"You're such an idiot sometimes."

“Sorry.”

“Sam's right. You apologize way too much."

I bit my lip rather than say “sorry” again. Instead, I went with,

“Habit. I spent years struggling to maintain the boundaries you girls always put on me. Saying sorry became an automatic way to appear unthreatening and make you all feel safe around me."

“I suppose. But we're gonna have to work on that.”

“Noted,”

Belle sighed, and I let her process for a moment. Finally, she said quietly, "You know why I can't spend the night."

“Your dad would wonder why.”

“Uh-huh.

“Would it really be so bad if we told him? If anything, I'm probably the only guy on the planet he wouldn't be upset about you dating."

“Even though we're not dating?"

“Well, we don't have to tell HIM that."

"I..." She paused, gathering her thoughts again.

“I have to think about it. Definitely not tomorrow night. But... I'll think about it." She squeezed my hand reassuringly to help me not feel like this was a rejection.

I squeezed her hand back and replied, “That's all I really wanted."

“You still want me to come over in the morning?"

"I'LL be happy for you to come over every morning.”

“Well, not EVERY morning. I have my own life too. Mari will want to hang out. And it's winter break! What would you normally do during winter breaks?"

I screwed up my face and sighed.

“I think I played video games with

Alice close to 24/7 last year. Or read comic books. Come to think of it, yeah... the BTC never really got together much during winter breaks in the past, did we?"

Belle chuckled. "Well, nobody was fucking you in past years. I'm pretty sure this year's gonna be different."

I sighed, thinking again of Alice.

“I miss her."