When the doorbell rang Friday evening, Naomi scurried to the door and answered it with a sports beverage in hand to give to Greg since he'd cycled at least thirty minutes to get here. He laughed as he tried to refuse.
She shook her head back and forth. "I've already had one. Blue is your favourite, and your Fridays are too busy for you to drink enough."
He accepted the bottle and screwed open the orange cap. "It surprises me the little things you remember."
"We've been friends for over a decade. It teaches you a lot about a person."
"Only if you're paying attention to the details." He took a sip and smiled.
"You know me, master of the irrelevant and a sieve of the important parts."
"I recall that in high school."
It had led to her nearly failing her math and most science classes, but Greg had tutored her and taught her tricks, so enough information had sunk in for her to pass. Biology and languages were the only subjects that came more naturally to her.
"I wouldn't have graduated if it wasn't for you."
"Nah, you're brighter than you think, Nomi."
They stepped inside, and Greg left his shoes on the orange carpet doormat with floral designs worked in. He chuckled to himself. "I'm in awe of your and Shivanna's commitment to stick to the retro theme with this house."
"Luckily MCM is all the rage at IKEA and on Marketplace. Did I show you the record player console we found a few weeks ago? It cost only 50 bucks, and it works. Now we need a better record collection."
Greg followed her into the living room with a wood panel accent wall. Cleo's paws clicked on the hardwood floor as she stood and stretched. She trotted toward him with a wagging tail and sat at his feet, waiting to be petted. He obliged with a grin, and she groaned in contentment, leaning into Greg's touch. Lucky Cleo.
"You have the most chill dog."
"She burned off a lot of energy running around the yard this morning, and we jogged together not too long ago. Right, Clo?"
With the sidewalks finally free of snow and ice and the temperatures decent, runs were safer and more enjoyable.
"She's fortunate to have you."
"I'd say the opposite. I'm the lucky one. So this is it." She gestured to a rectangular wooden console with black speakers on each end. The top section that opened to expose the record player doubled as a table for Shivanna's plants.
"Looks great. I'm envious of how cozy it is here." He kept stroking Cleo's back, who soaked up every drop of his affection like she sensed how much Naomi wanted it.
"Your place could be cozy if you parted with a little money," she teased.
Greg chuckled until his face fell. "You're sounding like Tara."
Naomi held her hands up in jest. "Sorry. I respect the 'retire by 35' plan, even if it sounds boring."
He was the most frugal person she'd ever met. He had a limited budget for going out, so he seldom attended post-game drink nights, ate at restaurants, or frequented bars. Last weekend was a rare exception, spurred on by his buddies and heartbreak. He biked and bussed almost everywhere, and he worked overtime, rarely taking a day off even at the expense of his health.
He stopped petting Cleo and stood. "Don't worry, you'll still be welcome to visit my mansion and ride in my sports car. If you play your cards right, I might whisk you away on a tropical holiday."
Naomi grinned, imagining the two of them walking hand-in-hand on the beach with the warm equatorial sun on their skin. "I'm so in for that last one. It's weird to hear you planning a vacation or picturing you driving a car."
"If everything goes according to plan, it's only ten years off, and that's why I'm sacrificing now to live it up later."
"Whatever works for you."
"I love how down-to-earth you are."
Naomi shrugged and sat on the burnt orange sofa. "It's your life. Live it how you want."
He sat beside her, leaving some space, and sipped his drink. His eyes, more green than gray in this lighting, flickered to her, and he smiled. Nomi's stomach fluttered a little. Did she have something on her face since he was staring, or was he actually interested?
"However, it goes, I hope you're always a part of it." His voice wavered as he inhaled.
She had to remind herself he could mean as a friend when she envisioned being swallowed in his embrace and peppered in kisses.
"I screwed up at the club, Nomi. I should have said that instead of ditching you. This whole break-up has messed with my head and left me insecure." His tone, the same one he'd used to confide in her countless times after business mess-ups, break-ups, or fights with people he cared about showed he was sincere. But his actions had still stung.
"Hopefully, your new friend helped with that." Naomi tried not to sound malicious or jealous but wasn't sure she succeeded. She added a smile that felt fake.
"She wasn't a friend, she was..." He scratched his neck. "It's embarrassing, and I regret kissing her. Especially since it put more distance between us."
His enthusiasm that night hadn't seemed regretful. "You created that distance."
"It was an asshole move, and I'm surprised you're talking to me today. You're an amazing friend, and I need to appreciate that more without getting caught up in my insecurities and what I wish was happening."
Naomi raised an eyebrow. The word 'friend' didn't reassure her, but the last part did. Was he saying what she'd hoped? "What do you wish was happening?"
Greg looked at her and rubbed his sock-clad feet together like he did when he was nervous. "You'll laugh at me. Every time I've tried this with you, it fails, but... I need to get this off my chest once and for all."
She smiled at him. "I'm listening."
He ran a hand through his hair and exhaled with pursed lips. "Ever since we met, I've had a thing for you. It's ridiculous because I'm not your type, and you were clear about it when I was a freshman naïve enough to hint at it and think you would be into me, but those feelings never faded, no matter how much I try to forget them."
What? Greg still liked her? Even when he'd dated gorgeous fancy restaurant chefs like Tara or made out with hot strangers at the bar? But why had he run at the club?
