I knock on Shane's door quickly, having absolutely no idea what to do right now.

Shane will know what to do. He'll help me fix all of this.

But when the door swings open, it isn't Shane.

It's Sofia.

"Where's Shane?" I ask, pushing past her and entering the apartment.

"He's in the bathroom." She says quickly. "Shane! Grayson is here!" She yells towards the bathroom.

"Where are your clothes?" I ask, glancing down at Sofia who is wearing only a towel.

"Well...Shane was going to let me shower here." She explains quickly.

"What did you say?" Shane asks, exiting the bathroom.

I look down and see a towel hanging low on Shane's hips.

"Shit, Gray. I didn't know you were coming back over." He says, rushing towards his closet and pulling out a t-shirt and shorts, throwing a pair to Sofia.

I look between the two of them, confused by their nervous looks.

And like a ton of bricks, it hits me.

"Are you guys sleeping together?" I ask, holding my hands up in realization.

"Well....not exactly." Sofia says with a shrug. "But this isn't about us right now. What happened with Natalia?" She asks, turning around while she slips the t-shirt on. Shane is staring at her back as she changes, completely invested in her. I slap him on the chest, jolting him out of his own thoughts about my little sister.

"What happened with Natalia?" Shane asks me.

"Okay, well...she came over." I say.

"Yeah, we knew that much."

"Well, we started talking a bit. Just about...stuff, I guess. I don't really remember what we were talking about at this point." I lie. "But then, she leans over and kisses me. So I start kissing her back and then she was in my lap and I just kind of...freaked out." I say quickly.

"Hold on, you two were making out?" Shane exclaims.

"I guess so, yeah." I mumble.

"Okay so...why are you here. Why aren't you fucking her right now?" He asks simply, making me only slightly cringe at his choice of words.

"Shane!" Sofia says, slapping his chest with her hand.

"What? It's a valid question." He says, catching the hand that just slapped his chest.

"So where is she right now?" Sofia asks me, ignoring Shane's question.

"I told her to leave." I say.

"What?!" The two say in unison.

Their reaction confirmed that my choice to tell Natalia to leave was a poor one.

"I panicked!" I exclaim in reply.

"Why?" Shane asks with a groan.

"I don't know." I mumble in reply.

"Can you give us a minute?" Shane asks, turning to Sofia slightly.

"What? No! I want to know all of the details." She protests.

"You'll get them. Me and Grayson just need to talk man to man for a second. Go ahead, i'll be in there in just a few." He says softly, eyes pointing towards his bedroom.

She huffs as she walks into the bedroom, towel still in hand.

"Don't miss me too much." He calls after her, to which she turns and winks at him.

When she shuts the door behind her, I finally say what I already assume is going to happen.

"You aren't going to shower with her." I say sternly.

"I am, though. Don't worry, she's different. Very different." He assures me. "Now, enough about me. Tell me about this whole make out."

"Wait, i'm not quite done with this. Is Sofia like...staying here tonight? Or am I going to have to deal with her rolling into my apartment at 4 in the morning?" I ask.

"Yeah, i've been meaning to talk to you about that, actually. I think Sofia is just going to live here with me? Instead of her finding her own apartment?" He says slowly. He says it in the form of a question. He stares at me until I reply, which takes a minute.

"And are you...asking me? Or telling me?" I ask.

"Well, a little bit of both." He says. "It will be easier overall if you just go ahead and give us your blessing. However, if you don't, i'll still be seeing her and she'll still be staying here. It'll just be easier if everyone is on board with it." He says.

Sofia and Shane are together. Unofficially, but they're still together nonetheless. Now, i'm going to have to live with the fact that my baby sister is living with my best friend.

"I...what?" I ask, shaking my head.

"Well, you know. I have room here and i'm sure you want your privacy every once in awhile." He defends quickly. "Plus, I really like having her around. I miss her when she leaves."

"Privacy from what? No one else is ever in my apartment." I ask, ignoring the end statement. I miss her when she leaves, too. That doesn't mean I don't want her getting her own apartment.

"Yet, you're here right now because you want to tell me a story about you and Natalia- who was just at your apartment- and was also just on your lap in a heated make out session." He counters, cocking a brow at me. "You're really going to tell me that you want your sister in the room while that's going on?"

"I guess you're right." I sigh. "I have no idea what i'm doing. I mean, it's not like i'm used to having someone over and doing...that."

"Same, my guy. Same." Shane sighs. "So what, you just kicked her out?" He asks.

"Well, I just suggested that she leave. Because of work, you know." I try and validate.

"You fucked up, man. Hardcore." Shane replies.

"So what do I do?" I ask.

