Page 64 of Single Teddy
Teddy:
We’re down the road. Keep walking.
I did, taking deep, long breaths.
I all but ran down Aster Lane until I got to the first crossroads and found Teddy and Asher parked around the corner.
“We didn’t want him to see you getting into someone else’s car and raise suspicion,” Asher said as I dove into the back.
“Good thinking,” I said and caught Teddy’s gaze in the rearview mirror.
“You did really well, Wesley. Really,” he said, and even after everything that had happened in the last hour, the feeling of his lips on my forehead came back full force threatening to knock me off my feet.
Good thing, I was sitting.
“Thanks,” I said, and even though I knew I should pry my eyes away from him, I didn’t.
Because…
The more I looked at him, the easier it became to breathe.
The easier it became to simply exist after all this danger and chaos.
His eyes…offered me peace. How could I look away?
NINETEEN
TEDDY
The alarm went off, and I tapped my phone, getting up and ready to start another day. I tiptoed my way to the bathroom to relieve myself and brush my teeth, but when I came out of the shower and opened my drawers, I found them empty.
“Shit! I knew I was forgetting something.”
I’d been meaning to do the laundry for the whole week, and it had finally caught up with me. I just hoped Bear had clothes to wear today.
“Shoot.”
I snuck into his room and checked his chest of drawers. Thankfully, he still had two shirts to get him through two more school days and plenty of pants. But that still left me in a pickle for what to wear today. I went through my dirty laundry to see if any tops were salvageable, but they all stank.
Maybe I can wash something before we go.
Before I could do that I spotted the box of clothes still in my closet glaring at me underneath my vision board.
Was it possible there was anything in there? Was it crazy to even consider it? Those things didn’t even belong to me. Then again, they no longer belonged to anyone.
I bent down with some reluctance and opened the flaps of the box to go through the contents. There was more yarn in it, a thick, rainbow-colored wool that was very soft to the touch, and a pink yarn on its last legs. But under all that was an assortment of clothes. A few dresses, some tailored pants, but there were also a bunch of sweaters, all colorful and handmade.
I held one up and judged the size, and before I changed my mind, I put it on and checked myself in the mirror.
It was a wide pink sleeveless sweater with little yellow flowers stitched on it. I grimaced. It was weird seeing myself in something so feminine, yet the fabric was soft and snug. I kinda liked how it felt, and it matched the vibe of Bubble Bubble, so why the hell not?
Before I second-guessed myself, I put my jeans on, put some bread in the toaster, and loaded the washing machine on the short cycle. Then I woke Bear up and continued with our morning routine, because yeah, we had a routine now and I couldn’t be more excited about that. And judging by the drastic change in Bear’s behavior, my guess was he was excited about it too.
One more thing Wesley was right about. And I will forever be grateful to him for pushing me in the right direction.
After I dropped him off, I stopped by the apartment to take the clothes out and skipped the dryer, choosing to hang them upinstead—the last thing anyone needed was a fire breaking out—and then made my way to work.
“O-M-G! Don’t you look amazing? Where did you get that sweater? It’s so cute!” Hwan screamed as soon as he saw me, and I laughed.
