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I SCRAMBLE TO THE FAR SIDE OF THE BED, CLUTCHING THE sheet to e away from Theo, who’s totally exposed, and totally nude
"Jesus!" Theo grabs a pillow to hold over his lap "Aaaaand this is aard"
My cheeks flush hot I try to look anywhere but at Theo, but every glance showselse I’d rather not see My bra on the floor next to a pair of boots that e of the bed An old-fashioned alarm clock on the bedside table, knocked onto its side next to a lamp with its shade askew
Apparently what just happened here wasextre seconds, maybe a full minute, neither of us can speak another word We can’t catch our breath, and besides, what could we possibly say? Would this s for
I sta way to jump into a dimension Ever"
"We could have jumped in about five minutes earlier"
When we still would have been-- "Okay, that’s worse"
"Guess this version of oes quiet for a moment "Sorry Dumb joke"
"I don’t understand this"
With a raised eyebrow, he says, "You don’t? Apparently I need to give Paul the sex talk again"
Wait Theo gave Paul a sex talk? I’ll deal with that later "That’s not what I meant"
What I can’t understand is--how can Theo be in my bed? Paul and I have found each other in so h all the worlds Fate and ether, time after time There’s no room in that equation for Theo
But then I think of some of the first universes I traveled to In the Londonverse, Paul and I both lived in England, but we’d never met And in the dimensions where I lived on a deep sea station, Paul and raphy but didn’t know one another Even if there is a kind of destiny bringing ether, each world evolves at its own pace We just haven’t found each other here yet
None of that explains why I’h--with the two of us undressed and close and unsure--I can’t help re that onewith him (I mean, a version of him I didn’t know the difference at the time) The way I felt then is a lot like the way I feel now: embarrassed, vulnerable, and a tiny bit turned on
The turned-on part is probably left over frouerite It is Has to be
Theo breaks the silence "So We ought to check the Firebirds, right? Make sure ent to the right place?"