It’s a faint shimmer under his skin, warm and golden, like sunlight caught on a freshly polished soccer ball.
My stomach twists. “Are you thinking about Nico right now?” I demand.
“No!” Colten drags a hand over his face.
“Then why are you glowing?”
He groans softly and covers his face with both hands for some reason while muttering to himself.
Very suspicious!
Between his fingers, I can still see that little scar on his eyebrow, the one from freshman year.
We were both going for a header at full speed. We both saw the other, but neither of us backed down.
The ball bounced off my forehead, and Colten’s head bounced off mine. There was blood everywhere, and Coach nearly had a heart attack.
Colten got four stitches and a permanent scar, and afterwards he just shrugged and said, “Next time, call it louder.”
It was the start of our friendship, and the next semester we were able to room together at the dorms.
I stare at that scar now, at the way it cuts through his eyebrow. His ponytail is loose, wisps of hair escaping andframing his hidden face. My hands itch to help pull it back for him.
“Why aren’t you wearing a shirt?” Colten suddenly asks from behind his fingers. “Aren’t you cold?”
“No,” I say, and mean it. I’m actually weirdly warm. “But more importantly…”
I grab his wrists, pulling them away from his face, and ask, “Why are you glowing?”
Colten resists at first, before his fingers ease just enough to see his eyes as they open and immediately lock on mine. They’re dark, immediately drawing me in.
For a moment, neither of us moves.
Then I pull his hands away completely, and—wow, he is very red. His face is flushed, spreading down from his cheeks before disappearing beneath the neckline of his shirt.
For a second, I think about tugging at the collar of his shirt to see just how far it goes before remembering that would be inappropriate and rude.
Colten is still staring at me, his eyes wide. “What are you thinking about right now?” he asks quietly.
I frown. “You, of course.” What else would I think about? He’s the only person who’s constantly on my mind, in every part of my life.
“You’re glowing,” he whispers.
I glance down.
Oh.
Oh!
I didn’t notice it because of his own glowing, but…my arms are glowing too.
Just like he is.
My stomach swoops, and I feel like I’m right back at the end of a cliff, staring at the unknown darkness below.
“…Huh,” I say.
Colten swallows. The glow under his skin brightens.
