Page 41 of Hello Forever
I had to stop brooding over him. It was only going to make me crazier than Ialreadywas.
That afternoon I left work at two o’clock, because I had a few hours coming to me on account of the basketball schedule. Cax had told me where he lived, and I’d written down the address. Still, it took the new guy in town a few minutes to identify the rightresidencehall.
When I finally found his door and knocked, there was only silence. Of course there was. He was probably running a half marathon right now just toavoidme.
I knocked one more time, just to be sure. I thought I heard a rustle on the other side ofthedoor.
Weird.
“Cax?” Icalled.
I heard a mumble. And then agroan.
“Are youalright?”
Again I heard a groan, and the hair stood up onmyneck.
Was I even in front of the right door? Wondering if I was making a terrible mistake, I tried the knob, which turned willingly in my hand. “Cax?” I said, opening the door a few inches. “Areyouokay?”
The studio apartment was even smaller than mine. The first thing I saw inside was a bed with tangled sheets. Cax’s fully clothed body was lying on it. Then I noticed his hands were pressed into his eyesockets.
“Cax?” I forgot to worry about propriety and walked right in. The door closed behind me as I crossed the little room. I put a hand on his shoulder. “Areyouokay?”
“Not really,” he rasped. “Migraine.”
I sat down on the bed. “Oh, I’m sorry. Do you get themoften?”
“Only when I’m stressed out,” he muttered. “So that’s, like, prettyoften.”
“Poor baby.” I dug my fingers into his shoulder muscle and squeezed. “You’re sotight.”
“Thatfeelsgood.”
“Turn over,” Iorderedhim.
He flopped onto his stomach. I put both hands on his shoulders and began to rub. He moaned. “So good. Everything is in knots when my headaches.”
I toed off my boots and climbed onto the bed, one knee on either side of his hips. I had better leverage up there. Massaging everything I could reach, I worked the stiff muscles in his shoulders. I kneaded his neck and rubbed the tight muscles at the back of his head. I worked my way up to his temples and went to town with the heels of myhands.
“You are the most amazing human,” Cax mumbled. “Thankyou.”
“I could touch you allday,babe.”
In some ways, he and I had the most confusing relationship in the world. We were close friends who didn’t spend time together. We were lovers who rarely got even a kiss. We had a long history together with a big gap in themiddle.
In short, we were a tangle of disasters. But there was nobody I’d ever felt so close to. Laying my hands on him felt like coming home. He feltlikemine.
“Mmm,” he sighed under my touch. “Wait. What timeisit?”
“Almostthree.”
Cax groaned. “Damn. It. I have to go pick up Scotty fromschool.”
My touch was light now, just fingertips on his forehead. “Can you drivelikethis?”
“I’ll go slow,” he said. “I don’t have any peripheral vision,though.”
“What?”
