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Henry couldn’t stop himself from glancing at the door for the fifteenth time in the last five minutes. He’s not sure why he’s so anxious. It’s just another day, the same as all the other ones he lives through.
“Would you calm down?” Bea pipes from next to him. She places her hand on his knee, stopping the constant shaking.
“Sorry.” Henry says. “I don’t know why I’m so nervous right now. It’s not like I’m going to do anything but watch him order his coffee.” He turns his attention back to his own drink and tries to calm himself down.
“Are you always like this when he comes in?”
Henry shakes his head. “No. I’m never like this. Every other time I sit here and do my own thing and then when he comes in I watch him order and then leave. I don’t know what’s wrong with me right now.”
“Maybe something will be different.” Bea says, not at all helping. “Maybe this time, he’ll see you, think you’re cute, and come over to talk.”
Henry’s eyes widened at that. He’s always imagined finally talking to Alex, but he never thought it would actually happen. What if Alex did come over to his table today? What if he sat down and they really hit it off? What if Henry made a complete fool of himself and Alex hated him forever? Oh, God, what if he comes over because he thinks Bea is cute and not Henry?
“Hen, calm down.” Bea’s voice is soft as she places her hand over his. Henry closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, once, twice. When he opens his eyes he looks at Bea with a small smile and gives her a tiny nod. “I didn’t mean to freak you out.”
“No, it’s okay, I just. God, I don’t know why I’m so anxious.”
“I think we should just distract you until he shows up.” Bea says. “Okay, try to guess what number I’m thinking of.”
They used to think they could read each other’s minds when they were younger. Henry was never able to guess what Bea was thinking, but she could always guess what was in his head. He never figured out how she did it.
As he starts to guess a number, he sees someone walking past the window they are seated next to. All of the air is taken from his lungs.
“Too late,” he tells his sister. “Incoming.” He picks up his coffee, just to have something to do, and tries to make himself look busy.
The bell on the door chimes as it’s pushed open and in walks the most beautiful guy Henry has ever seen. Alex Claremont-Diaz, a big shot lawyer at the largest firm in New York. He’s been coming into this coffee shop for months. Every time he comes in, Henry sips his coffee and simply admires the other man as he puts in his order.
They’ve never interacted with each other. Henry’s imagined it, but he doesn’t have the guts to actually say anything to him. So, he just sits and waits then sits and watches then sits and pines. The same thing every day.
Except for today.
It turns out both Henry’s anxiety and his sister were right. He watches as Alex orders his drink and moves to the other end of the counter as usual. Unlike all the other times, Alex turns and looks around the coffee shop. His eyes scan over the other patrons like he’s looking for someone, and Henry tries to quickly avert his eyes and pretend he’s focused on Bea. He’s not quick enough though. Alex’s eyes brighten as they land on the two siblings and once he has his coffee, he makes his way over.
Henry’s brain was repeating a mantra of oh shit oh shit oh shit as he looks at Bea in a panic. Bea, helpful as ever, just shrugs at him and smiles as Alex gets to their table.
“Hello,” she greets him.
“Hi.” Alex says. “Uh, I’m Alex.” I know Henry thinks. He doesn’t say that though. He just sits there silently freaking out.
“I’m Beatrice. You can call me Bea. This is my brother Henry.” The emphasis she put on the word brother was just subtle enough to be ignored.
“Yes. Henry. I’ve seen you here, but I never figured out your name. Nice to meet you.” Alex has no idea what he’s doing to Henry right now. He flashes a bright smile and Henry nearly becomes a puddle of want. “Do you mind if I sit? I kind of have something I wanted to ask you, both of you I suppose.”
Henry looks at Bea again. He briefly wishes that their telepathy was real so he could send her death threats for what he knows she’s about to do. As much as he’s been dying to finally speak to Alex, he’s not ready. He hasn’t had time to mentally prepare.
Bea grins at Alex and says, “Of course! Have a seat. We’d love to chat.”
So, Alex pulls out the chair across from Henry and settles into it. Nobody says anything for a minute. The silence between them is slightly awkward, but Henry thinks that’s just because he’s so uncomfortable. He’s trying not to make it visibly obvious just how uncomfortable he is.
“So,” Bea starts, dragging out the word, “What’s up?”
Alex clears his throat before he begins. “Right. Uhm. Okay, this is going to sound totally crazy, please bear with me,” he says. “I need one of you to be my date. To a party. At my firm.”
