Page 54 of With You

When we reach the common room, the three girls are already lounging on one of the sofas, showing their phones to each other as they point and chatter at whatever’s on the screen. Layth is sat at our table, the chess board reset and waiting for us to start a game. Damien starts walking toward the girls, leaning down to kiss Evie on the cheek before he greets the other two.

I hold back, watching the scene unfold as Damien talks to them, all three smiling up at him until Amelie glances my way. Her smile changes then, to one that’s just for me, her eyes almost sparkling with the way her face lights up as she looks at me. I bite the inside of my cheek to stop myself from grinning too widely at her, but it feels like an impossible task.

I tilt my head to the side slightly, gesturing toward the door behind me that leads out of the common room and to the bedrooms.

“Is that River?” she says to the girls and Damien, but loud enough for me to hear it. “I need to go talk to him about our costume fitting.”

Evie and Zena giggle as she untangles herself from them, leaving Damien with a look of confusion, his eyebrows pinched together as he tries to figure out what’s funny about that.

She approaches me calmly, and I have to stand firm to not move closer to her, as if I haven’t been dying to hold her in my arms again.

“Costume fitting?” I ask when she’s in front of me.

“Yep, they’re next week. Very important.” She crosses her arms across her chest, and I’m glad her back is to everyone else because I want to be the only one who gets this smile from her.

“Guess we should go talk about that somewhere else then,” I suggest.

“Definitely needs to be a private conversation,” she confirms.

We leave the common room, Amelie walking in front of me as I turn to quickly roll my eyes at Damien, as if I’m being forced to go off somewhere else to get back to work. Damien shrugs as he sits next to Evie, taking Amelie’s vacated spot.

Once we’re out of eyesight of everyone else, I grab Amelie’s wrist and pull her back to me, turning her so her front collides with mine as I wrap my arms around her.

“I missed you,” I whisper, kissing the shell of her ear.

She sinks into me, her arms pressing tighter around me as she echoes the words back to me. She tilts her head up to kiss me, and I wish I could stay in this moment with her forever.

“We do actually have a costume fitting next week,” she says once we’ve parted.

“Just let me know when and where,” I tell her, before kissing her again.

It’s been months since we started whatever our relationship is, and we’re still no closer to naming it. I want her to be my girlfriend. I want to stop pretending in front of our friends. I want everyone to know we’re together. But Amelie has to be the one to do that for us. There’s more at stake for her here, and I don’t want to cause any problems by trying to classify us before she’s ready for that. Once the showcase is done, we can focus on that stuff, so for now I’ll just take whatever I can get from her, even if it is just stolen kisses in a dark hallway.

“What do you think?” Amelie asks, turning to face me.

She twirls the bottom of the dress as she moves around the room, and it looks like she’s floating, the elegance of every move only furthered by the soft fabric as it drifts around her. It’s a long pink dress that flows to the middle of her calves, with roses dotted around the bottom half. The sleeves cover her arms entirely, with ribbons around a white puffy piece of fabric that frames her elbows and shoulders. It suits her perfectly, and it’s made even better by the shy smile on her face that tells me how much she likes it, too.

“You look beautiful,” I say as my heart stutters.

There’s no one else here as the tailors move from room to room to deal with each dancer. It would be too easy to reach for Amelie, to pull her down into my lap and kiss her so she believes what I’m saying, but someone could walk in at any moment. Instead, I settle for running my hands across my thighs to stop myself from doing exactly that.

Amelie doesn’t seem to feel the same nervousness I do, and she takes the risk, moving closer until she’s standing between my legs.

“Mon cœur, do you like the dress or me?” She winds her arms around my neck, her hands finding the back of my neck as she fiddles with my hair.

“Can’t I like both?” I pull her closer to me, resting my hands on the back of her thighs as she leans down to kiss me.

She’s intoxicating. All rational thoughts leave my mind whenever I’m with her, logic escaping me completely as her lips move against mine. I could stay here forever with her, but we’re interrupted by a knock at the door, and pull apart from each other instantly.

“Have we made our decisions?” the tailor asks as he enters the room, completely oblivious to the moment he’s ruined.

“This one,” Amelie tells him, smiling brightly as she twirls the skirt with her hands.

“Perfect. I’ll pin it where we need, and we’ll get it ready for you.” He shifts his focus to me. “Any preferences on outfit?”

“Whatever you think will look best with that,” I tell him, getting a hum in response as he mentally considers the options while pinning Amelie’s dress.

He works expertly, marking spots where the dress needs to come in a little more so it fits Amelie perfectly. He leaves the room to retrieve some options for me, and Amelie disappears behind the changing screen to get back into her regular practice clothes. I pull my T-shirt over my head, stripping off my sweatpants until I’m down to my boxers and ready to try on whatever outfit they give me.