I blinked. Read together? That sounded--

"Alright." I shrugged, "Get close, we've both got to be able to see the pages. Do you want to read it silently, or me read it out loud?"

"I am not fast reading, I like to hear you read, please." He mumbled, as he scooched closer, a slight blush covering his cheeks.

"Hey, that's okay, I don't mind," I assured him, "I read to my little sister over video calls all the time, I don't mind it."

As I began to read where I left off, Andrei settled into the couch, his eyes fixed on the page. Just like before, he would stop me after a phrase or section he didn't understand and asked me to explain it. Synonyms and sometimes pictures helped the best when trying to explain what the words and phrases meant, and Andrei was a quick learner.

After we'd been sitting for a little bit, my arm started to get tired and my voice a little scratchy. After a bout of coughing didn't stop soon enough, Andrei got up to fetch me a glass of water.

After I'd downed the glass, he went back to the kitchen and returned with a filled glass and a sloshing plastic pitcher.

I chuckled a bit, shaking my head. He really wanted me to keep reading, didn't he.

As we resettled, I froze as he scooted even closer so the sides of our hips met and rested his arm over the back of the couch behind my head. Still processing the new setup, I didn't register his next question until he said my name.

"Sam?"

"Huh? Yeah? What is it?"

"You need more water? Your throat hurting?"

He began to lean from the left towards the glass on the coffee table, invading even more into my space.

"No, no, I'm good. I'll grab it myself when I'm thirsty, thank you though."

He paused then relaxed back against the couch.

"Okay. Please read next part, I want to see what she chooses."

I grinned to myself,

Book boys, gotta love 'em.

I was about two thirds of the way done when I started reading with Andrei, and we finished the book after the sun went down.

I put the book down and stretched one hand to the ceiling and kept one locked behind my neck. Tiny pops crunched and I relaxed back into the couch, Andrei's hand casually resting on my right shoulder from his arm's perch on the lip of the couch.

Grandpa's old cuckoo bird rang out seven o'clock, and I started from my seat.

I hadn't fed the cat!

"Oh my gosh, Frankie!" I tried to shuffle past Andrei's long legs, outstretched on the coffee table to the doorway that would lead to the kitchen and it's back door.

"What is wrong?"

"I didn't feed Frankie yet today, move, please, I've gotta--"

"I feed Frankie today."

I screeched to a stop,

"What?"

He shrugged,

"I already feed Frankie today when I make gogol-mogol. I hear her outside door. I know what food because I watch you. She is very friendly cat."

"Oh, uh, okay, I guess. Uh, thanks?"

"Always, Sam." He replied simply, patting the seat next to him until I sat back down.

Two shots to the heart in one day, this guy was on a roll.

"Yesterday you tell me about movie. You call it, 'Inside Out?' What is it about?"

"I totally forgot, you've never seen Inside Out! We've gotta watch it, you," I paused, recalling the time, "Do you have time?"

"You can have all my time, Sam."

Strike three, Sam, you're out!

"Oh, okay, then, uh," A nervous jitter stuck to my voice, "I need to grab my phone. Can you turn on the projector there on the coffee table? It should automatically connect to the chromecast." Andrei nodded, and I escaped as quickly as I could to the safety of my upstairs bedroom.

Heart fluttering at an unnatural rate, I picked my phone off the charger and sat heavily on my bed. Tapping the home button, I opened up the messages app. At the top of my contacts list was Sally, with the last message reading:

I took a deep breath, and typed my message:

I quickly pressed send before I could second guess my decision. Realizing what I'd done, I quickly typed:

After clicking send, I added:

By the time I pressed send on the last message, a new one had arrived. I read:

I replied:

I pulled open my Disney streaming app and cautiously walked down the stairs as I searched for Inside Out. By the time I reached the first landing, it had finally pulled up and I clicked the streaming button.

"Sam, your tv changed!" Called Andrei from the living room.

I chuckled,

"Yeah, isn't it cool? It just automatically pulls up. I love casting, it's so much easier than vhs and dvd. What is this?" I paused when I saw what was on the coffee table.

"You are hungry, yes? I find food in fridge for you. Here!" He held out a cracker topped with a slice of sharp cheddar. I took it from him and bit into it. Now that I thought about it, I was kind of hungry.

