.
“I mean… I made a promise, and I plan to see it through. But I’m scared it’s getting out of hand. I’m scared we won’t be able to tell truth from fiction.”
“I think it’s going great.”
Sean smiles weakly.
“We’re becoming… Friends.”
“Friends?”
I shrug. “And friends help each other out, right?”
“I thought you and I could never be friends?”
“I thought that, too.”
“Do you not think it anymore?”
Now, all I can think about is how much I want to kiss you again and stop you from talking – but after risking it all, I think it’s best I stop here and continue down the friendship route.
“You really should get some rest, you know. You look exhausted.”
Sean glances at his watch. “I can’t. I have two classes this afternoon.”
“Can’t you call in sick?”
He studies me condescendingly, and I laugh.
“Got it, got it…” I check the time, too. “Maybe I should push back my shift in the restaurant and stay with Mila until you’re back.”
“I can’t ask you to do that.”
“You’re not. I want to.”
Sean considers this for a moment.
“I can’t ask this of you, too. It’s too much. I’ll never be able to make it up to you.”
In that moment, there are about ten different ways he could make it up to me that spring to mind – but I keep them to myself and simply smile.
“For the days we’ve got left, Mr. Quinn, you can ask anything you want.”
25Eric
Mila comes out of Sean’s room wearing one of his shirts and sinks onto the sofa beside me. I close the book I’d picked out of Sean’s well-stocked bookshelf.
