Can’t stay in here forever.
No noise filtered through from the living room. I pulled on the clothes I’d left hanging by the wash basin and opened the door.
The flat was still. Only the faint hum of the fridge and Theo’s laptop filled the air. Then the freezer mooed, and the spell was broken.
I stepped into the kitchen, watching the back of Theo’s head. He hadn’t moved much. His shoulders were straight, his gaze fixed on the screen, but there was a tension that hadn’t been there before.
I cleared my throat. “Sorry. I’m used to walking around the place naked. I forgot I was sharing space with the easily startled.” The first part was true.
The second left a sour taste in my mouth.
Theo turned enough to look over his shoulder. “Startled isn’t the word.”
I tried a crooked smile. “Annoyed?”
“No.” Theo hesitated, then faced forward again. “Just… unprepared.”
The quietly spoken words had weight.
I stepped closer, stopping a few feet away from Theo’s chair. “I didn’t mean to make things weird.”
Theo stilled his fingers over the keyboard. “Let’s face it, they were already complicated.”
The honesty in his words caught me off guard. I wanted to ask what that meant, but one look on Theo’s face, his mask of calm barely restored, warned me not to push.
I backed toward the sofa. “I’ll stay out of your way.”
Theo didn’t answer. But as I sat, I felt the tension in the room like a low current under the silence.
He’s not angry, or even comfortable.
Then it hit me.
He’s aware of me in a way he wasn’t before.
I opened my sketchbook, pretending to draw. My hand shook too much for the lines to make sense, but it gave me something to stare at that wasn’t Theo.
I thought about the way Theo had looked at me, that momentary flash of wanting before he quickly buried it. Despite the guilt prickling me, I couldn’t regret it.
Because now I know.
There was something there, even if Theo would rather break than name it.
The rest of the morning passed in the same careful quiet. Two people pretending to be busy—well,Iwas pretending, anyway—while the silence between us said everything we weren’t brave enough to say.
“I’m heading out,” Theo said at last. He closed down the laptop and shoved it into a bag.
I swallowed. “You’re not working from home today?”
Theo shook his head. “I’ll go to a café where I work sometimes. Then we’ve got a rehearsal tonight. I’m not sure when I’ll be home. There’s food in the fridge, and if you need anything, there’s a little shop around the corner that sells everything.” His lips twitched again. “For a price.”
“Look, if you’re leaving because of me, you don’t have to worry,” I blurted. “I’ll stay out of your hair.”
Theo stood. “You don’t have to.”
“I’m pretty sure I do.” I kept my tone light.
Theo swallowed. “Just make yourself at home.”