As planned, we headed back to Warren's place after we were done with the cake. I made a mental note to stop by at the café later to get another slice. During the car ride to his place, I found myself thinking about the time he'd gotten that phone call and how he'd left so abruptly after receiving it. I was curious all of a sudden.

"Warren," I began before I could stop myself. 

"Hm?" 

"Remember that day at the train station?" I brought up. "When you dropped me off and got a phone call and then left." 

He was silent.

"If you don't mind.. I'm kinda curious."

"About the phone call?" he finally spoke. "It was from.. a distant relative." He let out a heavy breath before proceeding, "My uncle actually. After my parents' death, he came back to our place and sold nearly all of my parents' belongings. Made a fortune and then left. He called that day to ask if he could come over and talk about some things. First time I'd heard from him in ages."

"What did he want to talk about?"

"I said no to him but he was already at my place," he said. "I didn't let him in but we spoke outside for a bit. He wanted to sell my dad's car. I told him to piss off and never contact me again. Some nerve he's got."

"I'm sorry," I murmured. "What an awful man."

"He wasn't even sad about his brother dying," he scoffed. "Instead, he was talking about the amount of money he'd receive from my father's passing. He's always been a sicko but that one incident pissed me off so much that I cut off all contact with him. Only thing I have left of my parents is that car."

I nodded and stared out the window in silence. The rest of the ride was uncomfortably silent. I didn't attempt to strike up a conversation because I could sense that Warren wasn't in the mood to talk. I could simply feel it. 

When we finally got to his place, however, his demeanor changed once he'd noticed Bruno waiting at the entrance for us. He parked the car and the two of us got out. He held the car door open for me and this simple gesture made my heart flutter. We walked side by side into his house and I was suddenly hyperaware of all my actions and words. I found myself being overly critical of myself. Is this what happens when you develop feelings for somebody?

We spent the rest of our time watching favourite movies of his. In turn, I made him listen to favourite songs of mine and he even offered to play a song on the guitar for me. Needless to say, he was terrible at it. I later discovered that he actually didn't know how to play at all and the guitar was just there for decoration. This made a lot more sense to me. By the time we were done, it was already dark outside and Warren offered to let me stay at his place. I wanted to decline the offer because it felt strange sleeping in a new environment, but then, I thought about what Warren had said about feeling alone and I decided to stay. I noticed the look of relief on his face as soon as I agreed to stay over. 

Having feelings for somebody after years of feeling no sort of attraction to people whatsoever was strange. My heart would flutter every time he looked at me or smiled at me. My heart would flutter at the sound of his voice. My heart would flutter whenever he touched me even if it was for a brief second. 

The two of us were seated beside each other on the couch, staring up at the ceiling after our little movie and music marathon. He let out a small sigh of relief, "I'm glad I have you here, Juno. The house feels a lot warmer with you here."

This harmless comment made me feel strange. The good kind of strange. 

"I'm glad I'm here with you," I said in response. "My heart.. feels a lot warmer."

This was the first time I'd made an attempt at being slightly honest with my feelings for Warren. He, however, didn't seem to notice. He just smiled. Perhaps he wanted me to come out and say it. Perhaps he was letting me down politely. I shook these thoughts out of my head and decided to enjoy the moment. 

"I wonder if I'd still be here if I hadn't met you," he whispered. 

I didn't want to ask him what he meant by that because I already knew. To offer him a sense of comfort, I did the first thing I thought of. I brought my hand closer to his and set aside my nerves before resting my hand on top of his. He was still for a moment before pulling his hand away. I felt my heart drop at this. But then, he placed his hand on top of mine and squeezed it as hard as he could.