Page 33 of The Score

Is it weird that in all these years, we've never actually shared a bed?

We're affectionate in so many ways. This doesn't have to be weird. Just a new way to be comfortable with each other.

I turn to my side. "I guess this is our new life now."

His rugged profile, with his slightly crooked nose and thick beard, is fitting for a lumberjack living off the land deep in a Norwegian forest somewhere. His deep blue eyes stare up at the ceiling, and I wonder if he's looking at my little plastic stars, too.

"At least while our parents are around," he says.

"I guess we need to tell your parents we're getting married, too."

"I hope they can come. It's going to be a sudden trip for them."

"Surely they'll do anything they can to be here for your wedding? They don't know it's not going to last."

"Our wedding," he whispers. "And you know how they are. If work allows…"

"They'll try. I'm sure they'll try."

"They will." He sighs. "So we'd have to fake it around them too."

"Not so much around our friends… but maybe my coworkers? The club? The Thunderdome at large, when it's time to go for camps and training, etcetera?"

"I'll start calling you my fiancée."

From hazy neurophysiology classes, I'm pretty sure norepinephrine is also part of the cocktail flooding my system. I'm kind of high from it and my best friend's proximity. His size. His presence in my bed.

At this rate, I doubt I'll ever sleep.

I gulp.

"You know," he whispers, "with the time difference, we could call my parents now. They're probably getting ready for the work day."

"If you want to, yeah. We should, right? If we wait too long…"

He gazes at me. "I don't want them to get hurt. Like we forgot to include them."

I sigh. "Getting realer by the second."

He smirks and lifts an arm up high in invitation. "All right. Let's do it then. Get in here."

He's asking me to cuddle up to him.

He raises an eyebrow. "We need to look convincing."

"I suppose," I say and come close.

Despite everything, this part feels natural. I put my head on his shoulder and my hand automatically finds a spot on his chest. His arm curls around my shoulders and I know it's technically impossible, but it's like he put his smell on high. It envelops me, erasing the heightened response I've been battling, and replacing it with whatever makes muscles melt.

I sigh. Pheromones are powerful, too. In the best way. His in particular? Ten out of ten.

He grabs his phone with his free hand. "If you're going to struggle too much with all of this, we may need to come up with a different way to look deeply in love."

"No, no, I can do it." I tap his padded pec. "It's not that different from how we already act. Maybe just a bit more… intense? I don't know, you're the expert in these things."

He doesn't immediately respond as he navigates his phone.

He's focused on his screen as he responds. "It's more… couple-y. For sure. It moves the line closer to romance than friendship. In my opinion."

His voice is deep and gravelly. It rumbles under my ear.

I chew on my lip. "People have always said we act like a married couple so it's fine. Just a little more umph. The rest is just…"

His finger hovers on the green button that will get the call through. He raises an eyebrow at me.

It takes more effort than usual to lift my shoulder like I'm unaffected.

"We have nerve endings and senses that might react," I say, "but we know better. We just need to remember that."

"So you keep reminding me," he grumbles, and presses his phone.