"Honestly, I didn't really know what to expect."
For a second neither of us says anything.
"But you don't seem upset about it," she says.
I shake my head. "Not even a little."
Natalie traces the edge of the water bottle with her finger, thinking.
"That should probably make me nervous," she says after a moment.
"Does it?"
"A little," she admits. "Not because of you. Just because… this is going really well."
I nod slowly.
"Yeah," I say. "It is."
"Which means if it stopped going well," she continues quietly, "there would be a lot more to lose now."
"I get that," I say quietly. "It would be a lot harder now if things went sideways. Not just for us… for Maddie too."
She meets my eyes again.
"I didn't expect this to feel real," she says.
I let out a quiet breath. "Yeah," I say. "Somewhere along the way this stopped feeling like a deal we made… and started feeling like something I actually want."
The house goes very still around us.
I notice suddenly that she's barefoot.
Her hair is slightly messy from the arena.
She's leaning against the counter like she forgot to be guarded for once.
"You're staring," she says.
"You started it," I say.
A slow smile appears on her face.
I step closer without really deciding to.
She doesn't move away.
The space between us disappears quietly.
When I kiss her this time it isn't rushed.
There's no adrenaline from a game or chaos from the night we first crossed that line.
It's slower.
Warmer.
Her hand comes up to rest lightly against my chest.
