He rubs his head into my hand as I scratch behind his ears. I wonder again if I should look into taking him to a shelter, but before I can think farther on it he jumps into the room and onto my bed, kneading and making himself at home.
“You can’t stay here. Your family will miss you, and I can’t have pets.” But rather than doing anything to make him leave, I sit on the bed and play with him until he curls up in my lap.
When I reach for my phone to call Brian, Orion looks up at me like I’ve inconvenienced him by moving, and I give him the look right back as I hit dial.
“Hey, beautiful, miss me already?” He chuckles down the line.
“Well yeah, but actually, Orion showed up at my window and invited himself in.”
“Who?” he asks.
I’m not surprised he forgot.
“The cat, Bry.”
“Oh. Weird. Do you think it’s smart to let him into your room?”
“I don’t know, but he didn’t give me much of a choice, and he’s just so cute. He’s starving for affection.” He snorts into the phone at me. “Can you come down?”
“Yeah, be there in a minute.”
A few minutes later, there’s a knock on my door before Brian lets himself in. The sight of him still makes my breath catch and I’m not sure I will ever get over that.
“Hey.” I give him a big smile. I can feel the blush, but I do my best to stomp that shit down before he notices.
“Hey, beautiful,” he says as he sits down on the bed beside me, rubbing Orion’s head, and is effectively ignored. “You’re going to ignore me, eh?” Brian lets out a chuckled sigh. “Harleigh, are you sure him being in here is a good idea? He has a tag so he must have a family. He’s most definitely not wild.”
He nods toward the ball of fur currently sleeping in my lap. “Not unless you have some sort of secret cat taming abilities I don’t know about,” he teases.
“It’s not like I’m going to keep him, but what’s the harm in letting him in once in a while? He just wants love.” I channel Addy and give him my best pout, hoping he finds it cute rather than childish.
“Ah, hell, how am I supposed to say no to that? You’re too fucking adorable.” Cue the blushing. How can I control it after he says something like that?! “But you should be careful, and he shouldn’t sleep in here. I promise to keep your secret, gorgeous.”
Holy shit. Did Brian just called me gorgeous? Cue swoon.
“Bry, are you flirting with me?” I ask, too afraid to make eye contact. What if he isn’t and I totally misread that?
“You just now figuring that out, beautiful? Cause I’ve been trying to since we met.” He actually blushes a bit before looking away.
We sit there in silence for a few minutes while I take in this new information.
He’s actually flirting with me? Yay! My inner self does a little jig while my stomach fills with butterflies.
“I’m sorry if that makes you uncomfortable. You don’t have to say anything, Harleigh. I like you, but I love being your friend and if that’s all I can have, I will take it. I don’t want—” I don’t give him a chance to finish his sentence before I lean over and gently place my lips on his.
I’m really not sure where this confidence came from, but I’m going with it. I really hope I don’t screw this whole thing up. “I like you too.”
He smiles brightly at me before leaning in, my breath catching as he captures my mouth with his. This time his lips are pressed more firmly against mine, but he doesn’t try to deepen the kiss.
“Good,” he says, pulling back just enough to talk, his lips never actually leaving mine, and my heart flutters as he presses back into me again.
His hand softly cups my cheek as our lips move together like they were meant to do this, before he gives me one more soft peck and pulls back.
Time seems to stand still as we sit there, his hand cupping my cheek as we look into each other’s eyes.
As first kisses go, that was holy fucking EPIC! I can hear the squealing in my head from the excitement.
“That was your first kiss?!” Brian manages to squeak out as he drops his hand and jumps off the bed like his ass is on fire.
I groan, dropping my face in my hands.
“Um, yeah. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to say that out loud.”
Shit, he’s panicking. Way to fuck this up, Harleigh. He’s never going to talk to you again.
“What? Of course, I’m going to talk to you, I’m just... I need a second,” he says before he starts pacing the room like he’s on a mission.
We stay like this for a moment while he processes everything. He’s pacing as I hold my head from embarrassment, when I feel movement in my lap.
“Aww sorry, I kinda forgot about you, buddy,” I tell him as he climbs off my lap and sits on the bed to watch Brian’s pacing.
Meow, meow. Hiss. Meow.
Brian stops when he hears Orion. He looks at me before coming back to my side and moving him, which Orion is definitely not happy about it.
Brian takes my hands in his, and makes sure I’m looking at him before he speaks. “I’m sorry if I moved too fast. If I had known, I…I…fuck. I don’t know what I’d have done differently. I just know that I really like you, Harleigh.” He sighs and leans his forehead against mine.
This feels more intimate than I thought it would, and I feel this anxious excitement bubbling in my stomach as I relax into him.
