Her hair still smells like vanilla. It always does.
Then Michael, one of the bodyguards, walks through the living room, giving us a confused look. Kiara notices him and instantly lights up.
“Hey, Bruce!” she shouts, and me and Adrien snort with laughter. “Could you bring us some popcorn, please?” Kiara asks him in the sweetest voice imaginable.
Michael looks me dead in the eyes, silently begging for rescue.
Too bad.
“You heard the lady, Bruce,” I command.
He rolls his jaw and walks off.
Adrien plays the movie, while I get up and pull the lever under the couch to turn it into a huge bed so we can all stretch our legs.Brucebrings us the popcorn, gives us one last deadly look, and disappears. Kiara ends up with the big bowl in her lap since she’s in the middle, me and Adrien pressed to her sides so we can reach it too.
After maybe half an hour, we’re so comfortable we’re practically cuddling. However, I keep an eye on Adrien to make sure he’s not cuddling hertoomuch. I may have let him touch her this morning, but it has its limits.
Kiara pours herself a drink from the cocktail table and settles between us again, her body even closer to me than before.
Great.
Another half hour passes and Adrien pauses the movie to go to the bathroom, leaving us alone in silence.
Kiara inhales, the kind of inhale that means she’s about to speak.
I close my eyes.
Please don’t ruin this.
“Could you,” she starts, her voice quiet and nervous. “Do you think you could take me out?”
I freeze.
What?
No.
What?
Like a fucking date?
Absolutely not. My lungs stall, so I clear my throat just to force them to work.
“What do you mean?”
“I know I’m officially missing and everything, but—" she lets out a nervous breath and continues. “I don’t know what’s going to happen to me. I don’t really want to think about it. I just really want you to take me out. Only once.”
She gulps, looking down at her fingers mushing pieces of popcorn.
Shit.
My whole face burns from the heat crawling under my ribs. I’m so used to having everything under control, and whatever she’s doing right now is absolutely not something I can control.
“Please?” she whispers.
I stay quiet for too long, and Adrien is already coming back from the bathroom.
“Nevermind,” she mumbles, lifting her head to stare at the TV again.