"You like me romantically?"
He was still staring at his feet. "I do."
Did he mean it if he couldn't meet her eyes? "Really?"
"Please, Nomi, I can't take you mocking me right now."
Greg liked her. He had always liked her! The man who'd supported her at softball since junior high, who'd gotten her through losing her first pet, who'd held her and complimented her until her heart ached less after break-ups, and who'd believed in her and helped her buy this house.
She hummed with energy like the bases were loaded and she was up to bat. This was her future. A future with the man she loved and trusted more than anyone else. All she had to do was swing.
"Look at me, Greg." She smiled at him with all the emotion in her heart. It clopped away like the hooves of a racehorse. "I'd never mock you for saying what I've been dying to hear for a decade."
As his gaze met hers, his jaw dropped, and his lips turned into a smile. "Wait, what?"
She'd waited a lifetime for him to stare at her with that awe and desire. Their smiles battled to see who would last the longest, sending her stomach into a fluttering mess. Her dreams would become reality: Greg pulling her into his arms and whispering that he missed her before kissing her softly, snuggling together through movies, parties, and after stressful days, him professing his love to her and asking her to spend the rest of their lives together.
Shoot, she was getting carried away, and he was still waiting for an answer with wide, interested eyes.
"At the club, I wasn't just trying to be your friend, Greg. I..."
Tell him you're asexual. You have romantic feelings for him. Spit it out. He'll get it.
He grinned and leaned closer.
C'mon, say 'I'm ace, and my version of attraction is a little different from yours, but I fall asleep imagining our amazing life together.'
Her mouth grew dry, and her head was fuzzy for a moment. Greg passed her the sports drink and a small sip helped calm her nerves. "Thanks." She set the bottle on a stone coaster on the table and inhaled deeply. Time to be honest, but she only managed, "I like you."
He took her hands in his and smiled. "Do you like like me?" The last time he'd asked her that was in ninth grade. She'd been so embarrassed that she denied it with such vigour that he'd taken someone else to the dance, and she'd boycotted it for some arbitrary reason. She wasn't about to throw away another opportunity.
"Yeah," she whispered. The rapid-fire beats of her heart blocked all sounds in the room.
He broke into a grin. "Finally." His hand moved from hers to behind her neck. Their eyes locked as he leaned closer, his breath tickling her lips until he pulled her into a tender kiss she savoured. She grew warm, like after cuddling into her heaviest comforter. She'd dreamed of this for so long, and it was as heavenly as she imagined.
Too soon, his lips moved with such urgency that Naomi froze. His tongue begged for entrance, but her lips closed like a steel gate.
This is Greg, relax. Greg who's always supported you, Greg who cares about you, Greg whom you've been in love with since high school.
He must have noticed because he pulled away. "Nomi? Is this not what you wanted?"
Her heart was racing for the wrong reason, and cold sweat coated her palms. She'd imagined this countless times but never expected her apprehension. In her head, it felt good, but in reality, she wasn't ready.
"It is, I mean, us being an us is a dream, but now that it's real, it's just..." As she stalled, he waited without trying to put words in her mouth. "Scary."
She wished her reaction didn't remind her of a high school kid doing this for the first time. She'd done far more than this with her exes without discomfort. Despite her past relationships, or maybe because of them, she couldn't shake this unease. She'd wanted a storybook beginning with Greg, but it wasn't possible for asexual people because of the unwritten rule that romance always led to sex. That was what he expected.
He squeezed her hand and kept his other one on his thigh. "We're the same people with the same feelings. We're just not hiding them anymore."
With a sigh, she contemplated how inaccurate his statement was. They had different desires. "I'm not like Tara or that woman from the bar."
She had thought she'd make it through their first kiss, but... As much as she'd accepted her asexuality, moments like this made her wish she could flick it off and have a normal love life.
"Thank God for that. Nomi, if I had picked up what you hinted at, I would have never left you. Nothing else happened with that other woman, I promise."
"This is all... fast."
"Fast?" Greg chuckled to himself. "We've been crushing on each other for a decade."
"But we haven't been doing this for a decade." Her heart raced as she expected his diminutive response.
He studied her and stroked the back of her hand. "That's fair. I got carried away with my excitement. Forgive me?"
Naomi nodded and leaned into his chest as he embraced her. He kissed the crown of her head, her nose, and both cheeks, and he finished with a gentle peck on the lips. She snuggled into his side and exhaled away her unease. This was a lot better.
"Any suggestions for the rest of our afternoon?"
"A movie?" Nomi asked.
"What are you in the mood for?"
Nothing overly romantic or that required too much thinking. She needed her chicken noodle soup equivalent of a film. "A League of Their Own?"
Greg laughed. "That's a throwback. It's reassuring that some things never change. Still have it on DVD?"
"Of course."
They gathered up the movie and snacks for themselves and Cleo—who stared at the bowl of air-popped popcorn—then settled onto the couch together. All afternoon, Naomi cuddled with Greg in bliss, and he kept his word to keep their intimacy slow. Perhaps her asexuality wouldn't ruin this relationship after all.
***
Did Greg make up for his actions at the bar in your eyes? Do you think he and Naomi have a shot?