“I was a child!”
“You’re blushing.”
“I am not.”
He crosses the room.
“You know what I remember about that night?” he asks.
“Which night?”
“The first one. When you came back to my apartment. I remember you were wearing this jacket - red and blue, satin. And you had glitter on your collarbone.”
He reaches me, his fingers finding the spot he’s talking about, tracing the line of my collarbone, near where the scar from the Showcase is.
“I wanted you before Halloween. I just didn’t know how to have you.”
“You have me now.”
He kisses me again, and this time it’s not slow. My back hits the door. His hands are under my shirt, on my waist, on my ribs, finding the places he’s learned in all those nights we’ve stolen.
“Your mother,” he says against my throat.
“She’s a deep sleeper.”
“Leo-”
“Zane.” I pull his face up to mine. “Don’t make me wait anymore.”
He pulls my shirt over my head, and then his is gone too, and I’m pressing against him, skin to skin, the cold air raising goosebumps everywhere he’s not touching.
He walks me backward toward the bed.
He lays me down on the too-small bed, the quilt scratchy beneath my back, his body warm and solid above me.
“Hey,” he says.
“Hey.”
“I’m proud of you.”
“I haven’t done anything yet.”
“You showed up.” He kisses my forehead. “You always show up.”
Then he kisses my mouth, and I stop thinking about tryouts and short lists and all the ways this could still fall apart.
There’s only him. Only this.
His mouth traces down my throat, my collarbone. His hands find the waistband of my pajama pants, tug them down, slow, deliberate, watching my face the whole time.
I pull him down and roll us over so I’m on top, so I’m the one looking down at him for once. His hands find my hips, fingers pressing into the muscle there, and the sound he makes when I move against him is something I want to bottle and keep.
“Leo-”
I press my hand against his mouth, shutting him up. Then I take my time. The way he does - slow, patient, savoring every sound, every shiver, every moment he catches his breath.
When I finally sink down onto him, his head falls back, his hands tighten on my hips, and he says my name like it’s the only word he knows.
