Kami frowns. “I haven’t gotten any more.”
“Yet.” Ethan winks.
“But you do have that belly button piercing,” I mutter.
She elbows my side, making me grunt. Seriously, how is something so short, so strong?
“Guess this means Cameron finally convinced you he was good enough to be your boyfriend?” Dad smirks.
She laughs and nods. “Something like that.”
Christmas dinner wasfull of laughter from all around. Dad, Ethan, and my uncle didn’t argue for the first time in years about our future. In fact, they didn’t mention it once, and it’s all thanks to Kamila. She brought this warm and calm air into our house despite what she went through yesterday and is still goingthrough today. I knew it had hit her hard not spending the day with her family. We came up with a discrete signal for her to let me know if she needed to take a break and leave the room to breathe or cry or anything else. Then a second one to let me know if I should tag along or not. My family never halted their conversations when she and I left for a couple of minutes during dessert.
We took a walk around the block in silence and got back in time to finish the chocolate pie she’d made. The fresh air had helped, and she proceeded to tell me that she planned to head back home tomorrow, which is now today.
“Thank you so much for everything Mark and Liz.” They all hug while saying their goodbyes and leave us in the foyer alone.
“So…” she drags
“So…” I rock on my feet.
Say something else, dude.
“Let me know when you get home and drive safely.”
“I will.”
That’s really the best you could come up with?
Instead of words, I take actions. My lips devour hers in a matter of seconds. We weren’t able to be alone together last night, not with Ethan’s parents sleeping in the living room.
She lets out a soft whimper, so quiet I barely catch it. Not wanting to get too hard with my parents still in the kitchen, I give her one final sweep of my tongue and pull away.
“I love your kisses,” she whispers as our foreheads touch.
I allow myself to hope, for just a second, that she’ll say those three words before leaving.
“Thank you for coming. Thank you for wanting and trusting me to be the one to comfort you. I love you, Kamila,” I say it because I need to. I can’t let her forget it. I promised her I wouldn’t and I won’t go a day without doing so.
Her smile drops. The air around us becomes thick with anticipation. Slowly, her arms let go of my back, and she moves to the door. The hope I had diminishes.
She just needs time.
She’s still yours, she said so herself.
She’s wearing the necklace.
My family knows about us…
I repeat the words in my head over and over again, stopping a couple of feet away from her until she’s in the car, giving me one final wave before she’s gone.
“Fuck.” I stand in the driveway for a couple of seconds, inhaling the winter air. “Patience is a fucking virtue,” I snarl.
Fuck whoever came up with that saying.
I’m a couple of feet away from my front door when I hear the crackle of tires over ice nearby and a much too familiar voice.
“Hey.” I turn just in time for Kamila to kiss me, making me lose my balance a bit and almost slipping on the icy steps.
