Free Chaos by Timberlyn Scott Page B

When I’d walked into the office at five o’clock in the morning, I had even tried to recall what had happened to make the weekend go by so fast. At that time, my brain had been little more than a foggy jumble of thoughts, so I’d given up, realizing it wasn’t worth the effort until after I’d had coffee.
    Now, as I sat at my desk, realizing it was a little before seven, waiting ever so patiently for Conrad to arrive, my sleep-filled brain became less of a mess. Every event since Friday night at the grocery store rushed back to me, leaving me feeling incredibly content. It didn’t even matter that Conrad was an hour late and I could’ve slept in if he’d just given me some sort of notice.
    The past weekend could easily be categorized under the heading Best Weekend Ever . Helping Sebastian move into his new house, spending almost every minute with him... It had felt so incredibly normal. Mundane even. And last night when I’d gone back to my apartment, I had missed being with him. Sebastian and I had spent an entire weekend together, and it had felt almost as though we were playing house. Only we weren’t playing. That was real life. During the brief times there hadn’t been someone else lurking about the house, when we hadn’t been making love, we’d been in the pool or the hot tub. Granted, we’d made love there, too, so that wasn’t a very accurate statement.
    On Sunday, we had lounged around on the couch, watching the Bourne movies with Leif, ordering out for food rather than cooking. The three of us had shared breakfast and lunch, pretty much vegging out most of the morning. Then Sebastian had surprised me when he’d made me follow him to his bedroom. Instead of getting naked and sweaty like I’d originally thought we would, he found some cheesy chick flick on TV, and we’d cuddled in his bed and watched it while eating popcorn. Like I said, very mundane.
    And perfect.
    Before I was ready, the day had been ending and I’d known I had to go home. Sebastian had seemed reluctant to let me go, but after I’d reminded him what time I had to be at work, he’d given up trying to convince me to stay.
    When I’d gotten back to my apartment, Aaron had been there watching television. Alone. I’d interrupted him long enough to ask where Garrett was. He told me he’d gone home, and the statement had been followed by a wide grin. Seemed that the two of them were hitting it off, spending quite a bit of time together since Garrett had been home for the last two weeks. In the beginning, I had been a little relieved that Leif’s brother was on tour and would be away for a few weeks, but now, after seeing Aaron so happy, I kind of wished Garrett could stay home a little longer. Admittedly, I just hoped Aaron was fully over Mark. That debacle was still fresh, and Aaron was the type of guy who would jump into something new too quickly and then eventually feel guilty. He was one of those men who would try to come up with a way to sabotage his own relationship.
    If something was going to happen between Aaron and Garrett that was going to result in a lasting relationship, they needed to take things slow.
    Then again, who was I to predict how anyone’s love life would turn out? It wasn’t like I had a lot of experience in that arena. This thing I had with Sebastian was just as new, just as fresh, and there were moments I felt like I was in over my head.
    But I loved him.
    Around eight o’clock, when Chloe hadn’t come home, I’d sent her a text only to learn that she was going to stay at Toby’s. We’d shot messages back and forth for a little while, but then I’d let her go so she could spend time with her man.
    It seemed we were all easing our way into relationships, and since I didn’t have a single regret about being with Sebastian, I knew I couldn’t pass off my fears to my friends, so I vowed to be happy for them. They were adults; they knew how to take care of themselves. Not to mention, every waking