Both Henry and Bea just stare at him. They are wearing matching looks of shock and confusion on their faces.
“You what?” Henry finally speaks up.
“I told you it would sound crazy.” Alex sighs. “For some reason, everyone at the firm has decided that I’m some suave, player type who always has a new partner. I don’t know where they got the idea, but I never really let them think otherwise. So, when my boss announced this team bonding party, everyone was on me to bring my latest partner. They’re all excited to meet them,” he explains this all in very few breaths.
“You can’t just take your partner?” Henry asks. Because of course he has one. Why wouldn’t he? Henry’s kicking himself for ever thinking he could have a chance with this man.
“Are you stupid? He obviously doesn’t have one.” Bea rolls her eyes at him. “You’ll have to excuse my brother. Sometimes his brain doesn’t work.”
“Rude.” Henry scoffs. She simply ignores him and focuses on Alex. If Henry didn’t know better, he would be annoyed by her willingness to give him her attention.
“You think it’s a good idea to ask complete strangers to do this?” A logical question.
“Well, I thought about asking my best friend, but she’s also my ex, so I didn’t think that was a good idea. I was panicking about it on the way here, but then I thought why not ask the guy I always see in the coffee shop, you know? I figured he seemed nice enough. But since you’re here too, I’m asking either of you.”
“I see.” Bea nods in understanding. “I’ll do it.”
Both Henry and Alex perk up at that, but for different reasons. Alex is happy and grateful and excited. Henry is confused and feeling borderline betrayed.
“Really? You will?”
“Yeah, sure it sounds fun.” she says. “Do I get to wear a fancy dress?”
“I will buy you a fancy dress. I’ll buy you ten fancy dresses. Thank you so much for this.”
“Oh, it’s no problem at all.” Bea’s smile looks sweet to anybody else, but Henry can see the mischief behind it. “Let me give you my number. We can meet up soon and talk everything out, yeah?”
Henry chooses to tune them out here. He doesn’t need to listen to the guy he’s been crushing on for months giving his number to his own sister, the traitor. Ever since he first saw Alex in the coffee shop, he was hooked. Obviously he didn’t know anything about him other than his coffee order, but he wanted to. He’s wanted nothing more than to learn all about the other man. And his sister just took his opportunity away from him.
Henry thinks he has a right to be upset right now.
He tunes back in just as Alex and Bea are finalizing their plans.
“Alright, I should probably go.” Alex says, grabbing his now empty coffee cup. “It was very nice meeting you both. And, again, thank you so much, Bea.”
“You’re very welcome, Alex. I’ll see you soon.” Bea says, way to cheerfully.
“Bye, Henry.” Alex gives him a small wave, to which Henry returns a smile and a nod. He used to be good with words.
He watches as Alex leaves the coffee shop, walks past their window again, and rounds the corner. Once he’s gone, Henry turns back to Bea and hopefully bruises her arm with the fist he throws at it.
“Ow, what the fuck!” she exclaims, rubbing at her now injured arm.
“Exactly! What the fuck, Bea? Why did you do that?” Henry asks.
“What, like you were going to say yes?”
“I would have! If you hadn’t taken the chance from me.”
“Oh, please, Hen. You couldn’t even say hello to him.” She makes a very good point. She always makes good points, one thing Henry hates about her. “It’s better this way. The party is in a few weeks so we’re going to be seeing a lot of each other. You can spend time with him without all the pressure.”
Henry gives her a suspicious look. “So, you’re not doing this to take him away from me?” he asks, like the paranoid idiot he is.
“Why would I want to do that?” Bea rolls her eyes at him.
“I can give you a whole ten pages of reasons.”
“The fact that you have ten pages on why you’re into Alex is the entire reason I would never take him from you. Not that he’s really yours.” she adds that last part just to torture him a little bit.
“I hate you.” Henry tells her. “I really hate you.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. Whatever. Alex and I are seeing each other in two days.”
“I just can’t believe I have had a thing for this guy and you get to hang out with him. How is that even fair?” Henry grumbles. Bea just laughs, pats his hand in a “you’ll be okay” way, and goes to order another coffee.
_________________________
It’s two days later when Henry decides he really, truly hates his sister. He’s woken up way too early by a series of loud knocks on the door. He waits for Bea to answer the door, but after a few more knocks it becomes clear she’s not going to.
Sighing, he rolls out of his bed and puts his pants back on. As he pads out into the living room, he stops to smack his hand against Bea’s door, hoping to wake her up. He lets out a flattering yawn as he opens the door only to immediately slam it shut again. It was probably rude to do, but he couldn’t care at the moment.
