“I genuinely haven’t wanted to be the guy who makes the precious time you have in the city about me. It’s just that...well, you’ve messed me up in the head quite a lot... I can’t believe all this hasn’t been obvious.”

“Well, I don’t know, Thomas,” I replied, finally regaining my voice. “I’m not exactly used to men telling me that they don’t want to date me but expecting me to know that they really do.”

“That’s fair. And all of this is new to me, too, to be honest. Even up to just now, when you asked me that question, I wasn’t sure if I was going to say something, because I didn’t...”

“Because you didn’t want to ruin what we have?” I offered, again understanding him more than I cared to admit.

“Yeah. Exactly.”

We turned the corner onto my block, and Thomas stepped toward me, closing the gap between us once again.

“So, now that you know how I feel, are you really going to tell me it’s just me?”