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I know he’s following me. I hear his footsteps on the floor and his breathing getting closer.
“I never said the opposite.”
I turn to face him and instinctively take a step back. My nose nearly bumps against his chest asecondtime, I swallow. When I dip my eyes into his, lifting my chin to get to his level, a playful smile appears on his lips.
“Do you need a ride?”
My brow furrows.
My crush dropping me off at the guy’s house I’m still not in love with? Thanks, but no thanks.
“Corey is waiting for me downstairs.”
He grabs my arm as I open the front door.
“So, it’s serious between you?”
I lower my head for a fraction of a second to the fingers he’s wrapped around my wrist, and when I raise my head to lock my gaze with his, I swear I see a glint of annoyance cross his face.
Wishful thinking on my part.
I pull on my wrist to free myself from his grip. With Nolan everything he does is enough to get my hopes up. His hand barely touches me and that’s it, I think he’s touching me because he can’t stand the distance between us… like when I was 12. At the time, all it took was a tender gesture to make me fantasize for days, a hug, a kiss…
My stomach twists, remembering the time spent in his room the night before. His rough lips on my forehead. The warmth of his breath against my hair. The intoxicating scent of the vanilla shower gel I bought last week.
“Very serious,” I lie.
He doesn’t seem to notice the eagerness in my voice.
Seriousis not the word I would use with Corey.
We saw each other twice. When we met and when we got together. A kiss exchanged, hundreds of text messages, and a few minutes of calls. Serious, not really, but Nolan doesn’t need to know that my relationship is still in the beginning stages.
“I’m happy for you.”
He smiles at me, puts a hand on my shoulder before sliding it into my hair. He ruffles it, ruining my desperate attempts to straighten it when I got home from class earlier. Then, as if the moment wasn’t enough to make me uncomfortable, Leo walks through the front door as well. He almost bumps into me,forcing me to shift and thus put a reasonable distance between Nolan and me.
It’s my signal, I don’t wait any longer and leave the apartment with a quick step.
“Ciao,losers!” I yell from the hallway.
And I rush down the stairs.
***
“Here, there is more if you want!”
Corey hands me the cardboard box and I grab it eagerly, dipping my chopsticks in to peck at the lemongrass chicken we ordered earlier.
“So, I guess it was my father who made me want to get into politics. I hope one day to be governor. Maybe that’s a little pretentious of me and unrealistic, but it’s a kid’s dream.”
“That’s not pretentious,” I object, wiping the corner of my mouth. “You know where you want to go and I’m sure you’ll succeed.”
“My father will help me, and I believe that without him I would never have had access to this world. If I could have gotten into more prestigious college than Boston, it would have been even better, but the most important thing is the contacts you make outside.”
I continue to eat, listening attentively to Corey telling me about his future. When I finish, I put the box back on the coffee table, making myself more comfortable on the couch.
“Still don’t know what you want to do later?”
