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I took each picture out of my bag and laid them on the coffee table, looking critically at each one as I did.
Craig took his time, really looking at each one. He picked up my favorite, a black and white of a baby bunny hopping through a field, the dew from the grass sparkling on his fur.
“These are amazing!” Craig exclaimed as he gazed down at the photo in his hand, a small smile playing on his lips.
I didn’t reply, just watched him surveying my work, and let the pride his words caused flow through me.
“I’d love to be your date for the showcase,” he said softly, causing my eyes to jump from the photo to his sincere gaze.
“I’d like that,” I replied.
We stood there for a few beats, hope, happiness, and something else penetrating the air around us. I suddenly wanted to kiss him so badly that I could feel the fullness of his lips against mine.
“Hungry?” Craig asked, and it took a moment for it to register that he meant for food.
God help me, I was hungry for something else.
Chapter Twenty ~ Craig
Present Day (20 years old)
The way she was looking at me caused heat to infuse my body, which began to tighten.
Easy
, I thought, You can’t attack her on the first date.
But even as I had the thought, her face and my body, begged to differ.
“Uh, I’m going to the kitchen.” I knew it was an awkward transition, and I almost ran out of the room, but I had to put some space between us before I took her right there in the living room.
I’d already seasoned the steaks and peeled and cut up the potatoes. My mom was always big on prep work in the kitchen, and had taught Cal and I to do the same. I put the potatoes on to boil, then turned to go start the grill, and almost bumped right into Gwen.
Damn this small-ass galley kitchen.
She looked up at me with those big, beautiful eyes and a small smile playing on her lips, like she knew she was driving me crazy.
“I, uh, just gotta go get the grill going,” I mumbled, brushing past her like the desperate man that I was.
I went into my room, opened the window, and stepped out onto the roof.
Since we had the top floor of the house, and we didn’t have a porch or a deck, we used the roof off of my bedroom as our patio. We had a small charcoal grill and a couple of folding chairs. There wasn’t a great view or anything, but it was chill to just hang out once and a while.
I put the charcoal into a small pyramid, then, I grabbed the long kitchen lighter to get it started.
“This is sweet,” Gwen said. I looked over to see her head poking out of the window.
“Yeah, I called dibs on that room as soon as I saw the roof access,” I replied as I made my way back toward her.
She shifted back so I could climb inside. Gwen began to walk around my room, and I looked at it through her eyes.
There wasn’t a lot too it. A queen-sized bed, which had been a gift from my parents, a dresser, my hamper, and a basket full of baseballs. I also had bats lining the back wall, and my gloves hanging on hooks.
“What no posters?” Gwen teased as she turned her gaze back to me.
“Nah, I left those back in the dorms.”
“It looks just like I’d imagined,” she said, bridging the gap between us.