Alex Claremont-Diaz is standing outside his front door right now.
He knew Bea was meeting up with Alex today, but she never said it would be happening at their apartment. Or that it would be happening so early in the fucking morning. Henry hasn’t even brushed his teeth yet! Oh, God, his hair is probably a mess too. One look in the mirror to his right confirms that his hair is in fact a mess. He quickly runs his fingers through it, takes a deep breath, and reaches for the door again. Now or never, he supposes.
“Hi,” he says. He’s both relieved that Alex is still there and annoyed that the universe hadn’t decided to spare him.
Alex looks amused. “Hey,” he says back. “Nice to see you again.”
“Uh, yeah. Yeah, nice to see you too. Please, come in.” Henry moves out of the way to allow Alex to pass by. “Uh, make yourself comfortable. I’ll just go see where Bea is.” He leaves Alex standing in the living room, and rushes his way back down the hall. Without bothering to knock, because she lost her right to privacy the second she betrayed him, Henry barges into his sister’s bedroom.
Of course, she’s not even there. Leave it to Bea to leave Henry all alone to make a fool of himself in front of the object of his affection. Whatever. Before he leaves the room, he slips into Bea’s bathroom and rinses his mouth out with her mouthwash. It’s not as effective as brushing his teeth, but it’ll do for now.
When he goes back out, he finds Alex standing next to the large bookshelf in the living room, running his finger over the spine. He leads him into the kitchen and offers him something to drink, like a polite host.
“Do you have coffee?”
Henry smiles to himself. He should have known that would be Alex’s request. He moves to get the coffee down and start up the pot. He finds a note attached to the coffee pot saying went to get breakfast. alex should be there before i get back, enjoy time with him. bea <3. For the first time in the last three years, Henry is really regretting moving in with her.
“So,” he drags out the word, “Bea went out to get breakfast. Either already made food or ingredients for me to make food. She should be back soon, but until then it’s just us.”
“That’s fine. I don’t mind you too much.” Alex grins at him. “Besides, you and I didn’t get much of a chance to talk at the coffee shop the other day. Now’s our chance to get to know each other.”
“I suppose you’re right. Though, there’s not much to know about me.” Henry pours two cups of coffee and hands one to Alex so he can make it however he likes. He barely holds in a grimace at the amount of both sugar and creamer Alex pours into it.
“I didn’t know you read A.J. Fox. He’s my favorite author.” Alex says.
He tries not to, but Henry can feel his face heat up with a blush. So, Alex reads his books. That’s fine. Nothing to be embarrassed about. He’s never before been embarrassed about his writing. Except this is Alex.
He’s just a little bit embarrassed.
“Actually, I don’t. Read A.J. Fox, that is.” he tells the other man.
“Oh, really? You have all his books, so I just assumed. Are those Bea’s then?”
“No,” Henry sighs, “they’re all mine.”
“I don’t get it.”
He has to refrain from sighing again. “I wrote them,” he says quietly.
Alex doesn’t say anything. He only stares at Henry with a look of complete disbelief. Then, slowly, a smile spreads across his face and his eyes brighten.
“No fucking way! Did you really?” He gets even more excited when Henry nods. “That’s so cool. Oh my God. Do you know how incredible you are?”
Henry’s blush deepens. “I know my books are successful.” he says, humble as ever.
“Yeah, because you’re fucking incredible. Dude, you’re the whole reason I got back into reading. I swear I’ve read your first book like five times.”
“Only five?” Henry acts offended.
“Well, the second one I read 8 times. It’s my favorite. The third one I read five times as well.” Henry is completely stunned. He knew people liked his work, but he didn’t know anyone liked it that much.
“That’s amazing,” he says. Alex shrugs like it’s nothing. It’s definitely not nothing.
“What can I say? You’re really talented. I have so many questions.” And that’s how they spend the time waiting for Bea to come back.
Alex asks Henry countless questions such as how did he get into writing and where did he get the name A.J. Fox and is he planning a fourth book. Henry answers each question patiently. He tells Alex that he’s always loved making up stories with his dad when he was younger, his pen name comes from his dad Arthur James Fox, and he is, in fact planning a fourth book. The last answer then leads to Henry telling Alex all about his plans for said book.
Henry is grilling Alex about his own life when Bea finally walks in the door. Neither man notices that an entire hour has passed since they’ve been talking. They also don’t notice that the food Bea has brought back comes from a cafe ten minutes away.
