Page 14 of Pick One
My first thought wasI don’t even have a week to sort this. I have to do it now.
Just talk to him… God, she made it sound so easy. Like it was just a matter of being determined enough. Like there weren’t very real stakes.
I had no numbers to run, no formulas to input, no lucky charms to stuff in my pockets. I wasn’t sure how to even begin.
“I’ve gotta go,” I blurted, taking out my keys. “I promised T I’d be home. I’ll… I’ll let you get back to your… mischief.”
I strode across the hall, let myself inside, set down my belongings, and leaned back against the door to catch my breath. The apartment smelled like a fall candle Teagan must have had burning somewhere, and the dust motes twirled lazily through the late-afternoon light filtering through the wide-open curtains at the window. From Teagan’s room came the sound of his sweet voice chatting animatedly, and a plate of muffins sat under a glass dome on the kitchen counter. But it wasn’t until I walked down the short hall toward Teagan’s bedroom and found him sitting at his desk, his long hair tied up in a knot and his legs pretzeled beneath him, that I could really draw a deep breath.
Teagan’s gaze shot to mine as I hovered in the doorway, careful to stay off-camera, and the polite smile he’d been giving the person on the screen warmed a fraction. Became something special. Something that wasmine.
Or maybe I only had it temporarily. Until he moved on to this Other-John.
I gulped nervously and choked on my own saliva. Teagan looked concerned.
“Patsy, can you hang on while I mute you for two seconds?” he asked the person on the screen. He clicked a button, then looked at me. “You okay, Johnny?”
I nodded, not trusting myself to speak. Dear God, he was so beautiful.
“Okay. Well…” He bit his lip—that full lower lip I fucking dreamed of feeling on my dick—almost nervously. “I’m gonna need like ten… maybe fifteen more minutes here, and then I’m gonna jump in the shower and get ready.”
“Ready?” I was way too distracted to hold a conversation.
“Yeah. To go out.” He grinned. “Things are looking really good. But I…”
“Teagan?” The woman on the Zoom call prompted at the same moment that a phone beganquackingsomewhere in the living room.
“Shit,” Teagan muttered. “That’s my alarm to start getting ready. I have like fifty-seven things to tell you, and Iwill, I promise. Wait for me?”
“I… I’ll go shut off your alarm.” I hooked a thumb toward the living room, and he gave me a wide, grateful smile.
“Ten minutes,” he reiterated. “Maybe fifteen.”
Right. Yeah. Great.
Fifteen minutes to figure out a solution I hadn’t been able to come up with in a year. Fifteen minutes to find a way to convince Teagan that, yes, I had romantic feelings for him, but I could handle them. That things between us didn’t have to change. That he wasn’t the sole reason I was staying in Boston. That I hardly ever jerked off at night thinking about the curve of his ass when he leaned over to take bread out of the oven and that I hadn’t had to add ten minutes to my shower time every morning because the green-grass scent of his bodywash had a very consistent effect on certain parts of my anatomy.
What could go wrong?
I found Teagan’s phone sitting on the charger by the sofa, and I wiped my damp palms on my pants before I picked it up and hit Stop to silence the alarm. On the lock screen were the unread texts I’d sent Teagan on the way home.
JOHNNY:Sorry! Marie needed to talk to me urgently. I’m for real leaving now though. What’s the big news? Is there a puppy available at the shelter? Because I’m still not sure our place is big enough.
For half a second, I wished I could unlock the phone and quickly delete all reference to Marie, but I told myself it was too late for that anyway. I needed to move forward and come clean. I needed to…
The name on the message underneath mine snagged my attention, and I read it before I’d consciously decided to.
JOHN D:It’s only been one day, but I already miss you.
What the fuck?
I scrolled further, to the bottom of an extraordinarily long text string, and started reading.
JOHN D:Last night was so magical, Teagan.
JOHN D:The connection between us was unlike anything I’ve ever felt before.
JOHN D:The way you listened to me like you really cared what I was saying…
