The Roommate Agreement(60)

Jesus, I was overthinking this.

This was the problem when you wrote books for a living. Mostly everything had to be thought through, and it wasn’t always a good skill to bring into real life.

I blew out a long breath and looked at Brie, smiling. “I’m overreacting, aren’t I?”

She grinned. “Do you need me to answer that?”





CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO – JAY


Communication Is Key, Unless You Ate The Oreos



“So what are you doing?” Sean asked, leaning against the side railing of the pier.

A gentle breeze whipped around me as I dropped my head back and looked at the darkening sky. “Figuring it all out. It ain’t easy, you know? It’s been four days—four fuckin’ days since we admitted how we feel about each other.”

“In other words, Shelby’s phoning it in.”

I looked at him out of the side of my eye. He wasn’t exactly wrong, but it didn’t bother me. I knew Shelby, and the fact that she’d even admitted to my face that she had feelings for me was something.

It was a fucking breakthrough, that was what it was.

“She’s dealing with stuff in her own way,” I replied. “It’s not easy for her to talk about emotion. It never has been. I might tease her, but I’m never going to pressure her into doing something she isn’t ready for. If she wants to casually date, fine. She wants to exclusively date, fine. It’s all her prerogative. It doesn’t mean she doesn’t have feelings for me.”

Sean grunted. “I dunno how you deal with it. Brie’s so open about everything. It’d drive me crazy figuring out what’s going on.”

“Man, you need to remember they’re different people. Brie is the extrovert to Shelby’s introvert. Brie could spend all night in the middle of a club, dancing with strangers. That would give Shelby an anxiety attack. She’d rather lie in bed with a book.”

“I get that. It’s why they’ve been stuck to each other like glue since they were fuckin’ eight.” He snorted. “I guess I don’t understand how you can trust how she feels.”

“She told me.”

“She told you the feeling was mutual.”

“Exactly. Do you know how hard that was for her?” I turned and looked at him. “She was terrified to tell me that. We’ve been best friends for twenty years. Shelby isn’t the kind of person to do anything on a whim.”

“I know. She took me shopping for Brie’s birthday. We went to two towns and thirteen stores.”

I smirked. If that didn’t sum Shelby up… “She’s flaked on every serious relationship she’s ever come close to having. Nobody has ever understood her. She’s not afraid of commitment, she’s just private. Ironic, really, considering she’s happy to admit that she puts a piece of her soul into every single book she writes.”

“We’re different people. Not knowing exactly how she felt… Shit, Jay, even when Brie’s mad at me, I know exactly how she feels.” He gave me an exhausted look. “Her ass makes sure she details every single thing.”

“You’re talking about a woman who put a roommate agreement in front of me to tell me exactly how she felt. The first thing she did yesterday was outlaw wearing pants in the apartment. That tells me a lot.”

It was also my new favorite rule, for what it was worth.

She’d worn a dress this morning.

If I hadn’t had to go to work, we would have made it three-for-three on the sex timetable before lunch.

Sean laughed, shoving his hands in his pockets. “Well, if that ain’t love…”

“You’re a step ahead of us there.” I joined him in laughing. “It’s the little shit like that. She’s hard work, but hell, I’ve put up with it for twenty years already.”

“I thought you weren’t in love with her.”

“I’m not. That doesn’t mean I don’t love her, though. I do. I love her and have for years. It’s complicated.”

“Yeah, because now you live with her, and she’s not just the cute friend you go to for advice.”

I glanced at him. “She’s the one I go to other people about.”

“Exactly.” He shrugged. “You make sense to me. Let’s face it: you fuckin’ suck at being an adult. Your grandma washed your clothes until recently. She’s a good influence on you.”

“She always has been.” I looked out over the pier. At the food stalls, the lights, the tourist-centric rides, and arcades that brought people to our little coastal town.

What I was saying was true. The crazy, sweet, quiet, sarcastic, kooky woman who was my best friend was a good influence on me.

We just really needed to figure out what we were to each other.

I think I already knew what she was to me. It felt so trivial to say that she was my kind of forever because if I was honest, I’d never imagined a future without Shelby in it.

Maybe that was my first clue.

Not once had I ever seen a future without her, but I’d never seen one with her on the sidelines, either.

She’d always been front and central, an integral part of my life.

Even if she avoided the gym like the plague. The same one I’d own one day.