“They’ll fall on their faces sooner or later, and then they’ll realize they’re better off without guys who only waste their time.”
“Woah! Are you saying you wasted your time with me?” he asked, covering his chest with one hand to show me just how hurt he was by my words.
I rolled my eyes and laughed. “I wasn’t your personal assistant, Aiden.”
“No, you were so much more than that. Remind me again why it didn’t work out?” he asked.
“Because I don’t know what I want when it comes to guys and because I’m not ready to be in a committed relationship. Same as you.”
“Don’t remember me saying I wasn’t ready.”
“But you aren’t. Or else we would’ve talked things out much earlier.”
We arrived by the apartment complex, and I turned to him and placed my hand on his chest. “We’re friends. And I would like to keep it that way.”
He lifted both his hands to defend himself from my words. “Friends,” he said with a grin.
We walked inside to head upstairs, and when we passed Wells’s door, he had to come out right when I walked by with AJ.
“Hello, Rooney,” he greeted, his voice not very amused but he didn’t seem too bothered by AJ either.
“Hi. Uh, Wells, this is AJ.”
“Nice to meet you,” Wells said, giving him a quick nod.
“Likewise.”
Wells looked back at me, then pressed his lips into a tight line. “I was just about to come upstairs and ask if you’d like to have dessert with Ira and me. But I see you have plans.”
Ugh!
I couldn’t kick Aiden out after having invited him to dinner.
“We’re just gonna have dinner. I spent most of the evening at the coffee shop, studying.”
“That’s fine. Another time. Have a good night,” he told us, giving Aiden a quick glance and then looking back at me with slight disappointment in his eyes.
“You too,” I said quietly, hoping he didn’t think I was dating AJ again.
After Wells closed his door, I sighed and walked up the stairs to get to my own apartment.
“Dessert, huh? Isn’t he a little too old for you?”
“He’s forty-two. He’s not old, and he’s my friend. His son is adorable.”
“So you babysit?”
I rolled my eyes at him and wished I could make him disappear so I could head downstairs to eat whatever dessert Wells made.
My heart was aching in a way it never did before, and I felt horrible for having to say no to him and sweet Ira.
My goal was to get dinner over with and then head back downstairs and hope for both of them to still be up.
“Hi, handsome,” Evie said with a wide grin as we walked into the kitchen.
“Hey, Evie.”
“You two have something going on again?” she asked.
“He’s just eating dinner with us, then he’ll leave.”
“How’s the friendzone, AJ?” Evie’s laugh filled the whole room.
“Honestly? Quite cozy.”
Good.
Because that’s where he’ll stay forever.
Chapter Nine
Wells
For the first night in a long time, Ira and I were cuddled up on the couch watching the ninja turtles and relaxing without worrying about anything.
It wasn’t late, but since spending time with Ira was what I needed, I didn’t mind him falling asleep a few hours later than usual.
Seeing Rooney with AJ did something to me that I firstly, wasn’t really proud of, and secondly, still bothered me whenever I thought back to it.
She said she wasn’t dating him anymore, and there wasn’t a problem with her hanging out with him anyway.
Still, seeing her with him bothered me.
There wasn’t much she said about him last week, but it was obvious that she didn’t wanna date anyone.
I was a damn adult.
I shouldn’t be worrying about shit like that.
I brushed along Ira’s hair and kept my eyes on the screen as the turtles fought against some bad guys.
Honestly, I wasn’t paying much attention to the storyline, but Ira was having a blast watching the movie.
“Want some more water, buddy?” I asked, always trying to keep him hydrated until he went to sleep.
He nodded his head and sat up straight to reach for his bottle, and while he took a few sips, I checked his insulin pump.
The number wasn’t too low or too high, but we still had to change the pump since he had this one in for almost a week.
When he was younger, I used to change his pump every day, but thanks to the newer version, it allowed us to keep the pump in for almost six days.
It made life a little easier, and I knew once he was old