I’m surprised I don’t explode into oblivion when his hands slip under my shirt, wrapping around my back. I bite on his lip gently as I pull away from him, both of us panting.
I stay straddled on him, his hands still under my shirt when I turn back to the rest of them. The girls are trying not to laugh, and the guys do the same but with something else in their eyes.
“God, he said kiss not whatever that was,” Xavier says, retching. This is why we work well together. Xavier is the voice of rationality.
“You get what you wanted, Evan?” Miles asks, his voice breathy from behind me. He bites my collarbone gently; his eyes connect with Evan across the room.
“You guys are so boring. You didn’t have to choose him just because he’s your boyfriend,” Evan whines. I climb off Miles, but as I do, I can feel him between his jeans. I try
to ignore the throbbing I feel between my legs as I sit beside him, nuzzling my face into his shoulder.
“Even if he wasn’t, I still would have,” I whisper.
*
They continue to play truth or dare while I slip away into the kitchen, cleaning up some of the plates and dishes that we ended up using. Today has been a good day. Our friendship groups are so different that they make so much sense. I’m glad that he has good friends.
Yes, Evan can be a bit much but for the most part he’s tolerable. And Xavier is just the sweetest person to level out their energies. He was constantly trying to make sure everyone was okay all night, checking if the girls were drinking too much.
I’m putting dirty dishes into the sink when Miles comes through from the living room. He doesn’t say anything, he just stands beside me, waiting for me to wash the plates then he dries them.
“Did you mean what you said earlier?” he asks in the midst of the comfortable silence.
“What?”
“Earlier. About you wanting to kiss me even if we weren’t together. Or pretending to be together.”
I can’t think of a reason to deny it anymore. There’s nothing that I could say or do that could combat this feeling I’ve had inside me since I met him at the party. Since he let me into his life and completely changed mine.
“Yeah, I did mean it,” I admit. He groans and when I look up at him, he throws his head back dramatically. “What? Are you annoyed?”
“No,” he says with a slight edge. “I don’t know. I guess I’m a little frustrated because you know how badly I want you. How badly I’ve wanted you since the beginning. For real. But whenever I try to make a move, you run away. Like you did the morning after the game.”
His voice is calm and levelled but his admission still shocks me. I try and ignore the way my stomach crowds with angry butterflies when the words leave his mouth. His eyes look hurt. “That’s a different thing.”
“Is it?” he asks, slight pain and irritation in his tone.
I open my mouth to speak but I’m interrupted by Xavier, Evan, and Scarlett walking into the kitchen. The boys look absolutely fucked. I don’t know when everybody got so drunk, but I was focusing on keeping myself sober enough.
“If you’re staying for a bit, Miles, I’m going to drive these two home,” Scarlett groans, patting Xavier on the chest. He makes a strange noise from the back of his throat. "You guys gonna be okay?”
“Yeah,” I reply. I look up to Miles but he’s not looking at me. Panic settles in me.
“Actually, I’m going to go too,” Miles says, walking away to get his jacket. Scarlett nods as she opens the door. I walk toward him, trying to reach for his hand but he pulls it away.
“Miles,” I breathe. He turns around to me, his expression hard. “You’re still picking me up tomorrow, right?”
He comes closer towards me and kisses me on the top of my head. “Yeah. I’ll be here.”
CHAPTER 29
MILES
We only have a week. Seven days. Monday until Sunday. That’s all we get. This is all the time I get with her until next year and things start to get more serious for the both of us. That’s why when we’re on the plane and Wren falls asleep, I make a plan of what to do to make this a really good vacation. A much-deserved break for her. I book us in for massages, hikes, saunas, and I look around for a nice restaurant to go to.
I’m really cutting deep into my savings for this, but I need to do something nice. A grand gesture of some sort. There’s a bar having a New Year’s Eve party that we can go to too. Maybe this is all too much. Maybe I’m in way over my head but I want to do this for her.
On the drive to the airport, on the plane and even when we drive from the airport to the hotel, she ignores what happened last night. Her specialty. Although, a part of me is planning on ignoring it too. I don’t want to ruin these next few days because after this, we could be done. If my first few games go well and she qualifies, we’ll have no reason to be doing this anymore.
