“If it’s any consolation, you’re the hottest skater out there,” hesaid.
I rolled my eyes. “You have to say that, you’re my boyfriend.”
“Hell yeah I am, babe,” he said, puffing out his chest a bit. “But it’s okay, Smol. They’re just a bunch of old stooges who don’t understand how your beautiful brain works,” he said, patting me on thehead.
I laughed dryly at that. “You’re very nice to me.”
“Well, yeah, that’s because…” he cut himself off and I could see his neck turning red.
“Because what?” I pushed.
He shook his head with a smile and moved to kneel down in front of me to begin unlacing my skates.
“Looks like I’m gonna have to do this all for ya, eh?” he grinned, making me crack a sad smile. “Let’s get goin. Dinner back at your house?” he asked while pulling one of my skates off and reaching for my rag to dry off my blade.
“Yupp, thinkin grilled chicken and broccoli,” I rattledoff.
“Ooh, baby,” he shot me his “smolder” look, making me feel a little better.
_______
My parents were home, so we ended up having a full out family dinner. I loved that my lost boys were now not so lost anymore, and instead, regulars at our table.
We pleasantly chatted about everything from Duke and Claire’s rivalry to Nick and Griff’s coming playoff games.
When dinner was finished, my mom and I began chatting while clearing off the table and cleaning the dishes, and I accidentally missed saying goodbye to Nick and Griff.
I wished I would’ve been paying closer attention because I loved kissing Nick goodbye. We were usually always in a group, which I absolutely loved, but that also meant we didn’t get much alone time together. We did, however, always have those couple of minutes when we said goodbye to each other each night. We’d sneak off the porch and hide on the side of the house and whisper things we’d been waiting to say to each other… and most of the time, Nick would end up backing me against the house, placing his hands on either side of me, and making out with me. Sometimes it was nice and slow, like we were in no hurry and had no other cares in the world. Other times it was fast and fierce and made me wish we could take things further…
But tonight… I couldn’t help but feel a little hurt that he didn’t call out to me that he was leaving. It kind of made me question if he cherished those little alone minutes as much as I did…
By the time I walked upstairs to my room, I was completely exhausted from the long day.
I began pulling my hair out of its slicked back bun and running my fingers through it. It probably looked like a bomb went off in my hair.
When I entered my room, I immediately let out ashriek.
Nick was laying in my bed and looking at me with wide eyes.
“You okay? What happened?!” My dad yelled. I heard his pounding footsteps coming closer to the stairs.
Nick frantically shook his head at me.
“Everything’s fine!” I rattled out urgently and put a hand to my chest. “I just saw a spider. I’ll get it! Sorry!” I quickly closed the door behind me and covered my mouth so no one would hear my giggles.
He blew out a breath he’d been holding and fell back on my bed.
I quickly climbed right on top of him, straddling hiswaist.
“How did you get here, Mr. Johns?” I asked, feeling like my face was going to break from smiling so hard.
“Climbed in the window.” He laid his hands on my thighs. “You gotta lock up, Smol.”
“What, so I can keep strange boys out of my room?” I arched an eyebrow at him.
He watched me closely, then sat up as far as he could and snaked his arms around my back, hugging me. His face came up to my chest.
“Yees. All mine,” he said.
