Page 79 of The Publicity Stunt
“I know.” He chuckles. “But you’re always cold.”
“So you brought me your sweatshirt?”
“Yeah,” he says.
“Oh.” It’s probably not a big deal. He carries beer in his duffel bag. What’s another sweatshirt? Only, this doesn’t seem like just another sweatshirt. “This fits me,” I say.
“What?”
“This fits me,” I repeat. “This isn’t yours.”
“Oh?”
I sit up straight and look at him. “What is it?”
“What is what?”
“Parker.”
He sighs and runs his hand through his coarse curls. “Promise not to make fun of me?”
I arch an eyebrow. “I’ll try?”
Parker looks to his side. “I bought it for you.”
“You did what?”
“It was a few weeks back, before we even ran into each other. I was walking back home and saw it in the display and the color … it just reminded me of you.”
“The color?”
“Turquoise blue. It’s the same color as your dress.”
“My dress?” What is he talking about?
“Spring Social,” he says. “It’s the same blue as your dress.”
Oh. My eyes widen and I’m stumped for words. We sit in silence for a few more minutes before he speaks again. “April?”
“Yeah?” I turn to face him. His eyes are zeroed in on me.
“Is it all right if I, um … I didn’t get a sweatshirt for myself.”
My instinct is to reach for the hem of the one he just gave me, but he instantly covers my hand with his. “No, that’s not what I meant.”
“Then what?” I whisper.
“Can we sit a little closer?” he asks. A fully grown thirty-year-old man acting like a teenager in love. My smile flushes through my face.
I shift closer and hook my arm around his, resting my head on his shoulder. “You think you’re sooo slick, don’t you?”
He laughs into the top of my head. “Very.”
I’m way too comfortable to argue or check the time, but given when we got here, I’d say it’s around eight. This should scare me. Three days ago, I didn’t even know Parker was in the same city as me. And now, here I am, sitting with him on an abandoned rooftop, getting a foot massage, leaning against his shoulder like it’s the most normal thing in the world. It should scare me how easy it feels to just be with him. But it doesn’t. And ironically enough,thatscares me.
“You know,” Parker begins, “we would’ve ran into each other earlier if you had just given me a call.”
I’m not surprised to hear these words, but I am surprised he chose this moment to say them. “I didn’t know you wanted me to.”
