Peter and Chloe drove home in silence. She stared out the window the whole time, refusing to look in his direction. He had no way of knowing whether she wanted to go back to his place or hers. In the grand scheme of things, he wasn’t sure how much it really mattered.
His brain operated on autopilot, his actions making the turns and obeying the traffic laws while his thoughts drifted in every conceivable direction. He had no idea where he was going, and he didn’t care. The GPS sat on his dash, the screen black, the battery fully charged. He knew that even a single word from Chloe could snap him out of his funk. What he didn’t know were the depths of her thoughts that raced through her mind. Was she unaware of how lost they really were, or was she as indifferent to it as he was?
In a roundabout way, he found himself back on track when he stumbled upon a turnoff for the highway. For lack of a better idea, he took it, knowing it would eventually lead him to the exit he needed. Chloe raised her head and looked around for a moment, her back still turned to him. She let out a sigh and rested her forehead against the glass. Against his better judgment, he let her be, resisting the urge to speak up or reach for her hand as he kept his focus on the road ahead.
It was 2:04 in the morning by the time they arrived at his apartment building. He pulled the car into the same spot he always did, putting it in park and leaning back against the seat, feeling apprehensive about even glancing her way.
“I can take you home if you want.” His voice came out dry and raspy like he hadn’t had anything to drink all day, his gaze downcast on the steering wheel.
She answered with a scoff.
“What’s stopping me from driving home myself?”
He shrugged.
“Nothing, I guess.”
“Is that what you want?”
He finally lifted his head up and turned to face her.
“No,” he said. “It’s not.”
She sat unmoving in the still shadows, leaning back against the door as much as she could, the idle hum of the car engine filling the distance between them. Her car was parked a few spaces over. The keys were in her purse. He knew all she had to do was get out and drive away. He couldn’t stop her, nor would he try to. The decision rested on her shoulders, and he accepted that.
Without a single word spoken, she unbuckled her seatbelt and got out of the car. His heart sank all the way down to his stomach when she slammed the door shut. He could hardly bring himself to look out the window, waiting for her to make her way to her car. But she didn’t. She instead walked up to the apartment building and headed inside without waiting for him. He turned the headlights off, took the key out of the ignition, and hurried after her, hearing her footsteps ascend the stairs by the time he entered the vestibule.
He climbed the stairs two at a time, reaching the second floor to find his apartment door wide open. He peered inside and saw no one. So he walked in, putting one cautious foot in front of the other, making his way down the hall without knowing what to expect.
“Close the door.”
He did as she said, backtracking to swing the door closed until it latched shut, leaving it unlocked. He found her sitting on the edge of his bed when he emerged on the other side, her head hanging down, her shoulders slumped. He didn’t know whether to sit down next to her or get out of her sight, so he stood there and waited.
“I don’t blame you for what happened, Peter,” she said, looking up at him with conviction and honesty. “I went into this with you, and I’ll face the consequences with you. If you still want me, that is.”
“Of course I still want you, Chloe. But there aren’t gonna be any consequences. He said that-”
“I know what he said, Peter. But do you really think we’re getting out of this scott-free? He saw us like that. He saw me like that. Doesn’t that bother you just a little bit?”
“Yeah, more than a little bit.” He walked over and sat next to her, still keeping a respectable distance.
“And who knows what’s gonna happen to Kim. Is he gonna tell her boss, or what’s he gonna do?”
“I don’t know.”
She turned her head to face him, swallowing the stream of tears reflected in her eyes.
“If you want to see her again, that’s your choice. But I can’t stay with you if you do.”
Peter shook his head and scooched closer to her.
“No, I don’t want to see her again. That’s not what this is about.”
She huffed a breath through her nose and dropped her gaze again, her fears brought to the surface with a trembling sigh.
“What’s it about, then?”
He shrugged.
“You and me more than anything. We got caught, we got off pretty easy. But you’re right, we still need to come to terms with what we did.”
She scooched a little closer, shaving off the gap between them by a few inches, the tremor in her eyes holding itself steady with every word she spoke.
“I want to stay with you, Peter. After everything that happened tonight, I don’t want to be alone. But no sex, okay? Not for a while.”
He nodded in agreement, holding her gaze with consent and understanding.
“Okay.”
The corners of her mouth twitched in a faint trace of a smile, casting the room in a tarnished glow of hope.
“You really mean it?”
He nodded again.
“Of course I do. Take as much time as you need, Chloe. Honestly, it might do both of us some good.”
She leaned in and gave him a fleeting kiss on the cheek. He relished in it for as long as he could, knowing full well that it might be the last kiss she offered him for the foreseeable future.
“I’m gonna go slip into my pjs,” she said, hopping off the bed and gathering her clothes from the closet to bring them in the bathroom with her.
Peter took the opportunity to do the same, setting aside a moment to rearrange his things in the closet, giving her some extra room for her growing collection of cute tops and blouses. There was no telling how long it would last her, but he figured it was worth a try.
