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“I should’ve been more forthcoming about Amy,” he went on. “I mean, it’s not like we’re dating dating. We’re just sort of, I don’t know, figuring things out.”
“Yeah, sure. With your genitals,” I joked, slurping some fettuccine.
He frowned wryly. “It’s not like that.”
“No?”
“Not yet, no.”
I blinked in surprise. It wasn’t like him. Or was it? Shit, I didn’t even know anymore. So much time had passed between us. We had history, but it was old history. Of his new life, I knew practically nothing.
Adrian dabbed his cloth napkin at one corner of his pretty mouth. He looked like a connoisseur at some Michelin Star restaurant, rather than a guy eating instant noodles covered in powdered cheese.
The image was too much for me. I broke out laughing.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
He shook his head at me and grinned. “No, seriously, Harper. Give it up.”
“I was just thinking about that one time you came to my house for dinner. And my mom made a ‘meatloaf’ by unwrapping a package of chop meat, slapping it onto a pan, and baking it for two hours.”
Adrian’s grin stretched from ear to ear. “It caught on fire if I remember, didn’t it?”
“No, but it smoldered like hell. Eventually it set off the smoke alarms, and we ended up in the back yard.”
“I remember,” he chuckled. “You grabbed Max, and I grabbed the dog. She came out through a big swirl of smoke, holding a blackened pan.”
“With a burnt hockey puck-looking thing in the center, yes.”
Holy shit, the visuals. The memories! Adrian’s laughter brought me even further back, to all the incredible times we’d spent together. On the couch in his basement, watching movies. Spending our summers at the town pool. He’d come to all my soccer games, back when my mom was still driving me to them. And I’d watched just about every one of his lacrosse matches, even after Jax made it nearly unbearable by joining the team.
We’d become so close over the years, even when new friends and different interests led us in opposite directions. Not long after graduating, it made me sad to think at how quickly and easily we lost track.
The nostalgia faded as an alarm chimed on his phone. I checked the time on mine.
“You know you really should go.”
Adrian was still staring at me, lost perhaps in the same places I was. He was dressed for business today; all clean cut and freshly-shaved. He smelled and looked absolutely delicious. I wanted a bite.
“You sure you’re okay?”
I threw my hand dismissively. “Are you serious? Of course I am. Come on, you never owed me an explanation to begin with.”
“Yes I did,” he said firmly. “I owe you a hell of a lot, Harper. More than you realize. And if for any reason this thing isn’t working for you,” he pointed around, “just say the word. I’d totally understand.”
“You would, huh?”
He nodded slowly. “I can’t have you mad at me. I’ve missed you way too much.”
Butterflies took flight in my stomach. Guilty ones.
“I’ve… missed you too,” I admitted.
He stood up and embraced me, and the hug felt better than ten-thousand apologies. Not that I wanted an apology at all. I just wanted… well…
Him?
