Page 49 of Some Things Never Change

I hardly ever woke up early on Saturday mornings, which I supposed would be a great way for me to not realize he was gone for a few hours.

"Thank you. You’re making me feel special."

He smiled as his hand reached out to gently tuck a strand of hair behind my ear. He leaned in a few centimeters, fanning hot air into my ear. "I did it because I care about you, Julie.” His voice was just above a hoarse whisper. "You are special, and I wanted to do something nice for you."

Something in his words touched deep inside me as I began to hear nothing but the beating drum of my heart. I found myself staring into his eyes, lost in their depths. We sat there for a long moment, just looking at each other. I could feel a tension building between us, and I knew we were both feeling an intense wave of shared, unexplainable emotions together.

Then, without a single thought, my eyes suddenly tore away from his pretty hazel green eyes and glanced down at his lips and I swallowed. Thickly, with a loud gulp trailing behind it.

Andy’s eyes widened, more amused than surprised. His lips cocked into a sly smirk. I could hear the throat lozenge still in his mouth click against his teeth as he gave it a hard suck. He proceeded to move it around his mouth, making the wet and slick sounds with his tongue. Loud and lewd.

“Like what you see, Tink?” He titled his head to the side as his fluffy tousled fringe covered his eyes and darkened them.

I scoffed dramatically, trying to cover up how embarrassed I was. “No, you got some nasty cooties.”

Andy’s eyes immediately lit up as he threw back his head to let out a hearty laugh. He bumped his large, muscular thigh into mine gently. “Come on. We could be sick together.”

I shook my head with an enormous grin. “Nope. No thanks. The flowers are enough and they’re absolutely beautiful.” I reached behind me for the plastic white and pink bouquet of roses made of building blocks and brought them to my lap. The plastic flowers were mixed with real baby’s breaths, making them look aesthetically pleasing to the eye. I smiled down at them. “Thank you, again.”

When I looked back up at Andy, his gaze was still on me as he let out a laugh. “That’s supposed to be my line.” He gestured toward the kitchen where his flowers sat.

I rolled my eyes and bumped his thigh back with mine. “I can’t believe you thought I’d forget about you on Valentine’s Day, after all those years of me giving you beautiful bouquets of flowers.”

He scoffed. “Well, yeah. You have Prince Charming distracting you and all.”

“Eric’s not Prince Charming and I’m not Cinderella. He’s just a regular guy and I’m just a regular girl. Besides, just because I’m talking to him doesn’t mean I can’t buy you flowers for Valentine’s Day? You’re my best friend.”

“You stopped buying me flowers after I had a girlfriend in college and then we never sent flowers for Valentine’s Day to each other since.”

“That’s different. You were in a relationship. It wouldn’t be appropriate, and you know that.”

“True. But, whatever happened to the red roses though? Isn’t that your usual M.O.?”

I shrugged. “I wanted something different for you. It’s nice not to get red roses all the time, right?”

Andy’s brows furrowed as he wore a small pout. “Actually, I liked the red roses.”

“You did?”

He nodded. "Yeah. They were always a reminder of you whenever I saw a bouquet of them." His gaze shifted away for a moment. “You know, I was thinking . . .” He turned to look back at me hesitantly.

“Thinking what?”

“I was thinking that maybe, since we’re both still single and it’s Valentine’s Day . . .” He trailed off again, his cheeks turning a light shade of pink.

I held my breath, wondering what he was going to say next.

“How unfortunate it is that I’m sick.” He let out a small cough. “We could have had a nice dinner together tonight. Just as friends, of course.”

I laughed as I held back a sigh of relief, feeling a little disappointed but also grateful that this was on Andy’s mind. I wasn’t sure what my pounding heart wanted him to say, but I’m glad I wasn’t the one yapping.

“It’s alright. There's nothing you can do about it except rest. How are you feeling now?”

“Still sick and exhausted as hell. I think I’m going to have to call out of work this entire week.”

I frowned. “Should you be up and walking around?”

“But I want to be with you.”

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