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She giggled, making the bottom fall out of my stomach. I fucking loved her. I loved her so much I wondered how I’d managed to keep myself in check all these years.
What’s going to happen when she finds out about your lies?
“It’s more azure today,” she sassed.
“Listen here, you cheeky little brat,” I said, tightening the grip on her chin to give her face a light shake. “It’s blue.”
Smiling, she nodded. “Yes, Benji. It’s blue.”
My hand fell away from her chin, and I rocked back a little into my heels.
Alarm flashed over her features. “What’s the matter?”
“You called me Benji again.”
Her eyes widened, realization dawning. “I didn’t even think about it. It just came out.”
I swallowed.
“You said that’s what I normally call you.” She paused, wary. “Right?”
I cleared my throat once, then again, trying to scrape the fucking emotion hardening in my windpipe like concrete. “Yeah.”
“Then why do you look like that?” Between us, her hands began to wring.
“It just,” I said, rubbing my palm over the back of my neck while staring down at my shoes. “You never quite said it like that before.”
“Like what?”
Dripping with affection. Like a woman teasing her lover. The ache that caused. The intimation that I was more than just her childhood bestie. The desperation I felt to hear it again.
“Ben?” She worried.
I’d been quiet too long. Lost in a river of feels. “I liked it,” I said, the admission seeming minimal compared to what raged inside me.
“You did?”
I made a noise and cupped the back of her head, pulling her in. Her cheek pillowed against my shoulder, and I scratched my still-unshaven chin over her hair. Touching her was second nature now, almost as though she was an extension of my own body.
The second I’d found her at the bottom of those stairs, something inside me shattered. I couldn’t keep my hands away. It was like I had to continually assure myself she was here and not just a dream.
“That’s the worst fucking nickname.” I spoke over her head, and I continued to stroke her hair. “But damn, if it doesn’t sound like perfection rolling off your tongue.”
Her arms wound around my waist, hugging me. “The sky is definitely blue today, Benji.”
My heart inverted, and I made a sound, turning my face to pillow my cheek on the crown of her head. She was a damn good height. Just perfect for me to cuddle.
“You didn’t forget to play piano, baby. You’ve got a whole symphony inside you. A song all your own. I still remember the first time I heard you play. How mesmerized I was. You’ve only gotten better since. The second you sit down at those keys, your body and mind will take over and it will be like it always is when you play.”
“And how is that?”
“Like you’ve stolen all the oxygen out of my lungs and replaced it with your melody.”
Her arms tightened around me, squeezing so tight I worried she might hurt herself. But I didn’t complain. I never would.
“I’d take you to the theater right now and prove it, but I gotta meet Prism.”
She pulled back, and it made me a little grumpy. Spinning on my heel, I dropped in front of her and patted my shoulder. “Uber’s here.”
