“I have a slight problem,” Kelsey says behind me in the doorway, leaning with her back against the frame and digging through her purse. “My phone just died and I didn’t have time to write the number down. Do you have your phone or an iPad maybe? Anything really.”

She shoves her phone back into her purse. I don’t understand how anyone can let their phone die in our generation, but right now, I’m not going to question it. I just wish my phone were dead, too, and that I can’t remember where my tablet was.

“You can use mine,” I suggest, holding my phone out to her.

“Thank you.” She takes the phone out of my hand and wanders back into the living room to take a seat on the sofa. Sooner than I had hoped, she’s talking with a locksmith. I sit down in the recliner this time as I wait for her to finish.

This would have worked a whole lot better if technology weren’t everywhere.

She hangs up and sets the phone on the table in front of her.

“He says it’s going to take a couple hours. Is it alright if I wait here?”

Sure is.

“Yeah, that’s cool.” I look at my watch. It’s almost five. “We could order a pepperoni pizza and watch a movie while we wait.”

“That sounds great.” Kelsey smiles.

I walk into the kitchen to order dinner and when I come back to the living room, she’s settled on the couch, watching TV. I’d expect her to pick some girly show, but instead she chose Breaking Bad. She looks good on my couch, in my house. It feels right, and something about that terrifies me. Walking into a room with her in it is nothing like when I join my parents or brothers. Right now, I feel like I can just be me and that’s good enough. I don’t have to pretend. How did she do that to me after just a couple days?

I take the seat next to her, and from the corner of my eye I can see her body stiffen the moment I sit down. She crosses her left leg and relaxes back into the couch. Her smile is gone and in its place is an expression full of focus.

“This is a good show,” I say, filling the silence between us. I don’t know what else to say. This is new for me. I never have a problem talking to women, but with Kelsey, everything feels different.

“I think so, too,” she says.

Get it together, Ethan.

I act as though I’m adjusting myself to get comfortable and mange to slide closer to her. There’s nothing discrete about what I just did, but she doesn’t move. I reach my arms above my head to stretch. I’m about to pull a really old-school move—and let’s be honest, it rarely ever fails. As I lower my arms to my side I keep my right arm straight and rest it on the back of the couch behind Kelsey’s head. At this exact moment it feels like everything in the room falls to silence, except for the bubble of laugher that comes out of her mouth.

I quickly glance at the TV, hoping the show is at a funny scene, but it’s not. Kelsey is laughing at me. Talk about blowing a man’s ego. I lift my arm off the couch. This isn’t working out how I want. Before I can rest my arm back at my side, she quickly scoots under my shoulder and rests her head against my chest. I freeze. Kelsey Brian just made a move on me. I want to jump off this couch and fist-pump my hand in the air. I slowly lower my arm around her to pull her close.

This is exactly how I wanted things to go.

We make it through another episode before the pizza shows up and then quickly devour every slice in the box. I get up to toss the box in the trash, and this time when I sit next to her, I don’t hesitate on how far apart we should be.

“Hopefully, the locksmith gets here soon,” she says, looking at her phone. I find this funny since earlier she told me it was dead. I want to smile like some lovesick puppy. She wants to be here just as much as I want her here.

“That’s okay. You can stay here as long as you need to.”

“Is that the same Xbox you had when you were sixteen?” she asks and I follow her gaze to the gray-and-white game box sitting under the TV.

“Yeah, I actually —”

“Can we play something?” She beams, sitting forward on the couch. She wants to play a video game?

“Sure.” I get up and turn the box on, giving her a few options. It’s been years since I played a game on this thing. I only kept it so I could watch movies with it.

“Let’s play this one.” She waves a simple car racing game in my face.

I put the disk in the player and hand her a controller. We sit cross-legged on the floor in front of the TV. Occasionally she squeals when she wrecks or turns her car in the opposite direction, but otherwise we’re both pretty quiet. We’re on the last lap when I make my signature move from all those years ago and cut her off, causing her car to spin out of control. She squeals again and shoves me over.

“You did that on purpose. I was going to win and you knew it.” She laughs.

In a moment like this, I have to take advantage of the open opportunity. I give her a slight push back and she grabs my shirt, pulling me toward her as she falls onto her back.

Our faces are inches apart. Our eyes lock and that’s when it clicks. She planned this whole Xbox idea. I start to smile, but when she licks her lips, her tongue brushes against my bottom lip. Shit.

“This was a bad idea,” she whispers right as our lips are about to touch. “We shouldn’t get involved with each other.” I lean my forehead against hers and let out a struggled breath.

“Why not?” I ask even though I know the answer. I would never force Kelsey into something she didn’t want to be a part of, and I know the reasons I shouldn’t do this, but I don’t understand hers. She’s never given me any sign she wasn’t in to this. Into me.

“We just can’t.” She places her hand on my chest to push me back. She stands quickly, reaches for her purse then turns for the door. With each step she takes I feel cold. Everything felt right with her in my arms and now she’s gone. This is wrong. I kneel, reaching for her before she makes it to the door, but her phone rings and the moment is over.

Chapter Nine

Kelsey

What I wouldn’t have given for the locksmith to wait just ten more minutes. As I walk across the street to meet him, I glance over my shoulder at Ethan’s house. He’s leaning against the doorframe, watching me with his arms crossed and a smile on his face. I wanted to kiss him. I want more than just to kiss him. But I can’t let myself fall into that again. Into the hope that this time it’s real. I can’t assume that every guy will turn out like Tyler, but I’m not sure it’s a chance I want to take. That, and just the idea of him demands more focus than anything else in my life. I need to be 100 percent focused on writing.

I planned the entire game idea from the moment I sat down on his couch and turned on the TV. Every time I’m around him all the emotions I felt when I was fifteen years old come flooding back. That moment, right before he was about to kiss me, my mind went blank. I know where I’m at in life and what I want, but Ethan makes me forget all that.

I wait patiently as the locksmith lets me into my house, and Ethan watches us the whole time. I know he isn’t trying to be creepy. He’s only making sure I get inside safely. That’s one trait Tyler never had, putting someone else’s safety first. I turn to give Ethan a small wave good-bye before I close the door.

I can’t let the idea of getting hurt keep me from experiencing something great. Ethan and I—it could be more than great. And eventually I want to have a family and a career as an author. Now is as good a time as any to start balancing the two. I’m going to do it. I’m going to give Ethan a chance.

First thing tomorrow, I’ll tell him everything. Lay it all out there and let him make the next move.

* * *

It was hard to sleep last night. My heart raced the entire evening and my stomach fluttered like a child on Christmas Eve. I couldn’t wait for morning to get here. Luckily for me, I don’t have to wait till the clock hits seven before I get up because the persistent knock at exactly six is hard to ignore. I make my way down the stairs and stand on my toes to look through the transom. A groan slips past my lips as I take a deep breath and open the front door.