Siempre by Tessa Cárdenas Page B

liked to have more time with Jaime the next week. Instead he had a full week of classes and Jaime had two projects due, so he had to make do with texts, short calls, and Travis rolling his eyes when Jaime tried to spy on his Tuesday class.
    When his phone rang with a number he didn’t recognize Wednesday night, he answered only because Alana was using Travis as her own personal cook, and if he didn’t answer, she’d take his phone to see who it was.
    “Your boyfriend is an idiot,” Aleksandra said after he answered. She skipped pleasantries faster than Jaime, but her slight Russian accent was unmistakable. “I need you to fix him tomorrow before I move back to Russia to get away from him.”
    “What’s wrong?” Sean hadn’t heard from Jaime all day, but between his morning classes at the studio and Jaime’s night class at school, it hadn’t worried him.
    “He’s—” Aleksandra paused as she tried to think of the right words for what she wanted to say. Her English was almost perfect, but sometimes she seemed to get stuck on stringing the right words together for descriptions. “He’s thinking too much. All the time.”
    “Thinking about what?”
    “Everything.” Aleksandra sighed. “I can’t even keep track. One minute he’s trying to figure out exactly how to make you happy, the next he starts going on about how he can’t be everything you want him to be. I’d blame you for making crazy demands, but as he doesn’t seem to know what they are, I believe he’s making these things up. If he is not fixed after you see him tomorrow, I’m driving him right back to the city and leaving him at your door.”
    As threats went, Sean had heard five from Alana in the past few hours that were a lot worse than forcing him to spend the night with Jaime, but that didn’t mean he shouldn’t try to figure out the issue anyway. Sean ignored the looks Travis and Alana gave him as he stood from his seat at the bar and moved to his room.
    “Can you give me some examples?”
    “You need examples?” Aleksandra might like him enough to call him, but her tone didn’t convey much faith.
    “He really hasn’t said anything to me to make me think anything is wrong. If you can give me some idea of what he’s saying to you, it will be easier for me to try and fix things.” Sean refrained from pointing out that she had to suspect this, or she wouldn’t be calling him.
    Aleksandra was quiet for a moment, and Sean almost gave up and started guessing when she spoke.
    “I think maybe he doesn’t remember how to be with someone, so he thinks it’s a lot more complicated than it is, and he won’t tell you the million things he’s unsure about because he already messed up once, and he thinks he has to be perfect now.”
    “I never said he had to be perfect.” It came out softer than he planned, but Aleksandra must have heard him anyway.
    “I didn’t really think you did, but maybe you could make sure he knows that. Because right now, he’s so scared he’s going to do something wrong that he’s not even enjoying having you. I had to scream at him that you were not going to be mad if he didn’t call you tonight because he has a three-hour class tonight and an early day tomorrow. Yesterday he started saying that calling you his boyfriend was too much of a commitment, and then three hours later he was worried that you hate children, and he’s always assumed he’d have kids.” Aleksandra paused, and then continued when he didn’t say anything. “And I really should not have told you those last two. Pretend I didn’t say that.”
    “It’s okay.” Sean sat on his bed as he tried to process everything. “It’s probably better that you said both of them and not just one or the other. Balances things out.”
    “Are you worrying about stupid things now too? I have Alana’s number.”
    “No.” Sean probably said it too quickly, but Alana was already in the apartment, and she’d repeat everything to Travis.