They end their conversation in favor of finally having breakfast. Henry thinks he could get used to this. Being around Alex is fun, it’s easy. Henry doesn’t think he’s been this comfortable with someone in a very long time.
“We should probably discuss our agreement now.” Bea, the mood killer, says.
“Oh, yeah! I almost forgot that’s why I came here in the first place.” Henry almost forgot too. Alex is here to see Bea, not him.
Deciding he doesn’t need to be here for this, Henry excuses himself to finally get dressed for the day. He stops by the bathroom on his way to finally brush his teeth. Back in his room, Henry takes a minute to stew in his self pity. He got so caught up in talking to Alex that he forgot the real reasoning for the other man being in his home. Alex sure knows how to make a man feel special.
If Henry picks out his most flattering outfit to wear today, that’s his business.
Unfortunately, he doesn’t spend enough time getting dressed. Alex and Bea are still talking out details when he joins them again.
“How affectionate do you want me to be?” Bea asks him.
“I don’t know, actually. Because if you’re too affectionate, they might think I’m a bad person for leading you on. But if you’re not affectionate enough, they’ll probably know it’s fake. Can you find a happy medium?”
“Of course I can.” She takes his hand and strokes her thumb across it. “Soft, casual touches. Maybe a few chaste kisses. Easy enough.”
Henry thinks he’s going to be sick. He knows Bea doesn’t mean any of this. It’s just some kind of game to her, a way to get Henry and Alex to spend time together. But Alex. Alex doesn’t know that. He looks rather delighted to be able to play this part with Bea.
“That sounds perfect.” Alex says softly, grinning at her. After that, they finalize the last of their plan and call it a day.
Bea invites Alex to stay and hang out a little longer. Henry doesn’t know whether to be happy or upset that Alex says yes. He’s glad to spend more time with him, he just wishes he could do it alone.
The three of them end up wasting the next few hours watching romcoms. It turns out, Alex is a closeted romcom freak. The guy loves them. He eats up every single scene that is played out in front of him. Henry doesn’t know if he could like Alex anymore if he tried.
They decide to really call it a day after the third movie. All of them have more productive things they need to do with their days, unfortunately. Bea says goodbye to Alex and leaves Henry to walk him to the door.
“We should hang out again.” Alex says. “I had a lot of fun today.”
Henry nods. “Yeah, I did too.”
“Let me give you my number. We can work something out.” Henry can’t possibly turn down that offer. He wordlessly hands over his phone and lets Alex add himself in his contacts. “I texted myself so I’ll have yours. Just know that I’ll text you if you don’t text me.”
Henry smiles and nods at him again. “I wouldn’t expect anything less.” He bids Alex a goodbye and closes the door still smiling.
“You do know I’m doing this for you, right?” Bea’s voice startles him out of his daze.
“I do. I understand why you agreed to it, but I don’t have to like it. I don’t have to like seeing him all excited about pretending to date you. I don’t have to like thinking about you getting to be with him all night when it should be me .”
“Hey, at least it’s working,” she says. “You guys are like friends now.”
“Yeah, at least there’s that.” If nothing else, at least there’s that.
_________________________
Alex becomes a sort of staple in their lives. He makes good on his promise to text Henry the same day they exchange numbers, and since then the string of texts has been nothing but consistent. They talk every day, all day long. Sometimes, when neither of them can sleep they’ll call. Those nights they talk until one of them passes out.
It’s a few days before The Big Night, as Henry has been calling it, and he’s desperately trying to keep his mind occupied. If he’s not working on his newest book, he’s cooking way too much food. Tonight is a cooking too much food night.
He’s fingers deep in some new recipe he found when there’s a knock on the door. He ignores the fluttering in his chest as he shouts for his guest to come in.
“What if I was a killer?” Alex asks as he walks through the door.
“You wouldn’t have knocked.”
“I could be a very polite killer.”
“If you want to kill me, please go ahead.” Henry says. Alex lets out a loud cackle at that.
“What are we making?” he asks, washing his hands.
“Uh, well, I am making chicken wrapped in parma ham and stuffed with mozzarella cheese with a side of homemade mashed potatoes. I don’t know what you’re making.” Henry answers.
“Oh, what, I can’t help?”
Henry shrugs. “I suppose you can, though that’s not why I invited you over. If you really want to, though, you can start peeling the potatoes for me.”
