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Another silence descended, but this one didn’t feel uncomfortable or even tense. With our eyes locked together, the rest of the world faded away until it was just him and me.
“Did I ever tell you,” he began, keeping his voice low so as to not disturb the others, “about what I wanted to be when I grew up?”
I smiled brightly, shifting even closer until our noses were a hair’s breadth away. “Oh, juicy. Tell me. What did little Kacey want to be when he grew up? Let me guess—a firefighter. An astronaut. Oh! A police officer. A Disney princess.”
He released a shocked bark of laughter, his eyes widening as if he’d surprised even himself with that noise. He addressed each of my guesses individually, ticking them off on his fingers. “No, no, no, and actually, yes. But we don’t need to talk about my princess phase.”
He moved closer to me as well, twisting onto his side and placing his head on his palm, the same as me.
“Did you wear dresses and tiaras?” I teased. “Were you a Belle or a Cinderella?”
“An Ariel, actually, but that’s not important.” He released my hand to boop my nose, and I stared at him, stunned.
“Did you just boop me?” I asked in feigned horror.
His white teeth gleamed in the soft glow of the streetlight. “Isn’t that your on-off switch?”
This close, I couldn’t help but note that the skin under his eyes was violet with exhaustion. When did he last sleep? Or eat? Now that I thought about it, I couldn’t remember him eating any of the food that we’d packed.
But instead of saying any of that, instead of pushing him too far, I kept my smile in place and quipped, “They haven’t updated my programming yet. As of now, I’m going rogue.”
He laughed again, and this time, I didn’t detect any shock or disbelief in that sound. It was simply a laugh, as jovial and content as one was allowed to feel in a place such as this.
“A rogue Bianaca. That sounds terrifying.”
“Hey!” I exclaimed with a pout. “Don’t be rude. A rogue Bianaca is freaking wonderful.”
“I don’t even think you know what you’re talking about anymore,” he pointed out, still grinning. He was beautiful most of the time, but when he smiled, he was positively radiant. That smile hit me like a block of ice, freezing my muscles. When he noticed my expression, his lips dipped into a frown. “What?”
“Nothing.” I shook my head to clear my rapidly spinning thoughts. “But you were going to tell me about your wet dream…?”
“My dream for the future,” he corrected with another boop on my nose. “Hush, you.”
“You hush,” I retorted immediately and then instantly sobered. “But seriously, tell me! What did you want to be when you grew up?”
Indecision flared to life in his eyes, almost as if he was worried about my reaction, before he took a deep breath and relaxed. He didn’t speak for a long moment, his eyes intent on my shoulder. Finally, he pulled his gaze up and met my own. “A nurse.”
“A nurse?”
“A nurse.” He nodded his head—well, attempted to nod, since he was still lying sideways—and bit down on his lower lip. “Is that…weird?”
“Kace, no. That’s…that’s amazing! You would make an incredible nurse.”
“I just…” He heaved out another breath before flopping onto his back, one arm over his eyes and the other on his stomach. “I just want to help people.”
“Hey.” I rested my hand on his forearm, watching his muscles ripple and flex beneath my touch. “Can I tell you a secret too?”
He removed his arm from his eyes and twisted his head once more to look at me. He didn’t speak, but the quirk of his eyebrow told me he was waiting.
“I wanted to be a nurse too,” I confessed.
“Wanted?” Trust Kace to pick up on the past tense.
Hesitating, I brought my pointer finger to my mouth and began to chew on the nail. “I just…”
“You just?” he pressed.
“After what happened with Dylan…” I trailed off, unable to articulate the thoughts in my head without sounding like an idiot.
