Then he smiles and presses his mouth to mine, lips parting, tongue licking into my mouth. I wrap my arms around him, pulling him down until he’s half on top of me. One of his legs finds its way between mine, and the weight of his thigh is a steady reminder that this is really happening.

It’s just like my fantasies, except even better. Because it’s real.

He’s really here with me, in my arms, tangled up, turning my fantasies into something more. Into something that looks an awful lot like a future.

“Thank you for last night,” he says when we come up for air. And I’m not sure what he’s thanking me for, since I didn’t pay for the dinner. All I did was show up.

So I kiss him again. Because I can. Because I want to. I always want to.

We kiss until he grows hard against me. But when I reach down to take him in my hand, he rolls himself off me.

“I should get to work.” He sounds regretful, but also like something else I don’t understand.

I won’t push him though. I let him slip out of bed and watch him tug a pair of pajama pants over his legs, skipping underwear. He tells me he’s going to take a shower, and I’m tempted to get up and join him, but it didn’t sound like an invitation.

Then he says, “You’ve got to get to the diner, right?”

I nod, although I really don’t need to go yet. I made sure Benji would open this morning, because I knew I was going out with Brenden last night. Even if I never expected the night to end the way it did, I figured I’d be tired.

Before I can work up the nerve to ask if something is wrong, he comes back over to the bed, leans down, and kisses me confidently. Pulling away, he says, “Last night was wonderful. I’ll see you later.”

All I can do is nod again and watch as he disappears into the bathroom. Then I get up and find a T-shirt and a pair of basketball shorts in his drawer where I’ve still got some of my clothes. A long run might help clear my head so I can figure out what’s going on here.

Because I woke up thinking I’d just gotten what I’ve always wanted, and now I’m questioning if I misread the whole thing. If Brenden doesn’t want this the same way I do.

He did say it wasn’t real. But that was before we...

There’s no way he would have slept with me only as some messed up form of repayment for me playing his fake boyfriend. Right?