They work mostly in silence with the occasional conversation here and there. Not for the first time, Henry wishes it could always be like this. Him and Alex sharing these little moments in their own bubble of intimacy. But then he remembers. He remembers that they're not actually in a bubble of intimacy because they’re not together and they’ll probably never be together because why would Alex want to be with him.
Once the food is cooking, Henry pours them each a glass of wine. They settle at the table while they wait, and talk about anything and everything. It doesn’t feel like they’ve been talking nonstop for the last two weeks. There’s always something new to discuss.
“How’s your book coming?” Alex asks. He drains the rest of the wine in his glass and reaches for the bottle to pour himself more. Henry briefly thinks they should probably stop drinking soon before he loses his brain to mouth filter.
“It’s really good actually. Inspiration has been plentiful, so it’s mostly smooth sailing this time.”
“Oh yeah? What’s inspiring you?” you are Henry thinks. He can’t say that though. No matter how badly he wants to.
Instead he shrugs and says, “Just life, I guess. Life is good right now.”
“That’s really good.” Alex grins at him, eyes twinkling in the kitchen light. Henry is so fucking fucked.
Clearing his throat, Henry gets up to check on their food. “After dinner, do you want to bake something with me? I was thinking cookies.” He might be desperate to keep Alex around for longer.
“That sounds fun. I should probably warn you, though. I’m not very good at baking.” Alex says around a laugh.
“Don’t worry. I’ll help you. Until then, dinner’s ready.”
It feels very domestic. To be sitting at the dinner table, eating a meal that they cooked together, talking about their days. It fills Henry to the brim with want. He nearly spills over as the dread flows in right behind the want as he remembers what he’s going to have to endure in the coming days. He chooses not to think about that, though. Instead, he focuses on the here and now of being with Alex.
Baking together is a messy affair. Henry learns that Alex is a big fan of food fights when the other man flings a handful of flour at him. By the time they get the cookies in the oven, both men are covered in both flour and eggs.
Henry loans Alex some clothes so he can take a shower and immediately he regrets it. They are currently sitting on the couch inches apart, both freshly showered, watching yet another romcom. Or Alex is watching a romcom, Henry is watching Alex.
Alex’s eyes are completely glued to the tv, not willing to miss a single moment. His hair is drying in loose curls that Henry wants to run his hands through, there’s chocolate smeared across the grin on his face from the cookies he’s been munching on, and he smells like Henry’s shampoo. He’s sporting a pair of Henry’s sweatpants with a hoodie to match and he looks so soft and so pretty and Henry. Henry.
Henry knows it’s too soon for him to be in love, but he thinks it won’t take him very long to get there.
“Hey, uh,” Henry quietly starts to speak, taking Alex’s attention away from his movie, “what if- what if you didn’t take Bea with you. To your party, I mean.”
“Who else would I take?” Alex asks, confused.
Henry shrugs and looks down, avoiding eye contact. “I don’t know,” he says. “I just- I don’t think she’s the best choice, you know? She’ll blow your cover before you even enter the building.”
“Henry, she’s kind of my only choice.” Alex pauses the movie and turns to Henry, bringing his legs up on the couch. This makes their legs touch and Henry’s not sure how to handle that.
“Maybe not.” Is all Henry says back.
“Maybe not? What does that mean?”
“Just.” Henry sighs. This is not going well. This is why he hates speaking to people. “You could take me. I know the story, I know you. And it would be easier for me to lie.” because i wouldn’t be lying is what he doesn’t say.
“You’d go with me?” Alex asks. Henry has to resist the urge to roll his eyes.
“I just think it would go better for you. Plus, I’m not doing anything that night. I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to get a little charity work in.”
“ Charity work? ” Alex exclaims. “Is that what I am to you? God, Henry, I thought we were friends.” It’s clear how hard he’s trying not to crack a smile through his dramatic display.
Henry can’t help the grin that spreads across his face. This is what he likes about Alex. he crazy and dramatic and always takes the tension out of certain situations, putting everyone involved at ease. He also likes how easy it is to just be around him.
“To be honest, I would love for you to come with me. I was originally going to ask you, and I think we would have fun.” Henry’s heart stutters at the pure honesty in Alex’s eyes. “But,” and he immediately deflates. “I already told everyone about Bea. There’s no way I can just change all that now.”
Henry should’ve known it wouldn’t work. Why would anything ever go his way just once? He supposed he should be happy that Alex at least would like it if he was taking Henry to this party. He has to take his wins whenever he gets them.
