Page 69 of Save You

There’s a moment of awkward silence and I grab James by the sleeve to pull him upstairs and set him free.We’re on the stairs before I realize what I just did—I touched James, just like that, like it was no big deal.Like it’s something we always do, because we’re friends.

I hastily let go of him.

“I haven’t tidied up or anything,” I say as we stop outside my room.

James shakes his head.“That’s OK.I turned up out of the blue, didn’t I?”

I nod and open the door.I let James step in ahead of me.It’s so weird to be in this room with him, this space that’s so familiar and safe.I automatically feel good, but there’s also this tingling uncertainty inside me—what is this conversation, this day, going to bring?

A quiet sound cuts into my thoughts.

Or rather, a hoarse laugh.

I turn to James.His laugh sounds kind of rusty, like he hasn’t found anything funny for ages.As he sees my confused expression, he waves around the room, taking everything in.“What does your room look like tidy, if this is in a mess, Ruby Bell?”

A warm feeling spreads through my belly and then my whole body, making me smile.

I really like seeing James here.

Seeing him laugh makes mehappy.

A wave of yearning washes over me.It’s trying to drive me over to him, but I stay where I am and close the door quietly behind me.As it clicks gently, James’s smile fades.

For a moment, we just stand there, face-to-face, looking at each other.

“I’m sorry about yesterday,” I say eventually, breaking the ice.

James shakes his head slowly.

“I should have told you sooner.It—”

“Ruby,” he interrupts me softly.“You don’t owe me an explanation.”

He’s right.I know that.Even so, I wish I could turn back time and stop a situation like last night ever happening.

“Why did you run away like that?”I ask cautiously.

He gulps hard.“I was just out of my depth with the whole thing.Wren and I haven’t fought like that for ages.”

“I know your friendship with Wren means a lot to you,” I say quietly.“I’m sorry.”

James walks over to my desk and runs his finger over the spines of the books that have been stacked there all week.“You don’t have to apologize.And I didn’t come here to talk about Wren.”

“You didn’t?What, then?”I whisper.God knows where my voice has disappeared to.

He glances at me briefly, then turns his full attention back to the chaos on my desk.“Do you know why Wren got so angry?”he asks.

I shake my head and take the two steps that bring me to stand beside him.“No.”

“He was angry because he feels like you’re more important to me than anything else now.”

James pauses for a moment before he continues.“And he’s right.”

He’s still standing by my desk.And he’s not looking at me while he’s saying these important words.

“James,” I whisper, to make him turn toward me.

He does as I wish, and the look in his eyes overwhelms me.I can see all the same emotions that are flooding through my body.