I hold his gaze for a moment.
Then Tara says something, and I turn toward her, and when I glance back he’s talking to someone else.
My heart is doing the thing it’s been doing for weeks. The rest of me isn’t far behind. Tonight I think I’m going to stop arguing with both of them.
13
Chapter 13
MATEO
The hallway is quiet by midnight - doors closed, voices muffled, everyone trying to wind down after the noise of the game.
The walls are thin.
I can hear someone’s TV two rooms over. Low murmur of sportscasters. The sound of a door opening somewhere, then closing.
I pick up my phone.
Nothing.
Of course, nothing. What did I expect?
I set the phone down.
But suddenly it buzzes.
Room 412.
ELIDA
I shouldn’t have sent it.
I knew it the second my thumb hit send, and I’ve known it every second since - through the shower I took that didn’t help, through the pajamas I changed into. I told myself I should text again and take it back.
But I didn’t.
And now there’s a knock at the door. Soft. One knuckle, barely audible.
I open it.
He’s standing in the hallway in sweatpants and a grey t-shirt, barefoot, his hair damp from his own shower. He doesn’t say anything. He just looks at me, and whatever he sees on my face makes his expression flip from cautious to something else entirely.
I step back and he steps in.
I close the door behind him and the lock clicks into place. Suddenly the room seems very small and very full of him.
“Elida.” His voice is low.
“Don’t,” I whisper. “If you’re going to talk me out of this-”
“I’m not.”
“You should.”
“Probably.” He doesn’t move closer. He stands there, letting me set the pace, letting me decide. “Do you want me to leave?”
His face in the low light from the window. The line of his jaw. His hands at his sides, relaxed. Waiting for whatever I say next.
