John mulled over this green light. He’d been given green lights before, of course. But usually in a club, on a dance floor, when all there was next to do was get the heck to one of their houses and take their clothes off.

Mary’s green light had been in her smile, her cheek over his heart, the way she’d lingered at his elbow while the group had laughed and joked and bought more drinks.

Now they were back in her apartment, Mary passing out drinks and filling bowls with pretzels, and John couldn’t tell if the green-light moment had passed or not. He figured it would be a hell of a lot easier to figure out if there weren’t so many friends sitting in between them on the couch.

And it would probably be easier to figure out if Tyler weren’t suspiciously looking at John pretty much every time John looked up. John couldn’t help but shake his head and muffle his laughter into his hand. Yeah, didn’t seem like tonight was the night. Unless he outwaited everyone else, but that seemed dangerously forward.

Besides, Richie and he had been at work at 7:00 a.m. that morning. Richie’s eyes were closed as he leaned back in the armchair, a beer listing in one hand.

Mary swooped over and righted the beer, squeezing Richie’s knee. “You wanna sleep in the guest room tonight?” she asked Richie. “You look mighty sleepy.”

And there was John’s answer. He highly doubted that Mary was planning on having John stay over in her bed if she was inviting Richie to sleep in the next room over. The disappointment he swallowed down was eased by the surprising amount of relief that came with it. He didn’t want things to move too fast with Mary. He didn’t want to ambush her. Tonight had been the first night that he’d felt something shift between them, and to try to sleep with her would almost be doing that shift a disservice. He didn’t want to whip the tablecloth off the table just to watch the china smash on the floor. He didn’t need to rush her. Or himself. Or the moment.

It meant that this green light he’d been getting wasn’t for sex, and it wasn’t for tonight. This green light was a green light for possibility, for hope, for maybe. And that was good enough for John. More than good enough.

He wouldn’t have minded, though, an opportunity this evening to put his cards on the table, but he didn’t particularly want to put his cards on the table in front of Tyler.

“No, no, you sweet, wonderful woman,” Richie said, blinking his tired eyes up at her. “I think I’m just gonna catch a cab back to my neighborhood.”