“And you’re stuck with me now.”
He smiles, brushing his thumb along my cheek like he can’t quite believe I’m real.
“Yeah,” he whispers. “And I’m exactly where I want to be.”
Chapter 26
Luca
I still can’t believe yesterday happened.
I’m officially Tilly’s boyfriend.
Boyfriend.
The words are connected.
No space between them.
Boyfriend.
Boy-no-space-friend.
The word feels too small for what it means — too simple for something that has been years in the making.
How can nine letters describe what is happening in my chest right now?
How can a word describe just how lucky I am?
The truth is, it can’t. It puts the situation in a box that is way too small for the actual thing.
Because love is not a condiment. You can’t put it in a jar and keep it there forever.
You have to explore it, put it through rea life experiences, and let it grow. And I get to do all that with my favorite person.
How surreal is that?
I keep replaying the moment in my head.
Every word thatwasn said yesterday is slowly being engraved on my being.
Every. Single. Word.
All the moments are being replayed over and over again.
Now that it’s the next day, the part I am dreading has arrived. Telling the others.
God help me.
I’m in the kitchen flipping through the fridge for juice when I hear the front door creak open and Matt’s voice booms through the house.
“Yo, guess what I saw today?”
Oh no. He’s already wired.
I try to sound casual. “What?”
He throws his bag onto the counter. “A literal kangaroo fight. Like— UFC level. Bro was squaring up. I thought one of them was about to pull out a folding chair.”
