2:29 AM

Chapter Forty-Seven

It's been a couple of hours since the shower. We ate dinner and Bryce and I haven't said much to each other. It's been awkward and tense. He's distant, distracted.

"So, uh, I should probably go," I say. Bryce turns to look at me. I can't read his face or his eyes.

"Why?" He doesn't say anything else. I sigh and stand up.

"Um, it just doesn't seem like you really want me here," I say, walking away from him. "I'm sorry if I did something wrong...back there." I grab my backpack and walk towards the door. I look at him again, trying to see what he's thinking.

"I don't want you to go," Bryce says. He's standing up. "You didn't do anything wrong." If I didn't do anything wrong, why is he acting like this?

"Why should I stay?" I ask.

He says four words that almost destroy me, "Because I need you."

Suddenly his face is two centimeters away from mine. He tucks a strand of hair behnd my ear and runs his fingers along my face. "Please stay, sweetheart," Bryce says softly. That's all it takes for my bag to slide to the ground and my arms to wrap around his waist. My face is pressed into his chest. I hear his heart race as his arms slide around me.

I release a breath that I didn't know I was holding. His arms tighten around me. "I'll stay for tonight," I say. He nods and we go back to the couch. He keeps his arm around me as we watch movies that blur into the next.

Bryce says he's fine, but there's something that's bothering him. I try to shake it off. Maybe I'm the one who's off. I'm still trying to process what happened in the shower. Oh, sweet Jesus that was good.

The credits for the movie roll. "What do you want to watch now?" Bryce asks. I shrug.

"Whatever you want to." We've watched so many movies I've lost count. It seems that Bryce likes classic romance films. It's cute.

"How about Titanic?" I raise an eyebrow at him and he shrugs, smiling. "What? It's a good movie," he says.

"It is a good movie. It's just cute that you like it," I say. He smiles and we start watching Titanic. We're still not talking much. I don't know what to say. Hey, that was probably the best sex I've ever had. You wanna do it again?

I definitely can't say that. It wasn't just sex with him, it was something more. I'm aching to touch him. But I can't. I don't know how he feels. If he regrets it.

Keep it in your pants, Andy. I shake my head. Bryce's hand moves to my leg and I nearly jump. He's tracing patterns on my knee, but he's affecting me. Why am I so responsive towards him?

I just need to watch the movie. Of course we're watching Titanic, pretty much the longest movie ever made.

Three hours later Bryce and I are walking upstairs to go to bed. "So, um, where are you gonna sleep?" I ask, biting my lip.

"Ian's room," he says.

"Oh," I say. That kind of hurts. "Well, good night."

"Night," he says. I walk into his room and he goes into Ian's. I don't know what's wrong. He went from sleeping on the floor to sleeping in an entirely different room. I turn off the lights and crawl under the covers. I try to go to sleep but my mind won't turn off.

I turn on my side. Bryce. He's stuck in my head. I haven't thought about Colton once. I didn't even really think about Colton when I was with him, at least not since Ellie and Ian's school dance.

But now, Colton cheated on me and we're done. And Bryce and I are together but he's not really present.

Just go to sleep. Forget about everything, I tell myself. My eyes shut and I try to clear my head.