“I live close by this pizza shop, so I’m almost home.”
“Great. I’ll stay with you until you get inside.”
“Tito—”
“I’m not giving up.”
“Fine.” She groans, but I can hear a slight smile in her voice, and it makes me smile too. I sink down onto my bed. “What street are you on?”
“A girl never tells a man where she lives if she’s smart.”
“I employ you, Scout. I already have your address.”
“Oh.” She snorts a little, but she doesn’tsounddrunk, which makes me feel a little better. “I’m on Bradley Street.”
“Using actual people’s names for streets is boring, don’t you think?” I say it without thinking, but I hear her laugh on the other end.
“Yeah, it really is. Now I’m turning on Johnson—”
We keep this up, talking about weird names for streets and saying the stupidest shit that I could never say to anyone else. I have animageto maintain, but not with Scout. My face hurts from smiling, and I can’t believe she’s still on the phone with me fifteen minutes later and hasn’t called me out on my bullshit. Unless she wants to be on the phone with me, too.
“Wait, you told me you live close by.”
“What?” She laughs.
“Close to the pizza shop.” I clarify.
“I do.”
“Then why aren’t you home yet?”
“I am…”
“You’re still on the phone with me?”
“Are you home?”
“Yes, but, Scout—”
“Good. I got home like half an hour ago. How far out do you live from the area?”
I close my eyes, leaning back against my pillows. When I’d been riding home, I’d thought I wouldn’t last a minute in my room before I’d have my hand on my cock, trying to rub out the painful need leftover from our kiss. But now I’m content to lay here and talk to Scout, and that thought terrifies me as much as anything else.
That’s sappy shit.Lovekind of shit. Shit, that will get us both in trouble if we’re not careful.
“Like, forty minutes or so,” I tell her.
“Rich people stuff.” She mumbles clear enough for me to hear, and I laugh.
“Hey, I think the house next door is for sale. We could be neighbors.”
“Woah, Tito. I don’t know you like that.”
“Shut up.” I laugh, and her bell-like giggle rings through the phone.
“No, but seriously… I can’t be spending my money on a mansion. I’ve got other plans for it.”
“Oh?”