“Don’t.”
My eyes widened in shock. “What?”
“You heard me.”
I watched him put on a pair of tracksuit pants and leave the bedroom. When I checked the time on my phone, I saw a text from my mom. But the worst thing was something else—it was after seven, and I had to be at school in about an hour.
I left the bedroom and went into the kitchen.
“Hello, Will.”
The sound of my barefoot steps on the tiles caught William’s attention. He was spreading a dollop of jam on a piece of toast.
“Oh.”
The look on his face when he saw me come in threw me off.
“What is it?” I asked, coming closer.
“Nothing,” he murmured, lowering his eyes.
He was smiling, so I asked again.
“What’s going on, Will?”
“You’re beautiful even when you’ve just woken up,” he said, then put the knife on the table and wrapped both hands around my waist.
Our foreheads brushed against each other.
“And here I almost regretted what I said yesterday about not being together.”
I curled my lips up, not knowing if that was a joke or not. It was still a sore spot for me. I wanted to stay close to him. I wanted to understand him, but it seemed too soon to joke.
“Is that mine?”
He looked down at the jersey I’d slept in.
“I don’t know, I found it lying around.” Great, the second lie of the day.
“I didn’t think you’d actually stay, June.”
“I was glad to do it. I wanted to see you this morning,” I whispered on his lips.
“Me too.”
“How are you?”
“Good, you?”
“Good.”
“Despite James?”
I looked at him. I didn’t know what to say.
“I’m sorry you ended up having to share the sofa bed with him.”
“Uh, yeah. Can I ask you something?”
