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“Is that too much?” I tried to drop her hand, but she only gripped my fingers harder.
“No, this is exactly what we’re supposed to be doing.” This time she took a step and so did I and we walked together.
There were dozens of other couples and kids and families swarming the walkways, but I was only thinking about Echo.
“So, I have some questions,” I said.
“Should I be scared?” she asked.
“Maybe.” Her eyes went wide. “No, I'm kidding. I just thought we should actually get to know each other if we’re going to try this thing. What was your major in college?” I knew she’d gone, but that was about it.
“Kinesiology with a minor in biology.”
I nodded. “That makes exact sense.”
“What about you?”
“Journalism and graphic design.”
“That also makes sense.”
We had to squeeze together to get through the crowds, and I asked her if she wanted to go into any of the shops. We strolled in and out, browsing, but not buying. There were samples to try in the chocolate shop, and I caved and bought a few items, including a frozen latte and chocolate chip cookies. Echo got hot coffee and I shuddered, imagining drinking something warm in this weather.
“Weirdo,” I said as I sipped my latte with relish.
There was some live music at one of the stages that we bopped to, and that started a whole different discussion about our favorite music, and we found a lot of common ground there, thankfully. She could drink hot coffee as long as she still liked Billie Eilish.
After walking around for a little while under the pounding Florida sun, we both realized that we’d forgotten to bring sunglasses and had to stop and get some. Echo looked good in literally everything she tried on, but she settled for a pair that looked vintage.
“You like?” she asked, posing and blowing me a kiss.
“Gorgeous.” I actually did kiss her then, and it was amazing. I’d missed this kind of thing so much, and I couldn’t stop smiling at her.
I settled on a pair of aviators that almost made Echo drag me into the bathroom to fool around, which I discouraged.
“I’m not getting banned from this place, Echo. We can do that back at the hotel,” I said.
“Fine, fine. I guess one of us has to be the responsible one.”
I made a face. “Ew, I don’t want to be responsible. Who wants to be that?”
“No one.”
I let Echo pick where we ate lunch, and she picked a restaurant right on the river that ran through the area.
“This is beautiful,” I said as we watched the boats go by with people on tours.
“You’re beautiful,” she said and then we both started laughing. “Sorry, that was really cheesy.”
“Cheese is literally one of my favorite things, so you’re in good company.”
I could not stop grinning at her and watching her hair catch the light and how she moved her hands when she talked.
I was falling and I didn’t know how to stop it, or even if I wanted to. I hadn’t been lying when I said I wanted to protect my heart, but was that even in my power? I could tell Echo right now that we weren’t going any further, we were just going to stop everything right now, and I was never going to speak to her again, but that wouldn’t stop me from feeling these things. These little tendrils that had taken root and started to grow under the warm Orlando sunlight.
We capped off lunch arguing about flared jeans and then spent the afternoon bowling, where she eviscerated me and was insufferable about it.
“I still beat you at Nationals,” I said as she did a little shimmy and victory dance like I had the day before on the bed in the hotel.
