“I’m going to miss seeing you every day when I head back to Nolan. I kind of don’t want to think about it yet.”
“Then don’t.” She rests her head on my shoulder, draping her arm across my stomach.
I can hear the party through my bedroom door, and even though it’s loud, it feels different. We’re caught in our own little bubble up here. No one can touch us.
I love that feeling.
“But we are going to have to think about how we’ll make this work. When school goes back, I mean.” I kiss her forehead. “Our time will be restricted, but I’ll come visit you any weekend I can. Lennox isn’t that far. I can probably drive across to see you some nights too. I know things will get busy with practices, games, classes, study sessions, but we’ll snatch pockets of time.”
Mandy doesn’t say anything, and I wonder if she’s fallen asleep.
“You awake?” I whisper.
“Yeah,” she breathes against my chest, then sits up on her elbow so she can look down at my face. “You know, it’s going to be so busy. Don’t feel like you have to see me all the time.”
“I can make time for you, baby.” I tuck a curl behind her ear. “Of course I’ll make time for you. It’ll be a pleasure. I don’t want to settle for just texts and video chats like the way we started. I want to be able to see you.”
Her smile is gentle as she bobs her head. “I just don’t want you to feel pressured, that’s all. It’ll be a busy year for both of us. I don’t want us to be stressing about always seeing each other.”
“You’ll be the break to my pressure, you know? The thing I can look forward to.” Tipping her chin, I wait until she’s looking me in the eye. “I love you, Mandy.” My heart is pounding as those words slip out of my mouth, but they feel so damn right… so damn good to say. “I love you.”
Her breath catches, and it’s triumphant to surprise her this way.
Cupping the back of her head, I pull her down to kiss me before she can say anything. I don’t want her to feel like she has to say it back just because I did. When she’s ready, those words will come out of her, and they’ll be so much more meaningful.
Her tongue lightly caresses mine, and I smile against her lips.
I said it.
She knows.
And this year is going to be amazing.
Sure, it’ll be challenging to see her, but we can text every day, and those times we do get together will be magical. I’ll make sure of it.
26
DARIAN
Okay,so that laundry room was magic, and I’ll do just about anything to get back in there with Nix. Holy fuck, her tongue was fire, her mouth an oasis. Her little tits pressed against my chest? Yeah, my body’s begging for more, and I’m still pissed off that Mac and that stupid girl interrupted us. Who knows where things would have gone.
Nix got kind of weird after that, and she hasn’t looked at me again since walking out of that laundry room.
It stings for reasons I can’t articulate in my sloshy brain.
Yes, I’ve downed another beer since she’s stopped looking at me, and I’m now flirting on the edge of being completely drunk.
Maybe she’s weirded out because she knows we’ve got a connection, but her closest friend is my sister. I’ll have to let her know that it won’t be a problem. Charli won’t care if we hook up.
Something in my chest pinches.
Shut up! She won’t!
It’s not like I’m after something serious. We’ll just have smoking hot sex and get it out of our systems.
Get that girl out of your system? Are you kidding? There’s something about her, man. You won’t be able to shake her that easily.
Why I’m thinking this shit, I do not know. I’ve hooked up with plenty of girls to get them out of my system, and Nix won’t be any different.
