Page 7 of How the Other Half Lives

Never before had I dreaded my family leaving my house, but now it seemed that Alex would be the last one to remain.

If we were a real couple, it would make total sense, especially since he had brought a duffel bag, signaling to my parents that he was likely staying the night. I was an adult, they knew that, and they would expect that my boyfriend would stay over on occasion.

However, after everything that transpired throughout the evening, the likelihood of him staying the night seemed to diminish. Even though my body desired it, my brain knew better than to prolong this hurt any longer.

At this point he had to think I was insane for how much I’d told my family about him and how they’d welcomed him with open arms like we were already committed to one another rather than casual acquaintances.

He had to know by now that I’d thought our relationship was more than just casual. Thankfully he had played along. It was a perfect evening, if you took away the fact that he wasn’t actually my boyfriend.

Finally, the door closed, and my family was gone. It was just Alex and me standing awkwardly inside the front door.

“So, Fancy,” he said with a grin. “That was fun.”

The smile of his and the way he said my nickname went straight to my groin. The need for a stiff drink was strong, and it must have been written on my face.

“We’ve got some beer in the fridge still, right?” he asked, already walking over and making himself at home. He took out the regular IPA that I enjoyed, popped the top on both, and handed one to me. The whole situation felt oddly domestic. As if Sunday dinners with my family were normal and this was how we wound down after.

I retreated to the living room, and Alex followed along, sitting down next to me on the sofa.

“So, that was my family,” I remarked.

“I didn’t know they were coming over for dinner tonight.”

“I know,” I said. “I was going to tell you on Thursday.”

We were quiet then.

“I think we should talk,” he said. His arm was on the back of the couch, his hand within reach of my shoulder.

My stomach rolled. “I know.” I buried my face in my hands and leaned forward. “Gosh, I’m so dumb.” I let out a wry laugh.

His brow furrowed. “What do you mean? Why are you dumb?”

“I am going to be totally honest with you, I didn’t realize that this thing between us was casual. I mean, I should have, right? It started out that way. I just thought things had changed, and I was a few steps ahead of you, maybe a whole mile ahead of you. So it’s not a big deal. We can forget it ever happened. No biggy. I can tell my parents we broke up. It won’t be weird at all.” Which one of us was I trying to convince?

“Is that what you want?” he said.

What I wanted wasn’t important. I wanted what I thought I had – a relationship with Alex.

“Not really, no. You saw how my mom is. She will hound me with questions. But that’s fine. I got myself into this mess, I’ll get myself out.”

He ran a hand through my hair, his fingers threading through my locks and the tips of his fingers massaging into my scalp. I closed my eyes and leaned into the touch.

“You’d never guess I was on the short list for court judge, sitting here looking like a doofus.”

“Yeah, about that. You never mentioned that you were on any sort of list for that kind of thing. You had said that you wanted that in the future. I just didn’t realize it was so close.”

“I didn’t either,” I said, “but an opening came up when Judge Haverson retired. I had hoped I’d be considered, but am I ready? Am I really ready?”

“Of course you are. You can do anything you put your mind to. If you’re taking that kind of leap in your career, you don’t want a handyman at your side. You need someone—”

“Don’t do that,” I said. “That’s not fair to me.”

“Not fair to you? I’m being honest.”

I pulled away from his touch, scooting further away on the couch. “If you don’t want to be in a relationship with me because you thought this was just a casual hookup, that’s fine. I misread the signs. I own that. But don’t cheapen it and say that you’re not good enough. I was more than happy—I was elated when I thought you and I were serious. I was more than happy to introduce you as my boyfriend. I was more than willing to tell my family all about you, not some made-up version or some silly lie, just you. Because I like you. The handyman, maintenance guy, whatever title you want to go by. I don’t need you to be anything but yourself, and I’m sorry if I’m come on too strong and made things awkward. You can go, and we can just forget this ever happened. What I can’t do is go back to just being casual. I can’t do that.”

There we were. The only pieces left on the board were laid bare. Check mate.

Alex’s jaw tensed and a muscle ticced.

“I don’t want to go back either. It really never occurred to me that we could be anything but casual. So you might be a few steps ahead of me as far as this relationship goes, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to catch up. I want to be with you. Date you. For real.”

“Date?” For the first time in three days a small hint of hope flared.

“Yeah, like, I could introduce you to my friends, my family. We could go out to actual restaurants. We could even stay the night at my apartment once. Probably not, though. I don’t have a nice bed like you.”

“It’s probably too soon for me to ask you to move in.” I hadn’t meant to voice that out loud. It wasn’t the first time it had crossed my mind. I had assumed we were just a few weeks, maybe a few months away from that.

“Yeah, just a little bit, but maybe not that far away. I… Shit, I’m not good at this stuff, Vance. That’s why I didn’t think we were anything but casual and why it didn’t occur to me to ask for more, but I… I like you. A lot. I was falling for you long before Thursday. Hearing you refer to me as your boyfriend was nice. Not hearing from you for two days was torture. I’m not sure I would have come here today if my friend hadn’t pointed out what an idiot I’ve been. But I’m glad I did. Meeting your family was awesome. I love them. It just literally never occurred to me that a relationship with you was an option.”

“Of course it is,” I said quietly. I faced him now.

He moved closer to me and kissed my lips. “Good.” He picked up the remote and clicked on the TV. “I guess I’m staying tuned.”