I inspected the smorgasbord on my tv tray. Folded deli turkey and ham lay in a neat row alongside pepperoni and two columns of sharp cheddar and mozzarella. Two columns of crackers lay next to the toppings, a few already eaten based on the crumbs I spotted and lack of even ends.

"Oh my gosh, you must have been starving! Do you want me to make you something? I went grocery shopping the other day, so there should be something I can put together." I apologized fiercely as I stood to dash into the kitchen. First selkies, now guests starving in my house? What was the world coming to!

"I can help, I did not want to bother you." He disclosed.

"That would be wonderful. I'm still not feeling too hot, so any help is welcomed."

"Not feeling.... too hot? What does this mean?"

"Oh! It means, uh, not feeling well."

"But when you don't feel well, you feel hot. Why not hot?"

"I--" I paused, "I haven't the faintest idea. I guess it's one of those weirdo euphemisms that came from somewhere nobody remembers."

"Euphe--?"

"Euphemism means a phrase or a saying that means something completely different than what it's actually saying."

"Euphe-mism. Does not mean what it says. I hear many euphe-misims in English."

I laughed,

"Yeah, you sure do. English is kind of a mutt language that picked up phrases and spelling from a bunch of different languages and just smashed them all together."

We were in the kitchen now, and I had opened the fridge to grab some dip and veggies from the crisper. I handed Andrei the bag of snack-size bell peppers, a cucumber, and a bag of baby carrots.

"Could you cut these up while I make sandwiches for us? I'm not really up for microwaving anything, let alone actually cooking."

He nodded and took the vegetables over to the sink to wash them off.

I turned my back on him as I rummaged around the cupboards to grab a plate for the veggies and two bowls for dip. I wasn't sure if he cared about double-dipping, so it was better safe than sorry. I pulled the bread from the top of the fridge and cheese, deli meat, and iceberg lettuce from the drawer inside.

"Do you like mayo and mustard on your sandwich?" I called over my shoulder.

"I like everything." He replied. I shrugged,

"Okay then, I'll make you a new one if you don't like it."

I put together our two sandwiches onto two separate plates and filled two dipping bowls with my special ranch dip. Turning around, I noticed Andrei carrying the chopping board over to the trash and scraping the leftover cutting scraps into the bin. I set our two plates with bowls down and brought over the plate I'd found for the veggies. Plating the veggies, I handed them to Andrei, wordlessly asking him to carry them into the living room.

We set our quarries down on the now full coffee table and I swiped open my phone. Clicking play, I settled back on the couch with my plate and started munching away.

Andrei, on the other hand, filled his plate to bursting with veggies and pieces from the smorgasbord, propped his foot on one knee, held his plate in his lap, and resituated his right arm behind my head on the couch.

Heart fluttering a bit, I tried to relax and focus on the movie.

Eventually, I finished my sandwich and filled my plate with the munchy things lying on the table. As we got farther into the movie, Andrei would ask questions, always wanting to understand, always wanting to learn more.

By the time the movie rolled to a close, we'd finished our food and were sitting plateless on the couch. I'd gotten cold, so I'd pulled my knees up and dragged a large folded blanket from the back of the couch over my legs. I'd looked over at Andrei and asked, holding up a side of the blanket,

"Do you need one?"

"I will like a blanket, please, thank you."

I grabbed another blanket and unfolded it before handing it over him.

The autoplay screen was then showing the next movie that would play.

"I don't really want to get up and turn the projector off, do you want to watch the next movie?"

"What is next movie about?"

"It's called 'Onward,' I think it's about two brothers trying to resurrect their dad, but I'm not sure. It looks kind of interesting."

"I will watch it, sounds interesting to me, too."

I let the autoplay roll and the opening narration began.

I loved the movie, it seemed to focus on that age of late high school to early adulthood where you definitely don't feel like an adult. Kind of where I was at this point. However, no matter how hard I tried, my eyes didn't seem to want to stay open.

Once, I'd drifted off and felt myself falling and jerked awake. My head had been leaning towards Andrei's shoulder, and I quickly wiggled about trying to lean the opposite way. By the time the movie was two thirds of the way over, I had lost the battle and felt myself drifting off to sleep.