Page 9 of Boyfriend From Hell

We were both tipsy, and I had to admit—I was having a surprisingly decent time with him.

I guess you really shouldn’t judge a book by its cover; he was actually nice to talk to.

But then again, that could’ve just been the wine and loneliness talking.

“Uh, well today’s my birthday and I don’t know, it sounds stupid, but my boyfriend has pretty much ghosted me all day.

” It felt so embarrassing saying it out loud to a stranger.

Raios’ eyebrows knitted together again. “Should I be here right now, I mean like sitting on your couch sharing wine with you?” He looked nervous, which was adorable.

“No!” I all but reached for him but stopped myself. “No, sorry. Ex-boyfriend.”

I covered my face with my hand. “Forgot the ex-part.” I murmured into my glass.

Awkward silence filled the air. Welp.

“I mean, like… You don’t have anything to worry about. Not that you’re doing anything—or, not like we’re doing anything.”

I laughed nervously, my heart kicking into an anxious sprint. I was painfully aware I was rambling and couldn’t stop if my life depended on it.

“I’m sorry. I just mean… this is okay. No boyfriend.” Hello, God? I’m going to need you to put me out of my misery.

Raios chuckled as he regarded me.

“So, what you’re telling me, is you’re single.” He leaned forward and set his glass down on the coffee table in front of us. “And it’s your birthday.”

“Something like that.” My cheeks were on fire.

I shouldn’t have said anything. My jaw clenched as the weight of it settled in—I was starting to feel like I’d ruined the night. Not that I’d been having a stellar one to begin with, and not that this was anything to ruin. But at the very least, I had started to feel a little less miserable.

Raios mumbled something under his breath that I couldn’t quite make out.

“What?” I asked, meeting his eyes. They shined with anger as he shook away whatever the thought was.

“Nothing, I was uh—” He angled his body toward me. His knee pressed lightly against mine and my breath hitched at the contact. “I was just saying, what asshole would choose to lose you?”

I blinked at him. Felix did, I almost said out loud.

He shifted again, his knee now pressing more firmly into mine, and butterflies stirred in my stomach at the contact. He rested his hand on my knee, palm up.

“Here, come with me.” He stood, continuing to offer his hand. “Come on, seriously, I don’t bite.” He winked.

“Uhm,” I began. He wiggled his fingers and the butterflies flew into my chest and seemed to turn into nervous moths.

“Come on, Deer,” he coaxed—and I caved. I cautiously slipped my hand into his. His skin was beyond warm, almost hot. It was strange but felt nice, almost comforting.

What was I doing?

He began leading me toward the bed and I pulled back slightly, the butterfly moth party in me died immediately as my stomach plummeted to my feet.

“Oh, no. I’m sorry, I don’t know if I was leading you on, but despite Felix being an ass and—and the breakup, I’m, well, I’m not really looking for anything, so—”

Raios looked at me incredulously, as if I just cursed him out and spat on him.

Shit, did he think I was going to sleep with him? Leave it to me to invite a whole ass stranger into my home, thinking this wouldn’t turn into some weird shit show.

“What? No, no. I’m not trying to hook up with you,” he said so quickly I almost felt offended, which made no sense because I didn’t want to hook up with him first. “Not that you’re not beautiful, you are.

You’re devastating, so, no disrespect to you.

” His voice made his nervousness evident as he rambled on and tripped over his words—and I believed him.

The weird pang of disappointment when he said he wasn’t trying to hook up with me lingered. Not that I was ready to hook up with anyone yet, I didn’t think. But a part of me wanted to feel wanted in that way, I guess? I don’t know.

He was cute when he was nervous—the way his cheeks flushed pink and his eyes widened slightly. Paired with his dark hair and scarlet irises, he almost looked godlike. But that nervous charm? It was endearing, and for reasons unknown to me, it kind of made me want to wrap my arms around him.

I shook the thoughts from my head. These feelings were so out of left field, I began to wonder if I maybe had a little too much wine.

“There’s a meteor shower tonight, it should be happening right now…I was thinking we could climb out onto the roof and watch it? I know that sounds dumb, but you deserve something nice for your birthday, so I thought maybe—”

“You want to watch the stars with me?” I blurted out.

The corner of his mouth twitched up as he nervously dragged his thumb along my hand, “Yeah… but, we don’t have to.

Sorry, it was a dumb idea. I feel like I’m just making an already strange situation stranger.

” He backtracked, loosening his grip on my hand.

“I can leave now if you want? I feel like I just made things weird.”

I huffed. “Leave and go where? It’s not like you can even get inside your apartment.”

What did he plan to do? Sleep outside his door and wait for the locksmith or the landlord to show up in the morning? He may be a stranger, and I may have been a bitch earlier, but I couldn’t just let him sleep in the hall like that—if that's what he was intending to do.

He shrugged as I gripped his hand a little tighter, not wanting to lose his warmth.

It was comforting, holding someone's hand. I couldn’t remember the last time I had done that.

Even when Felix and I first started seeing each other, sure he was fantastic, but he was never really into holding hands.

I didn’t realize how much I had enjoyed this small thing, until Raios wrapped his around mine.

“No! I’m sorry, it’s just been a day. That sounds really nice actually.” I gave him the warmest smile I could muster, hoping to put a bandage over the awkward situation.

I laughed and added, “No weirdness here!” As an extra bandage, hoping it sounded less awkward than it felt.

He smiled back as relief washed over his face. He flashed me a line of perfect teeth that resurrected the fallen butterflies in my stomach, causing them to go feral with life.

“Okay then, c’mon.”