He sits next to me on the bridge wall, his face adorably flushed. “I rented a bike.”
“Makes sense.” My words are clipped, stress settling in my throat.
Dean doesn’t seem to notice or react—his hands are in the pockets of his dark blue jacket, and he’s wearing a cute, expectant expression that digs into my chest.
“I'm sorry,” I start, getting right to the point. “I shouldn't have run out.”
“It’s fine,” he says. “I was just worried—this is the first time you left the house without me.”
I shrug. “I found my way around. And hey, now I can make you be a tourist.”
Smiling, he glances around at the absolute swarm of tourists packing the bridge and the causeway. “Yeah. I’m surprised I even found you in all this mess.”
“But you did, and now you’re here.” I sigh, not exactly sure what to say, given everything swarming my brain.
I like you too much to just be casual, but you’re moving here, I’m trying to go pro but maybe not, so do you want to cut the crap and let ourselves like each other for real while we figure shit out on the fly?
Nope. It isn’t like I think Dean would make me leave or anything, but the damn air mattress in his room doesn’t scream comfort to me.That’sthe only reason why I want to keep things calm with Dean,notbecause I want to throw caution to the wind and date him for real.
Jeez, he can’t want the same thing, can he? If the circumstances were different, sure, but we’re still parting ways in a few months.
There’s only one way to find out if he’s as delusional as I am.
“So, uh, are we gonna stay here and chill, or…” He beats me to breaking the silence and turns toward me. The sight of his gentle, half-curved smile makes my chest squeeze. He’s so freaking cute, I can’t take it.
“Let’s stay for a bit.” I stick my hands in my pockets, staring forward to avoid getting disarmed even further by Dean’s existence, and I huff out a breath. “I suppose we should talk about why I stormed out?”
Dean nods in my peripheral vision.
“I’m scared,” I admit. “And I know it’s messy, but I like you.”
He barks out a short laugh. “Really? I didn’t hear you the first time.”
“Hey, I’m trying to be serious,” I groan, reaching over to punch his shoulder.
A sigh comes from my left. “And yeah, I like you, too. But we’re going to different places in four months, soooooo…” He drags the word out, hiking the suspense and making my heart jump. “What are we gonna do?”
“I don’t know. Cut things off?” My voice is barely audible, even to me, but somebody had to put it out there as anoption.
He snorts. “Yeah, right. What are we going to do, share a town for four months andnotsee each other?”
“I mean, it’s logical,” I mutter, “but I don’t know if it’s possible.”
Dean brushes my shoulder with his, and the slightest contact sends my affection racing into overdrive. “Yeah, no, it isn’t. I’d be clawing at the walls of my apartment knowing you’re a five-minute walk away, and then I'd be outside your window throwing pebbles by day two.”
“So we're on the same page.”
“We both don’t want this to end yet?” He huffs out a laugh. “I’d say so, but that doesn’t change what’s happening after graduation.”
I swallow my rising nerves, determined to let Dean know my fragile plan. “Sure, but I might not be too far from where you are. Baseball might not work out for me right after I graduate, so I was thinking of taking a gap year.”
“Here?” He turns to me, a sad look in his eyes. “There’s no way you’re getting a visa for an entire year.”
“No, no. More like thisarea. I could be one of those guys who backpacks through Southeast Asia, but I could visit you for a month at a time.”
Dean’s jaw hangs open. “You would…do that? I don’t want you to give up on going pro if?—”
“Eh. The decision’s mostly out of my hands at this point,” I confess. “If nobody wants me, it is what it is, so I might as well have some fun abroad before real life hits me.”
