And Kaden moves a hand to behind my ear and kisses me back. Because he doesn’t know any better. Because I haven’t told him anything.
He tilts his head, licking the seam of my lips and when I open up, he slides his tongue inside. Tasting of that peppermint gum he’s always chewing, as he tangles it with mine.
It’s not the hot, frantic kisses that you know will turn into something more.
It’s lips grazing each other.
It’s lazy, open-mouth kisses.
It’s tongues caressing and hair stroking.
It’s nose bumping and foreheads leaning.
And that is all so much worse.
40
Kaden
“Ihadtoverifymy age on Google the other day,” Iggy says around a bite of taco.
“What for?” I frown.
“I created a new email, blah, blah, blah,” she says, waving me off. “Anyway, apparently, you can take a picture for that, and then they use some tool to verify your age. Heartbreaking,” she says, placing a hand over her chest. “They could tell by my picture that I was old, isn’t that just awful?”
I snort, and realize Seth hasn’t said a word, and he’s been quieter for a few days now. Ever since that day when Lou called when I was leaving his place. I don’t know what she told him that made him turn in on himself, but he usually gets a little blue sometimes after seeing or talking to Lou. I know he misses her a lot.
But it’s been days.
Iggy crumbles the wrapping paper, and starts cleaning the coffee table. I glance at Seth. I shoot him a smile when he clocks me, and he smiles back but as soon as he looks away, the smile vanishes.
After we’re done cleaning, we lock up the studio, and Iggy waves goodbye and strolls off with a plume of cigarette smoke following her. I grab hold of Seth’s arm. “Hey!”
He turns to look at me, eyebrows raised.
“Are we good?”
“Yeah, of course,” he shrugs. “Why wouldn’t we be?”
“Is there something going on? With Lou, or…?”
“No,” he says, pressing his lips together. “Why?”
“I just,” I say, as we start walking. “I feel like you’ve been down lately.”
"Yeah, no, uh…” He scratches the back of his head. “I’ve had a couple of rough days, but I’m fine. It’s nothing.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah, totally.” He nods, throwing me a smile.
I scratch my chin, and then I grab his arm, stopping. “Does Lou know? About…” I gesture vaguely between us.
He glances away for a beat. “Uh, yeah. It sort of came up.”
“Okay.” I nod. “Did she say something? Or—”
“I mean, she wasn’t thrilled, maybe,” he says as he starts walking again.
