Page 92 of The Goat in the Bedroom
But this conversation, the one I'd just had, and the one I was about to was really going to rock my whole goddamned world.
“Am I really going to do this?” I asked Vinnie, glad he seemed cognizant enough to be an emotional support animal right at this very moment..
He bleated and headbutted my stomach.
“I could lose everything.”
Harder headbutt.
“She's my best friend. If this goes wrong?—“
Vinnie climbed down and walked to my door, then looked back at me with an expression that clearly saidget your ass up.
“Since when are you the boss of me?”
He bleated again, more insistently.
“Okay, okay. I'm going.”
I stood up, my heart pounding so hard I was sure Artie could hear it through the wall. What was I going to say?
Artie, I'm in love with you.Too abrupt.
Vegas wasn't practice for me.Better, but still not right.
I've been in love with you since...Since when? Since graduation when she said yes to being my roommate? Since the first time I saw her play rugby and those thick thighs began living rent free in my brain? Or since high school when she was the first person I ever came out to?
Maybe since always.
Vinnie was literally pushing me from behind now, his little head shoving against the back of my knees.
“I'm going, I'm going.”
I made it to my bedroom door, hand on the knob, heart in my throat. I could do this. I could tell her the truth. I could stop being a coward and finally?—
I opened my door and there was Artie standing in hers.
We stood there in the hallway, staring at each other. Her eyes were red like she'd been crying. Her hair was messy. She was wearing my old Dragons shirt. She was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen.
“Artie.”
“Gryff.”
We both spoke at the same time, then stopped.
“I need to tell you something,” we said, again in unison.
A nervous laugh escaped both of us.
“You first,” I said.
“No, you,” she insisted.
Holly appeared behind Artie, and Vincent was still behind me, and suddenly both goats were pushing us forward, literally shoving us together in the hallway.
“The goats want us to?—“
“Yeah, they're not subtle,” she agreed, stumbling a step closer from Holly's insistent pushing.
