He doesn’t answer right away, just stares.
"Maybe I do. Maybe Ishould."
It hits too hard. I sit up. "Why?"
No answer. "I thought…" My voice cracks.
I swallow it down. "I thought we were doing better lately. I thought you didn’t—" I pause. "I thought you didn’t mind me."
He shrugs like it’s nothing. "That was probably just in your head."
It’s like a slap. "You’re fucking crazy," I say. "You really think I imagined all of it?"
He just looks at me. I laugh and exhale hard. "Okay. Listen."
He lifts an eyebrow. "Here we go."
"No, seriously." I point at him. "We need to stop acting like toddlers. This tension is driving me insane."
He snorts. "You started it."
"Oh my God, shut up." I take a breath before I scream. "Look, if we don’t want this to keep getting worse, there’s one simple solution."
He stares at me, ready to mock me.
Whatever. I’m committed now.
"One kiss," I say. "Just one. Fast. No overthinking. No drama. We get it out of our system. Boom. Done."
His mouth parts, confused as hell. "That’syour plan?"
"Yes, Gio.Thatis my plan," I fire back. "Because clearly avoiding it makes it ten times worse."
My voice softens. "A quick kiss could clear the fog."
He huffs a weak laugh, shaking his head. "You’re actually unbelievable, Rava."
"I’mpractical," I correct, jabbing him with my foot. "And hey, if we handle it like adults, it doesn’t have to turn into a big emotional meltdown." I nudge his knee. "One simple kiss might be enough to ground both of us."
He looks at me for a second, then nods once. "So. One kiss. Just that."
"One," I confirm.
"No extra," he says.
"Zeroextra."
"No leaning in for round two."
"Gio," I warn, "obviouslyno leaning in for round two. Jesus."
He grins.
I roll my eyes. "This is exactly why we need to get it over with."
He inches forward on the mattress. "So we’re really doing this?" he murmurs.
"Yes," I say, trying not to choke on the word. "We kiss once. The tension dies. We go back to normal. We’ll be fine."