"Well...maybe text her? No, actually don't. It might be too weird. Or, you can but just avoid the kissing conversation. Just say that you had a good time tonight and that you hope she'll be around soon." He says. "I mean, you do want her around, right?"

"Yeah." I answer with zero hesitation.

"And i'm sure she wants to be around too." He adds.

"How can I be sure? I haven't kissed someone in years. Like, ten years. I didn't even remember what it was like."

"I know, and it's tragic. But dude, what do you mean you aren't sure? She was just on your fucking lap in a heated make out session. There's your answer right there." Shane points out.

"What do I do?"

"You're just going to go with the flow. Don't worry, it'll be fine. There's no way i'm letting my best friend miss out on a girl that hot." He says.

"You think she's...hot?" I ask curiously.

"Duh. I mean, she's no Sofia, but she's good looking. That's just a fact." He says.

"I don't want to hear about how you think my sister is hot." I groan.

"What about your sister?" Sofia asks, walking back into the room.

"Okay, what happened to you staying in the bedroom?" Shane asks.

"Yeah, That was before I heard my name!" She said, crossing her arms in front of us.

"I was just mentioning how insanely beautiful you were. And your ears were just burning at the mention of your name." He says, pulling her into his side gently. She rolls her eyes but looks at me with a smile I haven't seen in a long time. As much as I hate to admit it to myself, they're happy together. I can tell.

"So, you kicked your hot girlfriend out of your apartment." She tells me.

"She's not my girlfriend." I state.

"Yeah, and if she was before, she definitely wouldn't be anymore." Sofia shoots back. "Now, you can either take Shane's advice or you can take some advice from an actual girl. Because unlike the two of you, I actually know what's going on through that girls head." She says in her best sassy tone.

"She does have a point." Shane says in her defense.

"Okay, so let's start it this way. Did you like kissing?" She asks.

"I don't really like...kissing." I say with a slight shudder.

"Why?" She asks.

"It's kind of uncomfortable to me. I mean, with the tongue and everything."

"Okay...and did she use a lot of tongue or something?" She asks impatiently.

"I mean, no. She didn't use any, really." I shrug.

"Okay, allow me to rephrase. Did you like kissing her?" She says, emphasizing the ending.

"Yeah, I did." I sigh. "But that's half of the problem." I say with a groan.

"How is that a problem?"

"Well...she was on top and me and I just kind of..." I say, not wanting to tell Sofia any of this.

"Do you have any idea what he's talking about right now?" She asks Shane.

"He's saying he got hard with her on top of him." Shane says immediately.

"You didn't have to tell her." I mutter, feeling the embarrassment go straight to my cheeks.

"Oh my God. Grayson! You told her to leave because you got a boner? Are you kidding me?" Sofia exclaims.

"It's embarrassing!" I defend.

"If I were to sit on top of and make out with Shane and he didn't get hard for me, I would escort myself out the door." She remarks.

"Dude, it's not a big deal." Shane says with a little chuckle.

"You two aren't helping." I remind them.

"Well, here's what you're going to do. You're going to go into work tomorrow, pull her into your office, and kiss her again." Sofia says.

"That's a terrible idea!" Shane snaps quickly.

"No it's not! She'll love it. I'm a female. I know these things."

"I see that being a major HR issue. Do not do that." Shane replies.

"Perks of being the boss." Sofia shrugs.

"Okay, go back into the bedroom and let me finish this." Shane says, shaking his head in disapproval.

"Fine." She huffs, marching back into the room. When she closes the door behind herself, Shane turns back to me.

"You are not doing what she told you to do. Listen, just talk to her tomorrow and act natural, okay? It'll be fine." He assures me.

"And if it isn't?" I ask.

"It will be." He replies. "Now, try and stop worrying about this. It'll be fine. I promise. You know Natalia. She's into you. She'll understand."

"She won't, though." I sigh.

"You never know unless you give her the chance." He shrugs.

"If I tell her about me...she'll look at me differently. She'll treat me differently. She doesn't look at me as somebody who is on the spectrum. She doesn't treat me any differently than she treats you. That'll change if she finds out. I know it will. I don't want that. Not yet, at least." I blurt out.

"Okay, I get it." He replies, holding his hands up in surrender.

"I'm going home. Tell Sofia I said goodnight." I sigh.

"I will." He replies with a nod.

"And if she does move in with you...just don't hurt her, okay?" I ask.

"You know I won't." He reminds me.

"I know. I just feel like as her older brother, i'm kind of obligated to say that." I shrug.

"Go to bed, Gray." Shane laughs, walking with me to the door.

"I'll try and talk to Nat tomorrow." I add before leaving his apartment and walking back to my own.

As I get ready for bed, I can't help but miss the way she felt against my body, even though it was only so briefly.

I only pray that i'll feel that once again.