Page 49 of True Sight
Once the door is closed behind me, I lean against the bathroom counter, holding myself up with the palms of my hands. I try to take a few deep breaths and splash my face with some water.
“Every guy deals with this in the morning,” I whisper to myself. “It has nothing to do withhim.” I take another calming breath and run my hand over myself to try and get the blood to dissipate. When it’s safe, I use the bathroom and wash my hands before finally exiting to face him.
“I’m making eggs and bacon if that’s okay?” he asks without looking up at me. “I’m also making some beans andtoast which you’re more than welcome to, but I don’t think you Americans are quite on that trend yet.” When he glances up at me with a smile I can’t help but smirk.
“Yeah, that’s fine. I’m going to take Annie out real quick, we’ll be back in a few minutes.” We both gear up again to go out in the rain and leave him to cook breakfast. Thankfully, Annie hates the rain more than most humans do so she doesn’t waste much time before turning around and hightailing it back for the safety of the indoors. When I push his apartment door open again, the smells of cooked bacon, eggs, and beans waft into my nose.
“Something smells good,” I offer, shaking off my raincoat and releasing Annie from her harness.
“Well good, because the food is nearly done,” Henry calls back from the kitchen. I step out of my shoes and walk up to him.
“Need help with anything?”
He turns to look at me over his shoulder, his eyes flicking from mine to my lips and back again. “I wouldn’t hate it if you could grab the plates and such. They’re just in that cupboard.” He juts his chin towards a cabinet to our left. I nod at him and reach in to grab two plates.
“Cutlery is in here.” He bumps a drawer with his hip. His kitchen space is so small that when I reach around him to open the drawer, our bodies graze against one another for the briefest moment. His breath hitches in his throat when I have to lean closer to him to grab what I need from the drawer before I close it again.
“Do you want to eat here at the bar or the couch?” I ask, trying to keep my voice steady.
“The sofa is fine. Here, give me your plate.” I do what he asks and he fills my plate with bacon, eggs, and a piece of toast. I raise the plate at him to say thanks before returningto where we’d slept next to each other last night. He follows behind me with his own plate of food and sits down next to me.
“Thank you for cooking,” I say before taking a bite. The food is delicious and better than anything I’ve ever cooked for myself. I mostly eat cereal or takeout because the thought of cooking anything makes me want to put my head through a wall.
“It’s no problem. Thankyoufor coming over last night.” He’s holding his plate in his hand and smiling at me. His knee bumps mine and I try my best to ignore the way having him so close feels. The greens of his eyes are piercing straight through me like there’s nothing else in the world he wants to look at.
“Like I said last night, I didn’t want you to be alone. I know what that’s like and I didn’t want you to feel that way. I’d?—”
Before I can finish my sentence he leans across the couch and kisses me. My hands grip around my plate tighter and for a moment, I let myself lean into him. But then, as quickly as it happens something in my mind snaps and I push him away.
“What are you doing?” I gasp hastily and stare at him.
“I–I just—” His eyes are wide and he looks as surprised as I feel.
“I’m not that kind of person, I don’t know why you thought I was,” I spit. My body is moving on autopilot. Standing from the couch, I slam my plate down on the coffee table and start to move towards the front door.
“Conrad, wait, I’m sorry.” He’s following me around his apartment as I collect my things.
“Annie, let’s go.” She comes running and when she’s close enough, I get her gear on her as quickly as I can. Mymind is running a million miles a minute.How could he just kiss me like that?
“Conrad, please stay. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to?—”
“Didn’t mean to?” I turn around and snap again. “You didn’t mean to kiss me? What did you do, just fall over for a second and just land on my face? I don’t like guys, Henry. I’m not like you.” My words come out sharp and I can’t believe what I’m saying. When his face falls, I know I’ve hurt him. With all of my stuff and Annie in tow, I swing the door open and pull it shut behind me before he can say anything else. I hurry us back to my car which is still parked on the street, only now with a parking ticket on it.
“Offuckingcourse,” I groan and snatch it off my windshield. Annie jumps in the car and lays down in her spot before giving me a judgmental look.
“Oh, don’t even start. He kissed me, out of nowhere, what was I supposed to do?” I snap. I fling the gear shift into drive and start down the street for home, mumbling to myself.
“I’m not that kind of person. That’s not who I am, I just got caught up in the moment. I don’t like guys like that and I certainly don’t like Henry like that.” But as I say the words out loud, I can’t stop my brain from replaying the kiss and how he felt on my lips over and over on a loop the entire drive home.
Several hours later,I’m pacing my apartment and trying to avoid where my brain is trying to go.
To the kiss.
To how nice it was waking up with him.
To the way my heart felt when he smiled at me.
“Stop, stop,” I groan. My hands are in my hair and pulling at it as if they’re trying to pull the memories out of my head all together. My phone buzzes in my back pocket for the fifth time today and I pull it out, knowing who the text is from without even looking. He’s sent me several texts and called me twice since leaving his place all of which I promptly ignored. I slide my thumb across the screen to read his latest message.
