Julian screws the cover on and then presses his lips together. “Okay, new method. Stickers go on after we gather water.”
The sticker is coming off. I grin, shrugging. It’s fine. We’ll know it’s Lake Michigan. The peeling sticker only adds to the memory. To this moment in time when we’re sharing our first adventure together.
With a jar of sand and a vial of water safely secured in our pockets, we walk along the beach of Lake Michigan in the warm rays of the morning sun.
There’s one thing on my mind as we walk hand-in-hand down the beach: I’m well on my way to falling in love with Julian White. He holds my heart in his hands already.
CHAPTER 29
JULIAN
I keepArush’s hand in mine as we stand in line to wait for our rental car. This was a bad time of day to land. There are easily forty people in front of us waiting for a car. It’s not just this line, though. All the companies look the same.
“This is kind of irritating,” I mutter.
Arush shrugs and leans into my arm. I smile. It’s difficult to feel frustrated when I have him beside me. Every minute with Arush feels like a perfect minute.
“We’re really going to play paintball?” Arush asks.
“That’s the plan. Horny found this place online and hasn’t stopped talking about it, I guess.”
“I’ve never played.”
“None of us have,” I say, smiling. “It’s going to be a hot mess, but we have the grounds to ourselves. I hear we need to have some distance from each other before we shoot, or we’re going to be speckled in bruises.”
Arush makes a face, and I chuckle. We move three steps forward and stop again. Oh good. Now there are only thirty-nine people in front of us.
“Are you sure you don’t want to stay at your friends’ house?” Arush asks.
“Hilt has four kids,” I remind him. “Etna and Keno are still honeymooning it. This I’m confident of. I love my friends, but there are some things I don’t need to bear witness to. Not even through a wall.”
He grins.
“And to be frank, Horny is also a bit of a horndog. I’m not sure how much of that is talk and how much is fact, but reference my previous comment.”
Arush’s nose wrinkles and it’s adorable. His eyes meet mine and I think I see some insecurity there, so I release his hand and wrap my arm around his waist, pulling him into my side. “I promise I’m not hiding you, Arush,” I murmur in his ear.
He sighs. “I know you’re not.”
Yet, there’s something in his voice. “Do you want to stay with one of my friends? I’m sure not one of them would mind. They’ve all invited us.”
“If you want to stay in a hotel?—”
“What I want is for you and me to be together and comfortable. Maybe this is one of those things I should have shared with you, yeah?” Arush shrugs, but I’m going to take that as a yes. “You’re here with me,” I remind him. “I want you here with me. I want to spend every minute with you with my friends. But I also want us to have somewhere we can go that’s more than a door away. I’ve never stayed at one of their houses, and… to be honest, I’d rather stay in a hotel even if you weren’t with me. I like that separation.”
He relaxes. “Sorry for… doubting,” he whispers.
“Don’t be sorry. You’re allowed doubts. This is new for both of us.”
“I feel silly saying that I’m twenty-five and this is my first adult relationship,” Arush muses.
I grin. “I’m not sure if I can say this is my first adult relationship, but I can definitely confirm it’s the first one thatfeels… meaningful. Like I’m not just waiting for you to change your mind about—” I let my words cut off as the line moves forward. I guess the world doesn’t need to know about my sex life, past or present.
Then again, this was an entire conversation that no one needed to overhear. I’m not bothered that they did. Talking about how you feel should be normalized. Especially men talking about their emotions. Let the world see that as masculine.
“I’m not changing my mind,” Arush says, shaking his head.
I kiss his cheek, and then we’re quiet as we listen to the people in line around us. It’s another forty minutes before we get to the man at the desk, and then another ten before we’re inside the rental. It’s a good thing we hadn’t made plans for today, other than meeting at Keno and Etna’s house to spend the afternoon on their pontoon boat.
