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“How do you always know what to say?”
She laughed. “I don’t. My dad gave me a pep talk not long ago, and it struck me pretty well. I’m just passing on his teachings. If you ever get an Eric Evans pep talk, count yourself lucky.”
“Is there a waiting list I could get on for one of his talks?” I semi-joked.
I held a hand out toward her. She took it, and I pulled her into me. We began swaying back and forth to the music that didn’t exist. I buried my face into her neck, breathing her in. I never knew I could need a person as much as I needed her.
“Stay the night,” I whispered against her ear, kissing it gently.
“Mi…I can’t… What would your dad say if he woke up?”
“He won’t be up before sunrise. He wouldn’t even notice. Stay the night,” I murmured, this time my mouth against her neck.
“Mi…”
“Please, Star,” I pleaded quietly as my lips grazed against hers. “Stay with me tonight. I’ll let you go in the morning. I promise. But please…stay the night.”
She pulled away slightly and studied me. Her head tilted slightly. “Come on. Let’s go to sleep.”
CHAPTER 28
Starlet
The following morning, I woke up with a trail of kisses down my neck from Milo. I smiled, feeling his skin pressed against mine. He rolled over so he was on top of me, pinning me down to the mattress. His mouth grazed over mine. “Hey, Teach?” he whispered, infusing his warmth against my body.
“Yes?”
“Can we play hooky today from life?”
I looked up at him and giggled. “No, we can’t play hooky, Milo.”
He grumbled and fell against me, running his mouth across my collarbone. “Please? Just one day. One day with you and me being you and me?” I closed my eyes and lightly moaned from the sensation of his kisses. “We can call in sick.”
“We aren’t sick.”
Cough-cough. He covered his mouth.
I laughed. “Why do I think that was a fake cough?”
“Oh, no. There’s nothing fake about this. I’m coming down with something drastically,” he groaned as he dramatically flopped back to his side of the bed. He pressed the back of his hand to his forehead. “I think I have a fever, too.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah, come here and check,” he said, placing his hands against my hips and lifting me into his lap without any effort at all. I didn’t think I’d ever get over how easily he moved me around.
I straddled him and placed my palm on his forehead. “You feel fine to me.”
He frowned. “That’s probably because you’re coming down with the same bug as me.” Cough-cough.
I placed my hands against his bare chest, leaned in, and kissed his lips. “We’re not going to play hooky today, Milo.”
“I want to spend the day with you,” he whispered, his voice low and timid. His eyes flashed with a splash of tenderness that made my heart skip a few beats.
“Don’t look at me like that,” I warned.
“Like what?”
“Like you’re about to make me agree to do bad things.”
He pulled me closer to him and lay me against his body. His lips brushed against my earlobe. “Please do bad, bad things with me, Star.” His tongue slipped from his mouth, and he trailed it along my ear. “Please?”
I closed my eyes and rested my head against his chest, listening to his heartbeats. “What would we even do if we played hooky?”
“I don’t know…each other?”
I laughed, feeling him harden against my leg. Clearly not all parts of Milo were sick. Some were wide awake and ready to play. “We are not skipping school to have sex, Milo.”
He pouted. “You’re no fun.”
“Story of my life until you.”
“We could take the Amtrak to Chicago,” he offered. “It would be an hour and a half trip. We could shut off our phones from the world and pretend it’s only us and do all kinds of tourist bullshit and laugh and have fun and just be us. Doesn’t that sound like fun? Just being us for a little bit of time?”
I pushed myself up slightly and studied his eyes. As I looked at him, I saw it—his need to escape for a little while. Even though he was seemingly playful with it, I could tell he needed a break. I should’ve been more responsible. I should’ve told him we could take a summer trip to Chicago when we were allowed to be us fully. I should’ve told him how important it was that we didn’t skip school. I should’ve told him no.
Instead, I laid myself back down against his chest, listening to his heart once more, and I said, “Now that you mention it, there is a little tickle in the back of my throat.”
I could feel his smile, even with my eyes closed, as he said, “We can’t go to school. It would be irresponsible to spread our germs around.”
