Predictable.
Distant.
Then again, when had I ever been one to choose the easy route?
What was I if not a closet masochist, standing here waiting for the fallout like a man on the front lines?
The silence stretched, unbearable in its weight. My heart hammered against my ribs, hard enough to hurt and speckle black dots in my vision. Two panic responses in a row when it came to dealing with him. What an unfathomable way for my body to deal with stress.
Finally, a slow grin began to work its way onto his face.
“Feelings,” he repeated.
Heat rushed to my face—so uncharacteristic, as was the sudden flush of embarrassment coursing through me. Makingfun of me wasn’t all on my radar for possibilities. “Romantic... feelings.”
“Romantic feelings,”he repeated again, grin widening.
“Terran,” I all but begged. “Please.”
His smile faded, replaced by something quieter, something I couldn’t name but felt down to my bones. Without another word, he reached up behind me, his hands sliding to the back of my neck as he pulled me down toward him.
And then he kissed me.
It wasn’t rushed or frantic. It wasn’t the kind of kiss meant to drown out the world or silence the words hanging in the air between us. It was deliberate, tender, and completely disarming. The kind of kiss that stripped away every layer of defense I’d ever built, leaving me bare and exposed in a way that should have terrified me—but didn’t.
I grabbed at him, hauling him closer as I let go of the fear, the doubt, the endless loop of insecurities that had been holding me back.
What was the point in all of them when it led me to nowhere other than a pit of my own self-inflicted injuries?
Like Avery said, I’d never be happy if I kept this cycle going endlessly.
When he finally pulled back, he rested his forehead against mine, his breath warm against my lips. He stayed pressed against me, his thumb coming down to trace a faint circle along my cheek and down to my jaw.
“You’re an idiot,” he said softly, a faint smile tugging at his lips.
“Excuse me?” I replied.
He rolled his eyes. “You’ve been walking around with this big, dramatic confession weighing you down and you didn’t think for one second that I might actually feel the same way?”
“I—” Hadn’t... entertained the idea longer than my spiraling allowed me to.
Why bother when the chances of it happening weren’t very high?
A casual relationship turned serious was a rare thing. Rarer for feelings to even be reciprocated in the first place.
He shook his head. “Honestly, Silas. What am I going to do with you?”
I breathed out slowly. “I don’t know.”
Kill me?
“Keep you, clearly,” he answered himself, another grin tugging at his lips. “Since you asked so nicely.”
“Did I?” At this point, the entire morning had been a complete blur. Brought on by my very thinly controlled panic that had only grown worse the longer I sat on it and did nothing for it.
It was a wonder I’d made it home in one piece and hadn’t drifted off into the oncoming lane of traffic.
“Yeah, with buying me a new wardrobe.”
