We have everything moved in and mostly unpacked—still soaked in sweat and tired from the sun. Felix sits on his bed in his tank top and basketball shorts, glaring at the floor with his ever-growing black curls stuck to his neck.
“What’s wrong, princess?” I purr, setting some of my shoes in a neat line by the wardrobe.
“You don’t think it’s weird? Or kind of sad?” Looking at him, I tilt my head a little. He won’t meet my eyes.
“What is?”
“The beds.” Finally, Felix’s warm green eyes find mine. He’s deathly serious. “We’re so far apart now.”Aww. He’s upset we won’t be sleeping together anymore.
Staring at me so intensely, he’s trying to see into my soul—to find if my body and heart will miss his just as much as his will miss mine when we’re separated permanently for the first time in what feels like forever. If he can’t see that far on his own, can’t find what he’s looking for in my eyes, then I’ll just tell him.
I am his as much as he is mine.
“Okay, easy. We push the beds together. Boom. One big bed.” Felix perks up, a smile brightening his face.
“Really? Can we?”
Ten minutes later our beds are made into one, our wardrobes side by side. Our desks stay across the room from each other, but that’s more of a spatial issue.
“Ah, much better.” He says, hands on his hips.
We’re grinning at our masterpiece—now further drenched—when a knock sounds at the door. At first, I imagine it’s Drew. He moved into the dorm building next door. He was pretty upset when I told him I’d be rooming with Felix, but eventually he understood that I’ve been planning this dorm arrangement since I was eight.
“I wonder if it’s Kay. She’s on the first floor of this building.” Felix heads to the door as I start to make our giant bed. They’ll have their own sheets, but we can share the comforters. Felix is a crazy sleeper, so he’d end up under my blanket anyway. “Bub!”
“Wow, you guys really can’t take ten feet of space between you, can you?” Aaron stands in the doorway. He looks just as he did all those weeks ago—the last time I saw him. My eighteenth birthday was the last time our paths crossed, when he caught me alone in the kitchen and gifted me a charm. A small, golden button. Now, he’s here.
His black curls frame his head and the base of his neck, those green eyes boring into me as they trace up my body, lingering over my thighs and exposed stomach—thenreturning to the scar he left. His shoulders are so wide; I believe he’s strong enough to pick me up and throw me to my first lecture if I wanted him to.
His eyes leave my thigh and find mine.
“Afternoon, Button.” There is so much heat there. In his expression, the twitch of his hands, change in his stance. It feels like he’s trying not to pounce.
“Hi.” It’s just barely a whisper; I’m rooted to this spot under that gaze.
“Okay…” Felix says, looking between us. “Aaron, are you giving us a tour or what? Also, I’m hungry—please buy us lunch.” Tension successfully broken, Aaron ruffles Felix’s hair, pushing his head away with a laugh.
“Let’s go then.”
We begin our walk to the cafeteria—the start of our grand tour—grabbing Kayla in the lobby. She and Felix dive into a conversation covering their routines for the next year and how they’ll manage dates, etc. Boring. I let them walk ahead of me, enjoying the sun as it beats down on me—feeling the sweat cooling my skin, the burn of the rays.
Aaron moves to walk next to me, and right as he’s about to speak he halts—grabbing me by the arm to stop me alongside him. The two ahead of us keep walking, unaware of our detour.
“Hey,” Aaron says, staring down at me intensely—eyes wide. “Did you pierce your nose?”
My hand shoots to the gold ring in my left nostril, touching it softly before falling away. I forgot he hasn’t seen it; I got it a couple of days after my birthday.
“Yeah, not too long ago.” I got some other piercings as well, but I don’t feel it’s appropriate to mention those at the moment.
“Wow. Why?” His stare, his tone. I don’t think he likes it very much. My stomach feels hot, and I can feel my cheeks flushing. I turn away from him, looking ahead of us in the direction Felix went. Why do I want to cry?
“I wanted to. I think it looks nice.”
Aaron grabs my chin lightly, turning me back to him—and my stomach settles. He’s able to do that so quickly, to control my emotions. One word, one touch. Like they were never mine. Like he’s inside of me pulling the strings.
“It looksreallynice.” My cheeks darken further, but I don’t turn away—even as his hand drops. “It’s very pretty, especially with your golden hair.” Some part of my chest twists.
“Yeah, that’s why I chose gold. You’re the only one who said anything about that, actually.”
