“I didn’t?—”
He lifts his head and raises his brows at me. “Yes, you did.Youdid.”
I swallow and smile a wobbly smile. “You saved me too.”
He shakes his head.
“No, you did,” I whisper. “I wouldn’t have gone back to the house if you hadn’t—if you hadn’t been so nice to me when I knew you didn’t want to be.”
He winces. “I should’ve always been nice to you.”
“You were.”
“Not nice enough if you knew I didn’t want to be.”
I wiggle my toes. “You were what you could be.”
He huffs out a soft laugh and buries his face in my neck again. “My parents will love you.”
His parents.
His parents.
“Am I—am I meeting them?” I whisper.
“Coming for Lav’s birthday party.”
“And are you—are you introducing me as your girlfriend?”
“Probably should,” he murmurs against my skin. “Since you are.”
“Am I?”
“Are you not?”
I wrap my legs around him again. “Maybe a girl needs to be asked.”
He kisses my neck. “Like this?”
“You really like me,” I whisper.
“Iloveyou.”
“Liking and loving isn’t the same thing. I love my family, but I don’tlikethem.”
He huffs out a laugh. “I love youandI like youandI want to introduce you to my family as my girlfriend.”
I squeeze him tighter. Inside, I’m squealing.
He loves me.
He wants to be official.
“What about Lav?” I ask.
“Her too,” he murmurs. “She suspects already. We’ll tell her tonight. After school.”
We.
