first love never die

| Ten • The Velvet Box |

| Chapter Ten ~ The Velvet Box|

While I knew my session was going to be difficult, Blake was at the University talking to her professor about getting an extension on her thesis. Understanding full well that our day was going to be absolute shit, she took...steps.

"He bought you a house?" Blake asked, baffled, as we stood in a huge line to Europa—the newest, hardest restaurant to get a table in the city.

She chose it because the owner was an ex; some guy she dated after she and Adam broke up in college. Blake was sure that knowing him would get us in; I, on the other hand, had witnessed their break up, and knew full well we were probably going to die in that line.

"I don't feel right," I said. "Where exactly did you get this? Better yet, what is it that you made me take?"

"Don't deflect," she said. "Tell me about the house,"

"Apartment," I said. "It's not a house," I continued, before adding: "am I drooling?" I asked, running my fingers over my lips.

"Hits you immediately, doesn't it?" she smiled, rather wickedly.

I nodded, still convinced I was drooling and people could notice. "You were saying?" I asked, wiping my chin.

She looked at me for such a long time, and with an absolutely vacant expression on her face.

"Oh!" she sort of yelled. "The house,"

"Not a house, Blake,"

I never fully understood why Blake and I insisted on getting high together. I'd simply feel as if I was drooling and would get extremely horny, while she would basically forget to function entirely and become super aggressive, turning into a meaner version of Marcy.

"Whatever," she said. "The point is, Ethan bought you a place,"

"Us. He bought us a place," I corrected her. "And he actually bought it for the bedroom," I said.

"He bought an apartment for a bedroom?" She repeated. "What is he, a child?"

"Well, erm...there's a history to that bedroom, Blake," I awkwardly explained, wishing she'd just move on from that part of the story.

"What kind of history can a strange person's apartment have?"

"It's not a stranger's apartment," I said, wiping my lips again. "Besides, it's not important. The point is there's a solid reason why he would think to buy it,"

"A bedroom?" She asked.

"Yes,"

"And the apartment that comes with it?"

"Correct,"

"And you're...fine? You're okay that?"

"Why wouldn't I be fine with it?" I asked her.

"You two now own a place together, Tommy. It's okay to have some anxiety over it," she told me, trying so hard to focus.

I didn't, though. Not really, anyway. Sure, I had devoted maybe a few dozen minutes to that particular fact, and I also knew it was a big deal—I was not that dense. But the apartment didn't scare me, oddly enough, which was ultimately also something I'd taken some time considering as well: the fact that maybe it should scare me, yet somehow, it just didn't.

"I'm actually okay with it. It's big, I know,"

"'Big'?"

I took a deep breath. "What is it you want to say, Blake?"

If there was one thing that annoyed the hell out of me was someone tiptoeing around whatever subject they were trying to address.

"It's just kinda huge, isn't it? One-step-closer-to-marriage type of huge. And I know how you feel about that, so I assumed you'd freak out a bit," she said.