I smirked up at him and kissed my way back down his chest until he rumbled with delight, making up his mind with me. I didn’t want to think of my life any other way. I’d already lived those lonely versions of my life too many times.
“I think so.”
15
Itried not to focus on how I woke up in his arms.
Somehow, in the middle of the night every night this week, we would drift. Dom would turn over, and I’d turn into him. I’d wake up smelling my own soap on his skin.
My hand was on his bare chest, and my heart stuttered into a hard and heavy beat against his stomach.
Dom stretched with a groan, slowly looking down at me. He didn’t move as quickly as I’d thought he would. He paused before slowly dislodging himself and standing up for another stretch of his arms above his head. “I’m going for a run before I should try to get in some work.”
I nodded, knowing this routine.
“What time is the graduation?”
I swallowed, sitting up from the bed on my elbows. “Two.”
He nodded, groggily going to fill up the coffee machine so I would only have to press the button when I was ready. He’d have any of the extra caffeine when he came back, so it would in his words, not go to waste.
“Is there anything else you needed to tell me this morning since I fell asleep before you got back again? Did any of your friends come up with any other solutions for what’s going on yet?” he asked after he changed, slipping on his sneakers.
Dom’s eyes continued to scan me up and down as I swung my bare legs over the edge of the bed. My loose shirt rode further up into the creases of my thighs.
“Nothing besides the one plan.” I said.
“And that’s still the plan? Thestick to each other like glueplan?”
“More or less until we figure something better out.” I tried to sound more hopeful than the plan of attack was. “We’re working on it.”
Dom slowly nodded, standing back up.
“We’re still partners in figuring this out from now on, right?”
“Partners.” Dom nodded again. “I’ll be back soon. I shouldn’t be too long. I just …”
Need space.
After waking up the way he often did, I knew the feeling. Usually, it was either him ready and raring to go for the day and work out, or it was me, rushing to the bathroom as if I were going to be late for something. Neither of us commented on the other.
“Again, I’ll be here,” I said.
“Call me if the world comes tumbling down.”
I gave him a mock salute. “Sounds like a plan … partner.”
It had been a long time since I had last been in my tiny apartment alone. For being so small, it felt bigger without him. It also felt like something was clinging in the center of my chest. The fear perhaps of what could possibly happen if Dom ran too far off or decided to run off and never return altogether.
I filled a mug of coffee to the very top. Surprisingly, I didn’t drop the entire drink on the floor before I took a long sip, looking around. It was one thing to ride out this stupid cursed hex I had put on us together, but I was already beginning to see that it would be an entirely different sort of struggle to do it alone.
Especially now, as I cleaned up and watched the same door he had once stormed out of, waiting for him to return.
* * *
Dom staredat me as I fixed the neckline of my dress. I had washed, buffed, and made sure to shave my legs. It had been an embarrassingly long time since I had last put my razor into action. I almost looked like a lady. Maybe that was what he was staring at.
It had been a while since I had last worn the strappy number. Kim didn’t exactly have a dress code at work, but mine often did not include sweet hot-pink sundresses, especially on the average day when going from work to Gertie’s with rarely anything else in between. The slightly frilly cotton hugged my hips in a way I didn’t expect from the way it looked on the hanger.
