Page 29 of Give In To Love
Drea sat forward, pushing her tray away from her so she could rest her forearms on the table and lean toward me. She had a fierce glint in her eye that frankly terrified me. “You have a beautiful soul, Jimmy. I see it. And so does Mandy. And I’m betting your roommate does too. You may have difficulty warming up to people, but when you do, when you let us in, it’s such a gift. Don’t discount his interest in you. Let him in.”
I blinked back the sudden rush of tears. It was sweet of her to say, and honestly, it meant the world to me, but I didn’t see how it could be true. At least not when it came to TJ. She hadn’t met him. She didn’t know he wasn’t your typical guy. He was…extraordinary.
“That’s very sweet of you to say, but…” My shoulders slumped, and I was suddenly very tired. I knew if I continued to look at Drea, I’d cry, so I turned toward Mandy. “Can we please just change the subject?”
Her eyes softened. “Yeah, we can talk about something else. But only after I tell you that I agree with Drea. Give him a chance. Or at least…be open to the possibility that he might be into you. Guys—even sweet guys—don’t climb into bed with someone just to watch a movie.”
The thing that fucked me up the most was that part of me wanted to believe her. These girls were my best friends, but at that moment, I hated them just a little bit for giving me hope.
14
TJ
It was amazinghow you could share a room with someone and not exchange any actual words with them for over thirty-six hours.
I was pretty sure Jimmy was avoiding me. Again.
I thought we’d gotten past the intensity thing, but maybe I’d fucked that up when I’d climbed into bed with him and forced him to watch a movie with me.
And then fell asleep and held him all night.
Yep. That had probably done it.
I hated that I’d potentially scared him away again, but the thing was, I didn’t know any other way to be. If I cared about someone—friend, family, crush—I was all in. I didn’t want to be the type of guy who was aloof. Who hid himself from the world. Who failed to show up when people needed him.
My brood was interrupted by the door opening, and I spun around in my desk chair to see the object of my thoughts walking into the room. Jimmy looked good…really good. It looked like he’d trimmed his hair, but I was pleased to see he’d retained enough length to keep the halo of curls rioting around his face. He wasn’t wearing anything special—just a T-shirt and jeans—but they fit him well and suited his style. Though I figured I would find him attractive in anything he chose to wear.
There was a small flush creeping up his cheeks, which was utterly adorable. He’d been doing that a lot—blushing—when he was around me, and I wondered what it was about.
“Hey,” he said, shutting the door behind him and crossing to his dresser. I watched as he pulled out a hoodie and tugged it over his head, admiring the sliver of skin momentarily bared in the process. His head popped through the opening, and he ran his fingers through his curls a couple of times before tugging the hem of the hoodie into place. I wished I was the one running my fingers through his hair.
He stared at me a moment, the flush deepening, and I realized I hadn’t responded to his greeting. “Hey,” I said. So smooth.
He looked at me a moment longer, then ducked his head and turned toward his bed. He reached for his earbuds, and I blurted a question, not wanting him to shut me out. “What were you up to today?”
“My friends came into town from Lincoln, and we went to lunch.”
“Friends?” I frowned. I didn’t remember him talking about anyone else in his life other than his brother.
“I have friends.” His tone was defensive, his shoulders climbing toward his ears. I cursed myself at the thoughtlessness of the question.
“That’s not what I meant. I just haven’t heard you mention anyone else.”
He sat on his bed and pulled his knees up to his chest with his back resting against the wall. “Mandy and Drea. We went to high school together.”
“And they’re in college in Lincoln?”
“They’re roommates at UNL, yeah.”
I closed my laptop and moved from my desk to my bed so I was sitting across from him. “What are their majors?”
His brows pinched together quizzically. “Do you really want to know about my friends?”
“I want to know everything about you.”
“Why?” His brows shot up in surprise. I wondered if he knew how expressive those brows were. I was becoming a bit obsessed with them.
I thought about his question. I thought about brushing him off with some generic answer, not wanting to scare him again. I thought about how sad it made me that he didn’t seem to believe anyone would be interested in him. And then I decided I was done with thinking. And overthinking.
