Page 22 of The 21-Day Boyfriend
Sean flashes me a quick stare.
“God, I’m already tired of all this.”
“Do you want me to get your car ready?” I ask as she gets to her feet.
“If you could. I feel lucky tonight.”
I laugh and shake my head, as Sean studies us questioningly.
“Granny’s a bit of a risk-taker,” I quickly explain.
“Risk-taker?” Sean asks, offering his arm to my grandmother and walking her outside.
“I like the green tables, my dear.”
“Are we thinking of the same kind of table?”
“I’m old, bored, and have lots of money to spend. What else am I supposed to do with my time?”
“I think you should do absolutely anything that makes you happy,” Sean says kindly.
“I like him more and more,” she says to me.
I smile tightly, then look over at Sean.
He’s looking back at me.
He knows, like I do, that we’ve crossed a line; that this thing between us has to end before someone gets hurt.
8Sean
After we’ve accompanied his grandmother to her car and said goodbye a thousand times with the promise of getting to know each other better and in a more private event, I feel I need to apologise to Eric.
“I’m sorry about what I said inside. I didn’t want to put you in a difficult position.”
He pulls a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and lights one, exhaling the smoke slowly and leaning his back against one of the pillars outside the hotel.
“My grandmother wasn’t supposed to be here.” His tone is bitter, echoing his posture, his gaze. “I didn’t want to have to lie to her, too.”
“Did you really think no one would tell her I was here, anyway?”
He shrugs. “I don’t know. I didn’t really think about it, to be honest. She never really takes notice of what my parents say. But seeing you here with me…”
He shakes his head and another plume of smoke escapes his lips; under the moon, beneath the night sky, they seem perfect.
“You could just tell her I’m a dick, if that helps.”
He turns his gaze to me. His eyes are dark and piercing, slicing through the darkness around us.
“You’d sacrifice your reputation for someone who’s not even your friend?”
“She and I will probably never see each other again, anyway. Neither will we.”
He nods slowly, then turns away. I admire his silhouette, as perfect as his lips, under that same moon and that same sky. I watch as those lips part, a cigarette coming to rest between them.
My throat tightens as I swallow nervously, trying to take my inappropriate thoughts and non-existent saliva with it.
“Or maybe we will see each other… I don’t know, at Jake’s wedding – if that ever happens,” I say, trying to make light of the tension between us.
