Page 16 of Scoreless Nights

“Let me call you tonight,” I reasoned with her. “We can Facetime.”

She was content with that idea and let me off the phone quickly, so I placed my phone down onto the counter and turned. Cruz was leaning his back against the counter on the other side of the kitchen. His hands were gripping the edges behind him and his fingers were tapping as he waited for his pizza to heat up.

“Whatever you do,” he sighed, “don’t go.”

“I’m not,” I shrugged, not really wanting to leave anymore. “You don’t scare me.”

“I don’t want to scare you,” he nodded. “So that’s good.”

“What time are you leaving?”

“In an hour or so.” The microwave started beeping and he turned around to take his pizza out. Then he walked closer to me, and leaned his hip on the bar getting close enough for me to smell his shampoo. “Just enough time to apologize a million times.”

“Stop,” I smiled. “I’m actually glad you weren’t alone last night. And your bed is pretty comfy.”

He snorted and rolled his eyes. “I’ll be home late tomorrow, maybe we can start over.”

“Deal,” I smiled. “Maybe we should pretend we just met.”

“Ohhh that means you would be staying with a stranger, and your mother would fly here and beat my ass with her bare hands if she knew I let you stay with a stranger.”

You are a stranger,I thought to myself.

“Well, what she doesn't know won’t hurt her.”

Cruz’s head tilted and his smile came and went as he thought over my words. Then he nodded and took a bite of his pizza, temporarily ending our conversation. I cleaned up the mess I made while he ate, and when he brought his plate to the sink, I grabbed it and cleaned it as well.

“I have someone come by on Tuesdays. She cleans everything so just a heads up so she doesn’t scare you.”

“Won’t you be back by then?”

“Yeah but we have another game Wednesday so I’ll spend all afternoon Tuesday at the complex. I have meetings and stuff.”

Putting the clean plate up in the cabinet, I nodded to myself, almost sad that I wasn’t going to see much of him for a few days. His absence was supposed to make staying with him easier, but for some reason, I wanted him to be there more than I did yesterday.

Cruz grabbed my hand and led me to the couch, pulling me down next to him and our knees touched as we angled ourselves toward one another. “I, um…” he started to say, suddenly shy in a way I never knew he was capable of. “I never drink as much as I did last night. Things just got away from me.”

There was no premeditated thought to me moving my hand to his hair. The longer strands on top were just flopped over and I wanted to touch it. Something to distract me as I thought of a reply. “We’re good. If that is what this is about. I promise. It wasn’t that bad, and now that I’m no longer cuffed to you, and can pee at my own freewill, it’s kinda funny.”

He smiled and grabbed my hand from his hair, holding it between us. “Good. And I trashed those cuffs. No reason to test temptation again.”

Whether he meant to or not, I felt a flutter in my stomach again, and pulled my hands from his to create some separation. “Yeah, we wouldn’t want that.”

Or would we?

“What are you going to do while I’m gone?”

“Beach,” I said with a dreamy sigh. “The beach, and then soaking up the evenings on your balcony. The view is incredible. All you’re missing is something besides an old folding chair out there.”

He laughed as he stood and flung his bag back over his shoulder. “I never spend enough time out there for more than that old chair.”

“Well you should,” I smiled at him. “It’s breathtaking.”

“I’ll think about that,” he nodded, then grabbed his keys and opened the door. “I know you have my cell number. Use it if you need me, or anything. And um, the game will be on the MLS network…if you like soccer.”

“Thanks.”

“Oh and, make yourself at home.” Then he was gone.

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