Page 80 of Catch Me
We’d barely said anything since we got here. As soon as I got out of my Jeep, Roman just looked at me silently. I was a little surprised he’d invited me at all, and I hoped it wouldn’t be weird.
“What do you think?” I asked as I opened my trunk.
“It’s gorgeous. Better than where I would’ve picked.”
“Where were you gonna go?”
“Hadn’t decided yet.”
“Ah, so I was invited because I know the area.”
He chuckled and leaned back against his hood, but he didn’t respond. I grabbed two beers and joined him. When I offered it to him, he shook his head.
“I didn’t get a chance to go to the store,” he said.
“You should’ve told me you needed something while I was there.”
“Not for groceries. A tent wasn’t on my list of things to pack when I left home.”
“Oh, shit. Well, this place is pretty remote. It’ll take you an hour to get somewhere that’ll have one.”
With his hands resting on the hood behind him, he dropped his head back. “Well, that’s shitty, but it is what it is. Damnit.” He looked down at his phone and sighed before he put it to his ear. “Hey, Mom. I told you I’d call you. Yeah, it’s been a couple hours. It was a long drive.” He glanced at me, then looked at the trees again. “I didn’t go alone...Because you were worried, obviously.”
I moved away from the car to give him some privacy and set shit up. While I worked on the tent, I occasionally lifted my gaze to watch him. He was still in the same place, which was impossible for me if I was on the phone. I paced around like a frustrated cat the entire time.
Nosey bitch that I was, I wanted to know what the last part had meant before I walked away. I assumed it meant that his mom was concerned about him going camping alone. Was that why he invited me? It sounded like it.
I didn’t mind. Camping was one of my favorite weekend getaways, and Tessa loved it. She’d been wandering around for a while, but she knew to stay in sight.
“My mom says hi,” Roman called.
“Tell her I said hi back.”
The way he smiled made me breathe a laugh. Maybe he liked our little greeting too. We had ‘a thing,’ and I enjoyed it.
I hadn’t straight up asked if he was into being friends because it felt like a ‘check yes or no’ note from elementary school, but we interacted like it, so I thought we were. I guess being around someone every day and night was a good way to get to know each other quickly, although there was a lot I didn’t know about him. Campfire conversations could fix that.
The sound of keys jingling made me look up. He twirled his lanyard around while he chewed on his lip. It was a new expression from him and made me stare for another moment.
“Well, I’d better go now. It’s already gonna be dark when I get back.”
I secured the final piece of the tent, then stood. As he was about to get into his car, I blurted, “Just stay in mine.”
Where was my filter when I needed it? The offer was going to obliterate any progress we’d made. He was changing his views, but now I’d made it seem like I wanted him to sleep near me, and he’d definitely freak out about that.
“Uh...” He trailed off and looked at the tent. “Are you sure?”
Not wanting to make him—or me—feel weird, I kept my expression neutral. “It’s a three-person tent. There’s room.”
“Yeah, okay, cool.”
I hoped he couldn’t see how surprised I was. With a nod, I started setting up wood to get a fire going.
“I despise sleeping bags,” I said. “So, I have a bunch of blankets and shit.”
“Works for me. Sleeping bags feel like boa constrictors. I’m too fucking big for most of them.”
“They’re made for guys named Jonathan.”
