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“I have.” She waited for him to get his shit together to actually ask.
He licked his lips and straightened his shoulders. “I never graduated high school.”
Fuck.
There it was.
That huge shameful secret he never told anyone.
“You know what? I’m feeling hungry.” He got up and circled around the sofa, heading back to the kitchen. “I think I saw some tater tots in your freezer. Can we make those?”
He turned to see her twisted over the back of the sofa to watch him. Her face a mixture of perplexed and patient.
“Dave, what were you—” She stopped when she caught the pleading look on his face. “Yeah. Let’s make tots.”
He thought he was ready to talk about that. But nope.
Maybe he’d be brave next time.
Instead of bringing up his education, she joined him in the kitchen where they made tater tots and he told her about how Max ate tots exclusively for an entire year on a dare.
They laughed, they ate, they watched more Star Wars.
Her roommate came home and she threw dollar bills at them as Dave and Sabine danced for tips.
It was one of the better nights he’d had in a long time. Free to be himself. Free to laugh and play and exist without the microscope of his own industry on him.
And when the sun came up and Kara had gone to bed, Dave and Sabine were still awake.
“We made it,” he said, pointing at the sun coming up through the windows. “It’s dawn.”
She smiled and pulled a fluffy blanket closer to her face. “I survived one more Halloween and the legend grows.”
He snickered and crawled across the couch to join her. She lifted the blanket and he squeezed in between her and the back of the sofa. He rested his head in the crook of her neck, his arm around her middle, and she covered them both.
“Do you want me to leave?” he asked, knowing he was too close, knowing that leaving would be smart. But she was warm, and he was tired and happy. He didn’t want to let go of everything he felt in that moment.
“Shh. We sleep now.”
She exhaled slowly and he could tell she was already out.
Moments later he joined her.
Best. Halloween. Ever.
CHAPTEREIGHT
I’M GONNA BE
DAVE
He wasn’t sure how long he slept but he woke up to the sound of crunching.
Slowly he became aware that someone was watching him.
He peeled one eye open to see Kara standing at the back of the sofa holding a bowl of cereal, staring at him.
She spooned another bite into her mouth and chewed, not taking her eyes off him.
