There’s not much else to comment on in my bedroom. The walls are bare with the exception of a few pink sticky notes bearing scribbled reminders, and most of my other belongings are still packed away in brown boxes.

“I know. There was a used bookstore right by my place in Boston.”

“You hauled these all the way from Boston?” Gray’s eyebrows rise as he takes in the high stacks. I pulled a bunch out earlier to try my new seal on.

“Yeah. I’ve only read a few of them. I had so much reading to do for school that whenever I had any free time, it was pretty much the last thing I felt like doing.”

“Huh.” He looks around some more. “And…why are they all on the floor?”

I sigh. “I bought a bookcase, but I haven’t had time to put it together.”

He looks at me.

“I couldn’t figure out how to put it together,” I amend.

Gray laughs. “Where is it?”

“The closet.”

He walks over and opens the door. I follow, peering under his arm at the scraps of wood that haven’t moved since I dumped them in there the day the bookcase arrived from IKEA.

“The box didn’t come with instructions. After spending twenty minutes on hold, a nice woman named Susan said she would mail them to me. But I still haven’t—”

Gray starts pulling pieces of the bookcase out of the closet.

“What are you doing?”

“Putting it together.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“I know.” He takes a seat on the floor.

“Seriously. What are you doing?”

“I like a challenge, remember?” He flashes my favorite grin. Which leads to the realization that I have a favorite grin. That I know his different facial expressions that well.

“So… I should put clothes on?”

“Clothing is optional for construction.”

I roll my eyes as I walk over to a box and pull out an old T-shirt of Noah’s that I swiped in high school. It’s oversize and soft, and it fits over the towel before I drop it. Not that there’s anything Gray hasn’t seen before.

Gray glances up as I walk back over to him. “Nice T-shirt.”

I can’t tell if he’s being serious or teasing me.

“It’s Noah’s.”

“No, it’s not. It’s mine. I went to Glen Ridge Basketball Camp. Noah must have borrowed it and never given it back.”

“Oh. Do you want it back?” I ask and pray he says no. I had no attachment to this T-shirt until right this second, when I found out it was his.

He shakes his head with a small smirk.

I take a seat on the hard floor beside him, tucking my legs up underneath me. “Does it feel weird to you?”

“Does what feel weird?”