Gravity (Greenford #2) - Romeo Alexander Page 0,43

Samuel looking at him with a strange, thoughtful expression on his face and knew he was just as guilty of the act. Their touches might linger a little too long, a hand on the shoulder or the leg, or perhaps there would be a lull in the conversation as if one of them was trying to find the courage to say something. And on Saturday, Caleb had worn the cologne Samuel liked without thinking much about it until the man pulled him in for a hello hug and froze.

Yet there had been nothing like the night he’d stayed over at Samuel’s house. Whether he was relieved, puzzled, or disappointed that there hadn’t been any other near misses, Caleb could never quite decide. Neither of them had discussed what was or wasn’t happening between them, and Caleb couldn’t bring himself to do so. Speaking about it felt like it would break whatever spell was hanging over them.

They’d made plans to once again meet up the following Wednesday while they lazed around on the couch at the end of Saturday, sipping beers from the six-pack Caleb had bought for them. It was becoming progressively easier to spend time around the other man, even integrating the odd little moments of heat and interest between them so that they almost became routine. Their presence in one another’s lives was quickly becoming the norm, rather than something strange or peculiar like it might have been.

Even at work, they found ways to touch base with one another. Whether it was to grab a quick bite of food from the cafeteria when they both had a free moment or one of them stopping in during the other’s office hours. Samuel still preferred Caleb to do the visiting, not because he wanted Caleb to do all the work, but because he felt that the physical education building was built to contain a minotaur and sacrifice virgins.

To that, Caleb only shook his head. He knew better than to try to argue with Sam when the man was going on about one of his crazy theories that were a joke. Or at least, Caleb hoped they were a joke.

When the day of their next unpacking arrived, Caleb found himself watching the clock more closely than he did other days of the week. He knew better. It only served to make the time go slower. He’d swear he had an hour to go, look up ten minutes later, and find that only three minutes had passed. It was a trick, a cruel one, and he was playing it on himself.

A knock on his office door brought his head up. He smiled when he saw the young medic waiting politely in the doorway.

“Cid,” Caleb said, leaning back in his seat. “Everything alright?”

The young blond stepped into the room, glancing around like he always did. Caleb honestly had no idea what the man found so fascinating about his almost completely sparse office. The only thing of note was the one thing Caleb had brought back with him from the West Coast, and that was the little flowering cactus sat in a pot on the corner of his desk.

Then Cid nodded. “Yeah, everything’s good, it’s good. Just wanted to, you know, to tell you that there weren’t any big deals today. Nothing to worry about.”

That had been the sort of statement which had set off alarm bells when Caleb had first started working with the young man. It didn’t take him long to learn that the fresh out of school medic just simply spoke rapidly and tended to repeat himself in the same sentence. He wasn’t nervous or afraid, he was just...that way. And again, it wasn’t until he watched Cid deal with a chest wound from a misplaced piece of equipment during an impromptu wrestling match between two students that he learned all that energy was only nervous when he wasn’t working.

“Well,” Caleb glanced up at the clock above his door. “I guess that means you’re free and clear. At least so long as Alicia is here for the night rounds.”

Cid nodded, turning to look where Caleb had. “Yeah, she came in at uh, I don’t know, twenty minutes ago? Yeah, twenty.”

Greenford ran its student clinic out of the physical education building, working under the logic that the athletes and students working out were the most likely to be injured. And for people like Samuel, it was also directly next to the student gym, so that meant no one was going to get