Since the servers are only carrying the themed drinks, I stand. “I’ll be right back.”
For a second I look down at her — at the dragon clips and the ridiculous purse and the soft blue dress and the expression on her face that she hasn’t quite managed to make neutral yet — and something in my chest settles so completely it almost doesn’t feel like anything at all.
Just certainty.
I head toward the bar.
twelve
“UNDER PRESSURE” — QUEEN & DAVID BOWIE
Tavey
It’s probably wrong to feel this good on someone else’s “big day.”
All the focus should be on Geeta, right?
But honestly, I’m having so much fun, I’m a little worried I’m siphoning it away from other people.
Of course, Geeta — who is across the room and glowing madly — is doing just fine on her own. And presumably she doesn’t want to be sitting next to Miller, so it’s all good.
Still, this level of happiness feels vaguely irresponsible.
So far, everything has been… easy.
Miller, sitting next to me instead of across the rhombus, is a new experience. He’s close enough that our arms brush every time one of us reaches forsomething on the table. Every now and then, his hand drapes across the back of my chair like it belongs there. Like I belong tucked to his side.
We’ve been talking, laughing, doing that thing where our conversations overlap and spiral into inside jokes in real time.
At one point, I made a quip that made him laugh out loud.
Yep. Miller. Laughing out loud. Enough that he had to set down his glass.
New proudest moment.
I mean, sure, I graduated from high school at sixteen and camethisclose to getting my PhD, but making Miller laugh out loud?That’ssomething to be proud of.
Even better, the moment his hand slid—almost absentmindedly—over mine where it rested on the table.
Not grabbing.
Not claiming.
Just… there.
Like a question.
I turned my hand over.
Answer.
His fingers closed around mine.
My heart pounded dramatically in my chest, like the silly thirteen-year-old-girl she is.
But then… miraculously… everything stilled. Settled. And all of a sudden, this experience—Miller and I together at the wedding—didn’t feel silly anymore. It didn’t feel like cosplay. It felt like real life. Like something that could exist outside the fantasy world of this fantastically themed wedding.
It was on the tip of my tongue to say it out loud. To ask if he felt it too. To verify.
