Chapter 18 Zero Fox Given #2
Jules provided running commentary through the entire film. During the romantic subplot, when the leads finally kissed, Gryff had a coughing fit that lasted so long someone offered him a lozenge.
“Your friend seems...” Tyson paused, clearly searching for a polite word.
“Yeah,” I agreed. “He really does.”
But the thing was, even with all the ridiculous sabotage, having Gryff there made everything better.
I found myself waiting for his reactions, turning slightly to catch his expression during the good parts.
When the hero made a terrible decision, I heard Gryff's frustrated sigh and had to bite back a smile.
This was what was missing with Tyson. This connection. This knowing. This feeling like even watching a stupid action movie was better when Gryff was involved, even if he was three rows back being an absolute disaster.
When the movie ended and the lights came up, Jules and Gryff were already gone. Probably fled the scene of the crime.
I caught Tyson checking his phone with what looked like a small smirk as we walked to the car.
“I had a nice time,” he said, though his smile was a bit too knowing. “Despite the... interruptions.”
“Tyson, I—“
“You're in love with your roommate,” he said simply, not unkindly.
I opened my mouth to deny it, then closed it again.
“Flynn might have mentioned something,” he continued, putting his phone away. “About Vegas.”
I literally felt the blood drain from my face.
“Flynn's dead,” I muttered.
“He's worried about his brother. Apparently Gryff's been miserable for weeks.” Tyson leaned against the car. “Did you know he texted me fifteen times? Asking about my intentions, whether I'm good enough for you, sending me a list of your favorite things.”
“He did?”
“Including a note about your weird popcorn preferences and that you hate when people pick the middle seats at movies.” He grinned. “Then he showed up to sabotage our date anyway.”
“With Jules and her fake mustache.”
“Which was definitely her idea. She texted me during the movie that it was part of something called 'Operation Make My Brother Stop Being an Idiot.'” He shook his head. “Your whole friend group is... intense.”
“They're conspiring.”
“Because you two are too stubborn to admit what everyone else can see.” He touched my arm gently. “Look, I genuinely think you're amazing. In another universe where you weren't completely gone for Gryff, I'd absolutely want to date you for real. But Artie, you watched him more than the movie.”
“They were distracting.”
“You wore that dress for him, not me.”
Crap. “I—“
“Even the goats know it. Vincent tried to eat my shoelaces specifically to keep me away from you.”
“Vincent eats everyone's shoelaces.”
“While making direct eye contact? That goat has an agenda.” He opened the car door for me and we started the drive home. “Talk to him. Or don't, and Flynn will probably orchestrate something even more ridiculous.”
The drive home was too short to figure out what I was going to say. My head was spinning with Tyson's words, with the memory of Gryff's face in the theater, with the ghost of Vegas still on my skin.
I found Gryff exactly where I expected, on the couch with both goats now, pretending to watch TV, snuggled up with the goats again.
“How was your date?” he asked, not looking at me.
“You were there, so you tell me.”
“I don't know what you're talking about.”
“Gryff. Jules had a fake mustache.”
“That doesn't sound like Jules.”
“It was coming unstuck. During the romantic scene, she tried to stick it back on and got it stuck to her cheek.”
He cracked then, a small smile tugging at his lips. “That did happen.”
I collapsed onto the couch next to him, exhausted from pretending everything was fine. “It was all wrong.”
“What was?” His voice was carefully neutral, but I felt him tense beside me.
“The date. The movie. Everything.” Without thinking, I curled into his side, my body naturally finding its place against his. “His hand felt wrong. He got the wrong snacks. He sat in the wrong seats.”
Gryff's arm came around me automatically, pulling me closer. “Wrong how?”
Wrong because he wasn't you.
“Just... wrong.”
We sat there in silence, watching whatever was on TV without really seeing it. This felt more intimate than Vegas somehow. Vegas had been about physical sensation, about trust and pleasure. This was about the simple intimacy of existing together, of fitting perfectly into each other's spaces.
“Gryff?”
“Yeah?”
“In Vegas...”
His whole body went rigid. “Yeah?”
I lost my nerve. All the words I wanted to say—it wasn't practice for me, I'm in love with you, please tell me you feel it too—got stuck in my throat.
“We can't do practice anymore,” I said instead.
His voice came out hollow. “I know.”
“It's too...”
“I know.”
We sat there, still curled together, both afraid to move. Holly climbed into my lap while Vincent stretched across both of us, and we stayed like that, pretending to watch TV, pretending everything was normal, pretending we weren't both dying inside.
Finally, I couldn't take it anymore. I stood up, dislodging Holly who bleated in protest.
“Goodnight,” I said.
Gryff caught my hand as I passed, his fingers wrapping around mine. He looked up at me, and for a moment I thought he was going to say something real. Something that mattered.
“Goodnight, Artie,” he said instead, letting my hand go.
I made it to my room before the tears came. Holly had followed me, and she climbed onto my bed, curling against my stomach as I cried.
“I'm in love with him,” I told her, my voice breaking. “Vegas wasn't practice for me. It was... it was everything. But I'm too much of a dumb butt to tell him.”
Through the wall, I could hear Gryff pacing in his room, the floorboards creaking with each step. Back and forth, back and forth, like he was trying to walk off whatever was eating at him.
We were so close. Just a wall between us. But it might as well have been an ocean.
“I think I ruined everything,” I whispered to Holly. “I think we broke something we can't fix.”
Holly made a soft sound and nuzzled closer, and I held onto her like she could somehow make everything better.
But she was just a goat. And I was just a girl in love with her best friend who would rather sabotage her dates than tell her how he really felt.
And tomorrow, we'd wake up and pretend everything was fine again.
Even though we both knew it never would be.