“Right.” he says, nodding in understanding. “Of course. I get that. Well, I hope you have fun with Bea at least. I also hope she doesn’t accidentally expose you.” Is it wrong if he secretly hopes Bea does expose him?
“I have faith in her. But thank you. I appreciate that.”
Alex turns back so he’s facing the tv again and unpauses the movie. Neither of them acknowledge the change in the atmosphere for the rest of the night.
_________________________
Henry definitely doesn’t wallow the day of Alex’s party. He does, however, stay in bed late enough to not have to see Bea before she leaves for work. Once she’s gone, he gets to work distracting himself.
He blasts his Sad Girl, Bad Girl playlist while he does different tasks around the apartment. He cleans rooms that don’t need to be cleaned and bakes too many muffins. When he runs out of things to do, he switches to working on his book.
When Bea comes home, he barely greets her before retreating back into his bedroom for the night. He knows it’s rude to ignore her, but he just can’t. He can’t watch her get ready for a date with Alex in a dress that Alex bought her, no matter how fake it is. The date might be fake, but the pain in his chest is very real.
Later, he hears a knock at his bedroom door. “Hen?” Bea calls through the door. “I know you’re ignoring me because you’re upset. You have every right to be. I just wanted you to know I’m leaving now. I love you, okay.” Henry continues to ignore her until he hears a sigh followed by footsteps retreating.
He almost feels bad. Almost.
He uses sad movies to pass the time, figuring now is the best time to wallow. He doesn’t realize he’s dozed off until he’s startled awake by a door slamming. Someone calling out his name is what fully wakes him up.
“Henry! Are you here? I need to talk to you.” It’s Alex. He sounds panicked and out of breath, like he just ran up all six flights of stairs.
Henry rushes to his bedroom door and yanks it open, just as Alex is about to knock.
“What’s wrong?” he asks.
Alex has to take a minute to catch his breath. “Everything is wrong, Henry. Everything. All of it.”
“You’re not making any sense. Come on, come sit down.” He leads Alex over to his bed to let him calm down a little bit. “Tell me what happened.”
“What happened is I was a fucking idiot. I was wallowing the whole night. Basically everybody could tell. Bea asked me what was wrong like five times before telling me she already knew what was wrong. Everything was wrong, Henry.”
“Why was everything wrong?”
“I didn’t want to be there with Bea. I knew that, she knew that. Hell, I’m pretty sure even you knew that. That’s why you tried to change my mind that night.” It’s really not why, but Henry doesn’t think he should tell Alex that.
“I just didn’t think I had any choice, you know?” Alex continues his rambling. “Bea had already agreed and everyone knew about her. I couldn’t really go back on taking her with me at that point. Besides, I figured we would have fun anyway.”
“But you didn’t.” It’s not a question.
“No.” Alex confirms. “I didn’t. I couldn’t. Because she’s not who I wanted to be with. She’s not who I want to be with.”
Henry’s heart is pounding in his chest. “Who do you want to be with?” he asks, trying not to sound too hopeful.
“Isn’t it obvious? It’s you, Henry. You’re who I want. It’s always been you. ”
Henry thinks he could cry. But he doesn’t. He reaches for Alex instead and brings their lips together, finally kissing the other man. He’s been dreaming about doing this for months. It’s even better than he could have ever imagined.
Kissing Alex feels like all the pieces of his puzzle finally match and fit into place. It feels right. Henry thinks he wants to do nothing but kiss Alex for the rest of his life. But, unfortunately he has to breathe.
Alex is breathing heavily all over again when they finally pull away from each other. Henry’s chest is heaving just as hard. They both have matching grins paired with flushed cheeks.
“I want you too. I always have.” Henry whispers into the space between their mouths. Alex smiles and kisses him again.
“I was planning to ask you.” Alex says. “To be my date. But then Bea said she’d do it, and I thought that’s fine, i’ll still be able to see him. And I swear, Henry, the time I’ve spent with you in the last few weeks has been incredible.”
“God, it was torture thinking about you and Bea together this whole time.” Henry admits.
“If it helps, I’ve been thinking about only you.”
“That helps.” Henry nods. “Though it would've helped more to know that like 3 weeks ago.”
“Yeah, we could have been doing this a lot longer.” Alex says, kissing Henry again.
Henry can’t stop the grin that breaks their kiss. “Lucky for us, we have plenty of time to make up for everything we’ve missed out on.”
He doesn’t want to say forever yet, but that’s how long he hopes to keep Alex.