Page 10 of Charming Like Us
Fuck.
Should I be checking myself to make sure I didn’t turn into Medusa and cast a spell on the guy?
He blinks.
So at least he’s alive.
I actually take two steps away from him. Putting space between us.
“Jack,” I say, his name sounding weird on my tongue. I usually call him Highland…or Long Beach. I’m concerned about him, but I’m afraid crowding him will make it worse somehow.
“Uh…” he breathes out. “Thanks, but I’m straight.”
I go rigid.
Thanks, but I’m straight.
Thanks, but I’m straight.
Thanks, but I’m straight!It blares in my head.
Concern is gone. I’m just…fuck.
My skin scorches from head to toe in deep embarrassment.
He’s quiet again, apologies in his eyes.
I want to disintegrate right now. I’veneverbeen this fucking mortified. I feel like an idiot, and I know I’m not one. An awkward stretch of silence bends around us.
Jack often throws out platitudes to make sure no one in the room is uncomfortable. Well, that’s not happening here. He’s not saying a fucking thing.
We’re both wading in intense, unbearable discomfort.
What was I thinking?
I break the quiet. “Yeah, fuck, sorry,” I mumble. “I just…I didn’t mean…”
He offers a weak smile. “Yeah.”
That one word literally sets my pulse into a panicked race.
Good God I want to run and hide. “Um…cake…has name.” I turn around, avoiding his eyes. And I leave with a hot, lengthy stride.
I’ve never run away from a situation so fast.
Shit, what did I even say?Cake…has name?That’s not a complete motherfucking sentence! I was trying to tell him there’s a piece of cake that has my name on it.
Fumbled the exit.
Fumbled everything.
I’m just mortified I asked him if I could kiss him. It would have been better if I didn’t feel like a twelve-year-old. I’m thirty-two, and the way I feel around that guy puts me back to preteen eras. I hate it. I hate what I just did. Most importantly, I’d like nothing more than to never see Jack Highland.
I don’t know how I’m going to be able to look him in the eyes ever again.
OSCAR OLIVEIRA
PRESENT DAY
