He looks at me again, more sober now. “So what’s the issue?”
That one takes me a minute.
“Because being proud of something means I have to admit it matters,” I finally say. “And if it matters, then it’s not just something I did. It’s… part of me.”
Charlie lets that settle. Then he claps me on the back, harder than necessary.
“Congrats,” he says. “You’re officially in the emotional nudity stage. Way scarier than the full-frontal kind.”
I bark out a laugh. “No shit.”
“You gonna tell more people?”
“Maybe.”
He grins. “Start small. Like your mom.”
I grimace. “Jesus.”
“She loves you. She’ll be fine.”
“Would you be?”
“Hell no,” he says cheerfully. “But I’m not a mom. I’m just the porn star who accidentally talked a PhD student into becoming one, too.”
I catch her in the hallway leading to the bathroom and press her against the wall. “Hey.”
“Hi.”
“Wanna come back to my room?” I say into her mouth.
Her entire body shivers. “I do, but I told May I’d stay with her tonight. She’s sleeping in my room because Tom’s a wreck.”
I groan so loudly I ruffle the hair on the top of her head. “Fine.”
She looks up at me, almost shy. “I also think it would be good for us to spend a night apart. Really think things through.”
“I’ve thought it through, Annie.”
She plays with the buttons on my shirt. I notice she’s covered up my hickeys with makeup, which makes me unreasonably upset.
“But what if you’re wrong?” she asks quietly. Fragile Annie Li.
I blow out a breath. “Here it is, honey. I l—like you. Really like you,” I decide this is a normal thing to say to a Currently Scared Annie Li, With Whom You Fell in Love With in the Span of a Week. “And I think you like me too, but you don’t know what to do with those confusing things called… fuzzy feelings. But we’re always gonna figure it out. And I’m going to prove to you, over and over again, that I am not wrong.”
Some infinitesimal part of her relaxes, but her face doesn’t change. “It’s only been a week, Nico,” and I know what she means.
No matter.
I’m gonna fight for it, and it begins today.
“It’s been months, Ali,” I remind her gently. “And even so, it’s only a tiny fraction of the rest of our lives.”
Annie blinks at me like an owl.
“Annie.”
We look back over my shoulder. It’s her dad. He says something in Cantonese.
