Page 35 of We Are Just Us

Do not look at Rory. Do not look at Rory! Do not make eye contact like this.

Too late. Rory noticed.

Not with shock. But a quiet pause, the pause of someone clocking a fact they hadn’t expected but now couldn’t unsee.

“Oh,” Rory said softly.

Kieran squeezed his eyes shut. “I’m so sorry. I swear this isn’t…I didn’t mean for this to happen.”

Rory lowered his hands, careful, respectful. “Hey,” he said, calm as ever. “You’re fine.”

Kieran rolled onto his side, mortified, sand sticking to places he was suddenly very aware of. “I knew this would happen. I literally told myself, ‘don’t do this,’ and here we are.”

Rory lay back beside him, close but not touching, giving him space without making it weird, which somehow made it worse.

“Kind of flattering,” Rory said lightly.

Kieran let out a weak laugh. “Please don’t say that.”

“I’m serious. You’re nervous. Exposed. Your body’s just…reacting.”

Kieran cracked one eye open.

Rory was staring up at the sky now, relaxed. But not as unaffected as he was pretending to be.

Oh…so we’re both like this.

They lay side by side, completely still, the air between them humming with everything they weren’t acknowledging.

“Well,” Kieran said weakly. “If wellness was the goal…”

Rory bit his lip, eyes still on the clouds. “Yeah?”

“I feel extremely alive.”

Rory’s smile widened. “Same.”

And Kieran couldn’t tell, wouldn’t let himself decide, whether Rory had known exactly what would happen.

Or if this was simply what happened when he let the sun in.

ELEVEN

The truck hummed as Rory pulled back onto the main road, the ocean slipping out of view behind them in the rearview mirror. The windows were cracked just enough to let the air move, cool against skin that had definitely absorbed more sun than it should have.

Kieran shifted in his seat, careful with his shoulders, his thighs, anything hot from the sun. He looked out at the passing coastal traffic, the glare off the oncoming windshields making him squint.

“I’m calling it now,” he said, adjusting the passenger-side visor down to block the harsh afternoon light. “I’m going to look like a fried tomato tomorrow.”

Rory glanced over, slowing down as they hit a stretch of stop-and-go traffic. “You used sunscreen.”

“Only once,” Kieran said. “Not nearly enough.” He wasn’t going to admit that other things kept him distracted most of the day.

“That’s how the sun wins.”

Kieran cleared his throat. He watched Rory’s hands on the steering wheel, the easy confidence of someone who knew these roads by heart. “Do you go to Black’s Beach a lot?”

“Sometimes,” Rory said. “Usually with friends.”