Page 65 of Flirting with Forever

THEREWERESOMEnights that made John feel like a middle schooler again. In a good way. And this was one of them. His and Mary’s moods had apparently been infectious to their friends, and the rest of the time in the bar, even with Dud Doug’s presence looming in the corner, had been a deliciously good time. Now it was past midnight and the group had left the bar, walking in a large, too-loud crowd down the sidewalk toward Mary’s house.

John just smiled to himself as they all chattered loudly, laughing hard and leaning on one another.

Mary had invited everyone back to her place for a nightcap, and she led the group at the front. John was the caboose, locking her downstairs door after him and watching everyone file up her stairs to her apartment.

He felt the tug to be close to her. He’d wanted to walk next to her on the way home. But he knew just how obvious a move that would be.

The ten minutes of delirious dancing they’d shared had been hands down in the top three experiences of John’s life. It was no surprise to him that all their friends had pretty much gotten a contact high.

He was almost,almostpositive that she’d felt the exact same way. That she’d clutched him as tightly as he’d clutched her. That, tonight at least, she was kinda giving him a green light.

John mulled over this green light. He’d been given green lights before, of course. But usually in a club, on a dance floor, when all there was next to do was get the heck to one of their houses and take their clothes off.

Mary’s green light had been in her smile, her cheek over his heart, the way she’d lingered at his elbow while the group had laughed and joked and bought more drinks.

Now they were back in her apartment, Mary passing out drinks and filling bowls with pretzels, and John couldn’t tell if the green-light moment had passed or not. He figured it would be a hell of a lot easier to figure out if there weren’t so many friends sitting in between them on the couch.

And it would probably be easier to figure out if Tyler weren’t suspiciously looking at John pretty much every time John looked up. John couldn’t help but shake his head and muffle his laughter into his hand. Yeah, didn’t seem like tonight was the night. Unless he outwaited everyone else, but that seemed dangerously forward.

Besides, Richie and he had been at work at 7:00 a.m. that morning. Richie’s eyes were closed as he leaned back in the armchair, a beer listing in one hand.

Mary swooped over and righted the beer, squeezing Richie’s knee. “You wanna sleep in the guest room tonight?” she asked Richie. “You look mighty sleepy.”

And there was John’s answer. He highly doubted that Mary was planning on having John stay over in her bed if she was inviting Richie to sleep in the next room over. The disappointment he swallowed down was eased by the surprising amount of relief that came with it. He didn’t want things to move too fast with Mary. He didn’t want to ambush her. Tonight had been the first night that he’d felt something shift between them, and to try to sleep with her would almost be doing that shift a disservice. He didn’t want to whip the tablecloth off the table just to watch the china smash on the floor. He didn’t need to rush her. Or himself. Or the moment.

It meant that this green light he’d been getting wasn’t for sex, and it wasn’t for tonight. This green light was a green light for possibility, for hope, for maybe. And that was good enough for John. More than good enough.

He wouldn’t have minded, though, an opportunity this evening to put his cards on the table, but he didn’t particularly want to put his cards on the table in front of Tyler.

“No, no, you sweet, wonderful woman,” Richie said, blinking his tired eyes up at her. “I think I’m just gonna catch a cab back to my neighborhood.”

John inwardly nodded. That was his cue. There was no way that Richie was actually catching a cab. The two of them were MetroCard people. Which meant that Richie was going to get on the train at 1:00 a.m. alone, and John didn’t like that. Richie was thin and trendy in his tailored suits and had been pushed around on the train before. But never when John was with him. Which was why John stretched, finished the glass of water that Mary had presented him with a few minutes earlier and rose to his feet along with Richie.

“I’ll share with you,” John said with a yawn.

Richie looked mildly surprised, as did Tyler and Sebastian, but John ignored all three of them and just went to put his cup in the dishwasher. When he turned, he was alone in the kitchen with Mary, who was standing a few feet away, her back against her countertops.

She was worrying her bottom lip between her shiny, white teeth, and her eyes were stuck somewhere around the top button of his shirt. Her body language spoke of nerves and uncertainty, but it was nothing like she’d been with Doug in the bar. Everything about the hands she fluttered around the skirt of her dress and the skate of her hair over her shoulders saidI like this.

“I’m gonna head out,” he told her unnecessarily, considering he’d just announced the same thing to the entire living room.I want to stay, his eyes said.

“I guess it’s getting pretty late,” she replied.What just happened between us at the bar?her eyes said back.

“Crazy night, huh?”I don’t know, but I liked it.

“The good kind of crazy.” The strap of her sundress fell over one shoulder and John reached forward to slip it back up her arm. He took longer than strictly necessary, smoothing it over her soft skin with his heavy fingers.

The voices in the other room crescendoed into a playful argument, and once again, they were reminded that they weren’t alone.

She frowned. “I needed a good kind of crazy night, to be honest. I’m going to visit my parents tomorrow afternoon through Monday, and I’ll need all the fortification I can get.”

“I wish you didn’t have to dread going there so much,” he said in a low voice.I wish I could come with you, his eyes said.

“I know,” she said softly.God, me too, her eyes said back.

He smoothed the strap of her sundress one more time, and Mary quickly rose on her toes to kiss his cheek. She placed her hand in the middle of his chest to steady herself and John knew instinctively that she was seeking his heartbeat again, the way she had when they’d been dancing.

Little did she know that she didn’t have to hunt it down, that it was already hers.

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