“It’s an Otter Bay thing,” I said. “We get storms, gotta know when.”
“This isn’t exactly hurricane country,” Harvey pointed out.
“Well, no, but it’s nice to know when to bring your washing in,” I defended, grinning. “Remember when we used to wait for clear nights like this? So we could head out and look at the stars?”
“On the top of that cliff, yeah,” Harvey said, finishing up the last red nail and switching to the gold polish. “That trail still there?”
“Yeah, still there,” I said. “Took Theo out to see it. I miss when it was just you and me.”
Harvey looked up, nail polish forgotten, and looked at me for a handful of heartbeats.
“Yeah,” he said. “I miss when it was just you and me, too.”
“Us against the world.” I sighed, remembering the pinky-promise we’d made at the end of every summer, up on that cliff. Friends forever, no matter what happened.
I hadn’t thought about that in years.
“I don’t miss the against the world part,” Harvey said, finishing up my last nail. “Just… y’know. The other part.”
Harvey looked up again, meeting my gaze and holding it for long seconds.
“You know you were my first kiss?” I asked, the memory suddenly hitting me.
Harvey frowned.
“Julia Nelson’s fourteenth birthday party,” I said, grinning as it all came back to me. “We were playing spin the bottle, and you spun it, and it landed on me.”
“Oh my god,” Harvey laughed. “I remember. I was so awkward.”
“Me too,” I said, smile turning shy. “But I secretly liked it.”
“Me too,” Harvey admitted, looking away and blushing. “I liked it a lot, actually. Afterward, I fantasized about you asking me to help you practice kissing. For when we had girlfriends.”
“Seriously?” I asked.
“Seriously,” Harvey said. “I know, I know. Girlfriends. But then I thought, y’know, if we could kiss each other, maybe we didn’t need girls after all?”
“And it took you how long to figure out you were gay?” I asked, chuckling. I wished Harvey had told me all this when we were teenagers.
I wished I’d kissed Harvey back then. More than once.
Harvey cleared his throat. “Until college,” he said. “Went on two dates with a guy that I didn’t realize were dates. On the third one, he kissed me, and then laughed when I was surprised. He was… kind. Nice. Reminded me, umm. Reminded me a little of you.”
I swallowed.
“Didnotmean to tell you that,” Harvey said, a tiny, wry smile making his lips twitch. “It’s just…” he paused, looking up at me. “It’s just that… that last argument we got into, over Liam? That was because, umm. Because I didn’t want you to be with him. Because I wanted you to be with me.”
The whole world tilted on its axis.
“Harv,” I said, voice breaking, so manyfeelingswelling up in my chest that I didn’t know what to do with all of them.
I wanted to laugh, and I wanted to cry.
Most of all, I wanted Harvey.
I could feel the blood rushing in my ears as he looked at me, the air between us electric.
Breath caught in my lungs as he kissed me, a gut deep throb of need making me moan into his mouth, fingers sliding into his hair, still-wet nails forgotten.
