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Shit. Shitshitshitshitshitshit. Get it the fuck together.
“Sanchez.”
“I’m gonna, um…”Go.The word I was trying to say wasgo. But then I realized that once I turned around and walked out of here, I’d never see him again, and holy shit. It hit me hard enough to steal my breath.
I’d never hear his voice again.
We’d never have another chance to bicker and banter with each other ever again.Ever.
This was it.
Adrien stood frozen on the spot, looking shellshocked. “What did I say?” he asked somewhat helplessly as my lip continued to wiggle uncontrollably.
I must have looked ridiculous to him. Ifeltridiculous.
I tried to swallow back the frog lodged in the back of my throat, but it didn’t want to go anywhere. Not when my brain kept reminding it that this was the last time Adrien Cloutier would frustrate the ever-loving shit out of me.
Theone timeI’d needed him to know I was lying, and to call me out on it, he’d believed me instead.
I bit down punishingly on my stupid, ridiculous bottom lip as I glared at him, my deepening frown pushing out the tears welling up in my eyes.
He rounded his desk, looking increasingly distraught with every passing second. Thenerveof this man.
His hands jutted forward like he was reaching for me, but then he seemed to think better of it. “I know it’s my fault, but can you just tell me what I did? Because I honestly have no idea this time,” he said.
I swiped at my cheeks, expecting my hand to come back with messy evidence of my streaking mascara, but there was none. Freaking Jamie. She’dknown.
“Ria, just tell me wh—”
“Just some guy?” I asked, glaring right into his infuriatingly gorgeous eyes. “Just some guy, Adrien? Of all the lies I’ve told you,that’sthe one you decide not to catch?That’sthe one you let me get away with? I’m pretty sure you could see my nostril flare from the fucking moon when I said it!”
I pointed a livid finger at said moon, which was fully visible through his floor-to-ceiling windows.
Adrien’s lips peeled apart slowly, his eyes bouncing between mine.
“You are, without an iota of doubt, the mostinfuriating human being on the fucking planet, Adrien. You’ve driven me absolutely insane, you know that? Like really, truly batshit. All the signs are there.”
The tightness in his features began to ease as realization set in, a knowing smile tugging at his willing mouth. Two dimples. Uneven and lopsided as all hell.
“Oh, it’s funny to you, is it?” I asked, squaring my shoulders as he stepped closer, closer, closer. I didn’t even realize I’d moved until my back hit the wall, the tips of our shoes kissing. “You’ve got me all irritable and agitated. I’m a mess of mood swings. I can’t think clearly or about anything that isn’t directly related to you. I can’t even close my eyes for five fucking minutes without hallucinating images of your dimples. And no, they’re not dreams. I’ve had dreams, and those guys aren’t nearly as vivid.”
Adrien brushed a strand of hair away from my face with a delicate swipe of his fingers.
“That sounds… inconvenient,” he mused, sounding positively delighted by my suffering.
“It’shorrible,” I corrected him. “And the hallucinations don’t stop there, either.”
“Oh?”
“Colors, Adrien. All of them,” I tried explaining. “Like their vividness, you know?”
To my genuine surprise, he said, “I do.”
“And food tastes different. But it’s not the actual food, it’s me. I mean it’s your fault, but it’s me.”
He cupped my cheek, tilting my face up as he scanned my features. “But you’ve been eating though, right?” he asked as his thumb traced the dip under my cheekbone.
It wasn’t a relevant question, so I moved on. “Those are all signs of losing one’s mind, according to the internet. All of them.”
