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She nods and holds up her other thumb. “Tried a new restaurant I never would have.”
Again, by her expression, I’m not sure that’s something she liked or something that sucked, but also … fuck, I’m tired.
“Give me your suck.”
“I’ve DM’d this guy all week, and he’s left me on delivered.”
“Oz pulled that shit on you, and you still went on a date with him?”
She curls her legs up behind her, covers her knees with the bottom of the hoodie, and shakes her head. “You know I’m talking about you.”
“I’m calling bullshit.” I shove my hand in my pocket and realize my phone’s on the island with hers, charging. “Why would you DM me when you have my number?”
“Deleted it because, you know. Just because.”
“How the hell did I miss those?” I ask myself, but then it hits me. “Been logged into my other account all week.”
“Other account? Do you have a finsta?” She laughs.
“No, I have a personal account with family on it. Pictures I don’t wanna lose or share with the random people. Puck bunnies don’t need to see my sisters, or Mom, or—”
“I hate that term—puck bunny.”
“My apologies. I guess it’s more that I don’t need to be on an emotional level with people who aren’t going to be in my life in two years. When I go pro, I want to blend and not be the poor immigrant kid who got his chance to take a shot because his dad and brother died due to some idiot who needed to send a tweet while going eighty on I-10.”
“You’re signed.”
“That doesn’t matter to people who want to sell a story.”
“So, when you graduate, all us little people are but a memory.” She laughs, but it’s forced.
I take a moment to look over the only girl I’ve dreamed about for years, and even though I don’t want to set myself up for heartbreak, I tell her straight up, “There’s a few of you that I hope don’t fade away.”
I watch as she swallows hard and turn my upper body to face her fully.
“Riley, I don’t know what happened, why you stopped—”
“Give me two ups and a suck,” she interrupts me.
Groaning, I lean back and look up at the ceiling. “Gonna start with suck. Sucked knowing you were going on a date, and it was with him and not me.”
“You sure it didn’t suck worse throwing up, lightweight?” she jokes.
Head still resting on the back of the couch, I turn and look at her. “If I hadn’t, I’d have been facedown and passed out, not sitting here with you, which leads me to”—I lift up my thumb—“you not going home with Oz.” I lift it again. “I have Riley fucking Park at my place, wearing my hoodie, on my couch, andCielo, I’m gonna need you to kiss me to prove I’m not dreaming.”
“You think that old line’s gonna work?” she asks, but I can almost see the quickening in her breaths and know it has.
I take my hand that’s resting behind her on the couch, cup the back of her head, and lean in. “You tell me.”
“Yeah.”
Her hot, sweet breath on my lips has me dizzy. The smell of her skin—light musk and lavender—has my heartbeat increasing. And the way we kiss … it’s gentle, soft, dizzyingly slow, a seduction of brushing lips and gentle tugging, slow swipes of the tongue, hers and then mine.
I’m pulling her closer, not realizing it until I have her straddling my lap, mouths tracing angles of one another’s faces, lips pressing softly against necks. It’s nothing like I have imagined, and everything a kiss should be.
“Fucking ruining me, Cielo,” I groan as she sucks on my neck like I did hers, making her way back to my mouth.
I run my nose down the side of her neck, and her head falls back.
