Leo gave me a thumbs up as he chewed his waffle. “Great flick,” he said after he swallowed.
I laughed and sat back in the seat. When I was a kid, I used to get these warm tingles on my skin when I stayed over at Kai and River’s house for dinner a couple times a week.
Everyone took the time to sit together, and ask each other about their days, and joke around. It was such a normal thing to them, but totally absent from my own life, and that felt so nice to me. It was like little feathers tickled across my skin.
Those warm tingles came over me again in the diner, and when Kai brushed his fingers across my knee, I practically melted.
“The film festival’s series are my favorite date nights,” Shawn said from across the table. He and his husband had their elbows on the table and their hands laced together, although a burger had captured Cass’s attention. “I never went before I met River.”
“I haven’t gone since right after I moved here,” I said. “About five years ago.”
“I also highly recommend after hours at the Carnegie Science Center. Just make sure to check the theme before you go.”
“He took me to autopsy night,” Cass said, a pickle sliding out of his burger.
“River got me into Frick Park for date night,” Leo said, pointing at me. “If you haven’t checked out the park in our neighborhood yet, you should. You can spend all day in there and still not see everything.”
“I’m sorry all my friends are giving you dating advice,” Kai joked. His fingers danced over my knee again, and I almost giggled. “I promise, they’ll only be like this usually.”
River rolled his eyes at his twin. “Yeah, because you’re the one we should be giving dating advice to,” he teased. “Do you all remember when—”
Kai tossed a crumpled napkin at River, which flew in front of my face. “No stories!” he laughed. “I draw the line at embarrassing dating stories.”
“It’s okay,” I assured him and danced my fingers over his knee, earning the tiniest squirm. “Nothing can be that bad. I remember what you wore to the eighth-grade dance.”
Everyone laughed. I almost felt bad teasing Kai, and if I were a little more confident, I would have leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek then.
But then he turned to me with a sparkle in his eyes and took my hand beneath the table, and I knew the joke was appreciated.
Maybe things really could fall into place this easily. It was still hard to process. Just the idea that I could have everything I wanted made me dizzy.
But with Kai holding my hand and my entire body singing, I really was starting to believe it.
“So what was the eighth-grade dance outfit like?” Leo asked, leaning forward.
Kai straightened his back. “It was a very sensible suit,” he answered, “that arguably made me look like an accountant.”
I squeezed his hand. “He looked cute.”
“He did,” River agreed.
“I want to see Kai dressed up,” Leo complained. “You know, he would never wear a matching Halloween costume with me, no matter how many times I asked.”
I felt Kai tense more and stroked the back of his fingers.
Knowing that he was the guy on the other side of the screen made me feel all giddy and high. It turned me on in an exponential way, like this fountain had been turned on, and it kept filling me up more and more.
Suddenly, I could be myself. The kind of self that you could only really be with old friends.
But the whole thing made him anxious, almost jumpy. So even though I wanted to drag him home and play around with him, the real him, I needed to be as careful and intentional as he had been with me at the wedding.
“Shawn got me to dress up for a party last year,” Cass said. “I was a vampire, and he was the moon. It was fun. And hot.”
Kai squeezed my hand tighter, and his expression looked frozen on.
Shawn laughed to himself. “It was kind of hot,” he agreed. “You should dress up with Leo for Halloween, Kai. You’ll have fun.”
“Yeah, Kai,” Leo pouted. “Put on a damn costume for me, will you?”
