“Hey!” Tate’s voice snaps across the lot. “They’ve got a secret menu.”
We both turn. He holds up a foil-wrapped burrito monstrosity.
“Of course you found it.”
She pulls open the driver door, glancing back at me with a smile. “Buckle up, golden boy. This town’s got layers.”
I follow her in, the warm echo of her words still ringing in my chest.
Within a few minutes we’re back at Haven’s apartment. Tate stayed behind at the food truck, said he needed five minutes to “figure out his drink choice,” which we both knew was code for needing space and he wanted to walk back.
So we left him there. Drove back with the windows down and the fries in my lap, Haven humming along to some lo-fi remix while I kept glancing at her.
Now we’re curled up on the couch, the basket of fries between us, her legs thrown over mine, and she’s got this tiny smudge of sauce on her cheek. She’s mid-story, something about a sleepover gone wrong with Cassie and a cursed Ouija board and I’m trying really hard to listen.
But I’ve kind of stopped, not because I’m bored, I’m overwhelmed. I keep looking at her like she’s something I’llnever deserve. The thought keeps clawing at me. What if this doesn’t last? What if we fuck this up? What if I do? I set my drink down. “Hey.”
She stops mid-bite. “Yeah?”
I swallow, trying to work through the knot forming in my chest. “Can I ask you something kind of… serious?”
Her expression shifts, softens. “Of course.” I stare at the ground for a second before glancing back up at her. “Do you ever think about how… messy this could get?”
She blinks. “Messy?”
“I mean us. You, me, Tate. This whole thing we’re trying to make work. It’s good now.Sogood. But sometimes I lie awake and wonder if it’s all gonna blow up in our faces. If we’re setting ourselves up for something we don’t know how to come back from.”
She sets her fry down.
I press on before I lose the nerve. “I feel so much for you. It’s not just about the sex, or the fun, or the adrenaline. I feel it, Haven. All the way in, I’d rearrange my entire life if you asked.”
She reaches for my hand, threading our fingers together. Suddenly I’m not breathing like I was a minute ago. “Carter…”
“I’m scared, I don’t want to be the reason this gets ruined. Or be the one left behind if it stops making sense.”
She squeezes my hand, even though she doesn’t say anything right away, doesn’t try to fix it I feel a little less like I’m falling. She doesn’t rush to fill the silence either. She just…sits with it, with me. Our knees brushing, our half-finished food forgotten,.
When she finally speaks, it’s softly. “Of course I think about it. How could I not? This… us, it’s complicated. New and insane, in every possible way. Sometimes I feel like I’ve stepped into a story I’m not sure how to write the ending to.”
I glance over at her. She’s watching our hands. “I don’t have it all figured out,” she continues. “I don’t know how thisworks long-term. I don’t know how to keep everything perfect or prevent anyone from getting hurt. But Carter…” Her eyes lift to mine. “I know what I feel when I’m with you.”
My breath stutters.
“I know how it feels when you look at me like I matter. Like I’m not just some streamer with a headset, but someone who makes you want to stay.”
My throat tightens.
“I know what it feels like to be touched by you, soft, careful, like you’re scared I’ll disappear. I know what it feels like to be held by you like you’d never let me.”
She shifts closer, her knee pressing harder into mine. “I don’t know how this ends. But I know I don’t want it to.”
I blink fast. My grip tightens on her hand, grounding myself in it.
“I feel it too,” she whispers without me having to say anything. “And yeah, maybe that’s terrifying. But it’s also kind of beautiful, isn’t it?”
God, yeah it is. When she leans in, pressing her lips gently to mine, it’s not heat that makes me kiss her back. It’s relief. It’s yes, it’s thank you. Her lips are still on mine when the front door swings open.
“Fuck—” Tate’s voice cuts into the moment like a blade. “The food truck guy said they’re out of pineapp—.”
