Journey to the Center of the Heart (a novella)

Chapter 2 - "Juliet"

Grady didn’t take Casey’s attraction to him overly serious. The guy had had a little crush on him since they first met in middle school. Casey had never admitted to it, and Grady never spoke of it in a serious manner, simply teasing Casey as if he were just joking and didn’t really believe his friend liked him “that” way. It had never been a problem for them – Casey knew Grady was straight and had never tried crossing forbidden lines. And despite his crush on Grady, Casey had always been cool with Grady’s love life and even willingly sat through Grady’s recounts of his dates. There was never any visible jealously on Casey’s part.

Until today. It had been brief, but quite present.

Maybe it’s because you’re actually serious about this girl. Was that it? Had Casey been unaffected by Grady’s past dates because Grady never became deeply involved with any of the girls he went out with?

“Get a grip,” Grady muttered to himself. He dropped down on the sofa and set his laptop on his thighs, opening it up. “Just because he showed a glimpse of jealousy, don’t make a thing out of it. Casey isn’t in love with you. He-”

‘Are you there?’

The message box flashed on the screen, startling Grady. His pulse spiked and for a moment he couldn’t catch his breath. God, how could this girl affect him so powerfully when he’d just met her last night? He took a deep breath and released it slow. His fingers actually shook as he typed his reply.

Hey.

He stared at the single word response. Say something else, dumb ass.

How are you?

Grady shook his head, hoping to rattle up something clever to say, but it didn’t work. His mind was suddenly blank. Fuck, what was wrong with him? He’d never been this nervous in his life.

‘I’m good. I was thinking about you and thought I would see if you were on.’

Grady cleared his throat, his fingers hovering over the keys. “Type something already. Fuck.”

‘I hope I’m not bugging you. If you’re busy, I’ll leave you alone.’

Shit. The last thing he wanted her to think was that she was bothering him.

No. I’m not busy. You’re not bugging me.

‘What’re you doing?’

Just waiting for my buddy to get back from the store. We’re just hanging out. Probably watch a game or something.

Grady relaxed a little and rested his feet on the coffee table, crossed at the ankles.

‘Sounds like fun. I like baseball.’

You and Casey would get along great.

‘Casey?’

My buddy.

‘Oh. Is Casey a boy? That’s kind of a unisex name.’

Grady smiled; he liked that she asked Casey’s gender. Doing some fishing, trying to find out if he’s hanging out with a girl or not.

Casey is a boy.

‘So he likes baseball, too?’

Oh yeah. Totally obsessed with Babe Ruth. Has tons of memorabilia.

‘Cool.’

Yeah, it is. He is. You’d love him. He’s the best.

Grady stared at the screen. No immediate response came back. He waited, and when she still didn’t reply, he wondered if they’d lost connection.