I smirked. “Did you think I was good?”
“Yes.” He didn’t blink. “Magnetic.”
I laughed again and put my hands on his shoulders.Thin, I thought, feeling his bones through his T-shirt.But perfect.Then I started to run my hands down his arms, touching his warm skin. The vodka made this so easy, no longer a dream. “I almost forgot them,” I murmured.
Luke shivered. “What? Your lines?”
I closed my eyes and nodded. “Right when I came onstage. I saw you, wearing the sweatshirt…”
I trailed off; he was now combing his fingers through my slick hair—gently, slowly, agonizingly.
“The sweatshirt…?” he asked.
“Right.” I felt goose bumps on the back of my neck. I licked my lips and kept my eyes shut. “The gray sweatshirt, with the blackAdidas logo on the front.” I paused. “The one you left in my room the first weekend.”
“Yeah, that sounds vaguely familiar.” Luke laughed, and I opened my eyes to see him smiling at me. My heart squirmed.
You could do it, I realized, body quaking.You could just lean forward and kiss him.
So I sort of did—orstartedto, at least. Luke took a few steps backward, putting several feet between us. I released a deep breath and watched as he reached up and adjusted the crown. “Do you want a glass of water?” he asked, and then gestured to the Keurig on top of his mini fridge. “Or maybe some coffee?”
I coughed. “No, why?”
Luke looked at the floor. “You’re drunk.”
“No, I’m not,” I lied.
“Yeah, you are,” he said, kneeling to open the fridge. I noticed his pants right then: red-and-black plaid pajama bottoms.Shit, I thought, connecting the sight of Luke in pajamas to bedtime, and then bedtime to curfew. What time was it?
I fumbled around in my pocket for my phone and jolted:11:56 p.m.I had four minutes. “I have to go,” I told Luke when he handed me a water bottle.
He nodded. “Okay.”
I didn’t move.
Luke cut his eyes toward the closed door. The hallway was far from silent: footsteps, laughter, shouting. Everyone coming back for the night. He cleared his throat. “You’re going to be late.”
“I know,” I said, voice sounding distorted. I could hear the blood pumping through my ears. “I just…”
One of Luke’s eyebrows quirked up.I’m listening.
I swallowed. “You aren’t interested in Nina, right?”
He shook his head.
“Or anyone else?”
“I don’t know, maybe.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “Why do you care?”
Everything in me lurched, and I opened my mouth to respond, but someone banging on the door stopped me. “Poker in Brewster’s room, Morrissey!” a guy shouted. “Two minutes!”
I glanced at my phone again:11:58 p.m.
CHAPTER 13
SAGE
It rained Sunday too, and the sky was stillominously cloudy when Charlie and I ran on Monday morning. “Slow down!” I shouted once he pulled ahead of me. I could see our puffs of breath in the air.
