“Holy shit! Till, you’re gonna be a professional boxer!” I squealed, and he started laughing. “I want to hug you so bad right now, but I’m too afraid to move.”
The tears welled in my eyes, but for the first time in a long while, they were because I was truly happy. After years of busting his ass, Till was finally getting something he wanted. And it was huge.
“Get over here and hug me!” I demanded.
“Okay, okay. If you insist.” He crawled back into bed and gently wrapped his arms around me.
“You’re going to be amazing! I know it.”
“God, I hope so. Slate gave me the week off and said he’d send the contracts and my first check over today.” He kissed the unmarred corner of my mouth. “Let me take you out to dinner tonight. It will be like our first real date. Oh, hey. You want to get married? My new job has health insurance too.”
My heart stopped. I died. Croaked. Kicked the bucket. Bought the farm. All of it.
The amount of times I had dreamed of Till Page asking me to marry him, by all accounts, should have been embarrassing, but never once in my numerous dreams was the proposal ever followed by, “My new job has health insurance.”
“Um, did you just ask if I wanted to get married . . . so I could use your health insurance?”
“I asked you out on a date too. Don’t forget about that.”
“Okay, so I’m going to give you a little warning that will probably benefit you greatly in the future.” I painfully rolled to face him. “If you ever ask if I want to get married and it’s not followed by ‘because I love you eternally’ or ‘I can’t breathe without you,’ or hell, I will take ‘because your body has ruined me for all others’.”
He chuckled, and I arched an eyebrow that quickly silenced him.
“I will have the freckle from under my boob permanently removed.”
His smile quickly went flat. “You wouldn’t!” he hissed.
“Wanna bet?”
He narrowed his eyes, and I narrowed mine right back. The stare-down was short-lived because he broke it with a kiss.
A gentle yet still toe-curling kiss.
“Okay. Point taken. However, just so you know, I do love you eternally.” He kissed me. “And I can’t breathe without you.” He kissed me again. “And your body has most definitely ruined me for all others.” He squeezed my butt. “And one day, I’ll be serious when I ask you to marry me. So start practicing your yes, and let me take you out tonight.” He kissed me again, slipping his tongue into my mouth.
“No,” I answered when he pulled away.
“No? Well, there’s no way I’ll ever propose with you throwing no around all willy-nilly.”
I laughed. “Till, I can’t even get out of bed. Much less go out to dinner. I’m sure I look like hell. Let’s order celebratory Chinese food and rent a movie. Then save the date for when I can properly sex you up afterwards.”
“On the first date?” he mocked in shock.
Just as I was about to give him a detailed explanation of what he could expect after that first date, there was a knock at the door, which was quickly followed by Quarry’s agitated voice.
“Till! Wake up! You’re late for work.”
“Should we mess with them for a little while—tell them I got fired?”
“Oh my God, that’s mean!” I slapped his chest, but I couldn’t say no to the excitement dancing in his eyes. “Okay, but just for a few minutes.”
“I’ll get a real job,” Flint announced as he paced around the room. “I can quit the gym and start working full time after school.”
“Me too,” Quarry agreed from his place at the edge of the bed.
“I just don’t get why they would fire you. You’ve never been late before.” Flint began chewing on his thumbnail as someone knocked at the front door.
“I’ll get it.” Till flew off the bed, leaving me with the fallout from his cruel joke.
I felt horrible watching them stress about how to keep the rent paid. “He didn’t get fired. He’s messing with you,” I announced after he walked out of the room.
“That asshole!” Flint gritted out with a mixture of relief and anger.
“Pretty much.”
“Son of a bitch!” Quarry shouted, rising to his feet.
Flint pushed a hand against his chest and shoved him back down just as Till rejoined us.
“So listen, Till. I know this is a little unconventional, and I didn’t want to tell you, but given the current circumstances, I think I have a solution.” Flint said.
“Oh yeah. What’s that?” Till bit his lip to fight back a smile as he settled back on the bed, tearing a large, manila envelope open.
“I made, like, two hundred bucks stripping for this bachelorette party last weekend. I lied about my age, but those old women loved that I was young. One even offered me an extra hundred to take it all off. You should have seen her eyes when I did. I could do it, like, once a weekend. My body could pay our rent.”
I had to give it to Flint. His face was so serious. I knew he was screwing around, but I’d almost bought into his story.
“Excuse me?” Till dropped the envelope.