I gave him a look. “How would we do that without other people finding out we’re together?”
The mood shifted. Leo stopped spinning us around.
“Is that the issue? I’ll go tell Nate about us right now. Maybe it’s time to finally come clean,” he offered.
I shook my head. “No, that’s not the only issue. I agree, we should consider telling him soon now that this feels more permanent?” I winced at the word permanent, waiting to see his reaction. My words weren’t exactly asking if we were official but it balanced the line enough to make me feel exposed.
“I agree,” he said. “Give me a time and I’m there.”
The lack of hesitation made my heart swell. “Okay… um, yeah, let’s wait until after the charity swim? If things don’t go well, we don’t want to have to spend a day stuck in a building together, right?”
Leo nodded. “Sounds like a plan. In the meantime, let me help you with this writing thing. We could hang out in the library or something.”
I considered the offer. “Maybe. I don’t want to waste your time, is all. There’s a high chance I wouldn’t even make it into the program.”
“Kira, you’ve never wasted my time,” he promised. “Tell me the truth, you’d do it for me, right? If I needed extra help, you’d find a way to give me everything you can.”
“Of course.”
“Then let me do it for you,” he urged. “You said if I wanted to be in a relationship with you, I needed to be open. I’m working on that, and you work on accepting my help.”
There was no argument against that. No matter how hard I tried to counter it.
“I know you’re the helper in your family. That part of you is amazing. But, I don’t want that in our relationship.” He pressed a kiss on my cheek to assure me he meant this in a kind way. “Don’t give me everything. Take some stuff too. Okay?”
He stared at me, looking like he would not budge an inch. My bullshit wasn’t going to fly. I realized then that being with him was going to feel weightless. I wasn’t going to carry things on my own.
“Okay?” he repeated. “Please?”
I nodded with a smile growing on my face. “Thank you.”
He looked surprised at the sudden emotion in my words. “I… Of course. Everything okay?”
“Yeah, I’m just happy right now,” I told him. “I don’t feel like I have to do stuff alone. Like, swim to the surface alone, you know?”
He nodded, eyes softened in understanding. “I know.”
