Page 150 of All the way home

“Yes? You okay?” Kieran answers the phone without breaking eye contact. He pauses to listen, then rolls his eyes in a spectacular display. “Now?”

He sounds so pouty that Zach starts laughing, smothering it in his shoulder.

“I was—”

Rena’s voice on the other end is an indistinguishable murmur.

“Shut up,” Kieran says good-naturedly. “Okay.”

Glancing back up at Zach and away again, he adds, almost meekly, “Love you.”

Then he hangs up, grin slipping back into place, untempered and practically melting out of him.

“What was that about?”

“Oh,” Kieran says, sounding as though somehow he’d already forgotten and is just remembering. “The flight’s boarding.”

“What?” Zach pushes off the wall, eyes wide. “Now? Really?”

“Yes.” Kieran laughs at Zach’s expression, at least until Zach socks his shoulder, and then he squawks and ducks, grabbing Zach’s suitcase and rolling it away.

“What if they leave without us?” Zach scrambles to yank his phone charger out of the wall and shove it into his bag. Slinging his backpack over his shoulder, he jogs to catch up, limbs infused with what feels like white static.

“They won’t,” Kieran says, but he starts walking faster.

“If we miss this flight I’ll kill you.”

Kieran’s bark of laughter is so bright that a woman walking in the opposite direction shoots him a sharp glance. “You might even be capable of it. How would I know? I’ve just met you, after all.”

“We are practically strangers,” Zach agrees, grinning, and a second later catches an elbow to the ribs. “Ow.”

“Sorry,” Kieran says, not sounding sorry at all. “Stranger.”

And then he loops a hand around Zach’s wrist and takes off running, tearing down the terminal, and over the rumbling wheels of his suitcase, Zach’s heart tells him over and over: Awake, awake, awake.

Not a dream.

And he knows it’s true.

When they’re almost back to the gate, Kieran skids to a stop, yanking Zach behind a pillar with a force that nearly knocks them both over.

“What? What?” Zach presses a hand to his chest, heart thundering wildly. “What’s going on?”

“They’re not even letting anyone on yet.” Kieran peers around the pillar and lets out a breathless laugh. “Trust Rena to make it sound like an emergency.”

“Oh,” Zach gasps.

Kieran lets go of Zach’s suitcase and takes his face in his hands, whole face smiling. “Kiss me.”

His palms are so warm. “Wha—now?”

“Yes, now.” Kieran’s tone is warm and indulgent. “Just once, so I don’t go insane for four hours trying not to.”

“Brave,” Zach notes, for an excuse to have one more second to catch his breath, but it’s not quite enough. Leaning back against the pillar, he holds a hand up, chest heaving.

Kieran laughs as he slumps against the pillar too, a quiet huff that he shoves into Zach’s shoulder.

“We didn’t have to run.” Zach can’t stop laughing.