Page 80 of All the way home

And Zach can’t stop staring.

When he’d first seen Kieran, he’d thought he was good-looking, in a way that he’s pretty sure anyone would agree with. Even Mara thought so, and she doesn’t even like men.

So, like, yeah, Kieran’s nice to look at. But somehow over the course of the last few hours, it’s as though it’s gotten worse. Why would Kieran want anything to do with him at all, let alone after what he said?

The only thing Zach knows for sure is that even if he doesn’t know how anything today has happened, he’d like it to keep happening.

Fuck fuck fuck fuck.

New determination behind every step, Zach closes the distance, clears his throat, and says, “Hey.”

Kieran pivots, and Zach doesn’t think he’s imagining the relief that opens up on his face. “Oh, there you are.”

“I’ve been looking for you,” Zach says.

“I’ve been looking for you.” Kieran sucks in a breath. “We sort of fucked this up, didn’t we?”

“I’m sorry,” Zach blurts out. “I shouldn’t have said any of that, and I didn’t really mean it how it came out.”

“I’m sorry too. For not clarifying. I didn’t think it was that big of a deal, to be honest.”

Around them, the chaos of the airport has slowed to a low, constant hum, lights dimmer than they’d seemed an hour ago. Kieran’s reflection in the tile is a dark shape that moves when he does, shifting from foot to foot.

“I have a thing about people not being who they say they are,” Zach tells him, interlocking his fingers. “So it sort of was a big deal to me.”

“Noted. Now I know.”

“I really didn’t mean that I was only talking to you because I thought I’d never see you again.”

“Yeah, that fucking stung.”

“It was only like that in the beginning,” Zach insists, running a hand through his hair. “But either way, it was a shitty thing to say. Sometimes it’s like a stranger comes and takes the wheel and I have to just watch in horror while I smash my foot against my uvula.”

Kieran bursts out laughing, and something eases in Zach’s rib cage.

Okay. Okay. Maybe this is still salvageable.

“Here’s what I think,” Kieran starts, and then pauses.

Smiling, Zach asks, “What do you think?”

“I think you should get a drink with me.”

Zach’s eyebrows shoot up. “A . . . drink?”

“On me, because I asked.” When Zach opens his mouth, Kieran shakes his head. “And you’re not allowed to say no. I mean—you can say no to getting a drink, obviously, like in general. But not to it being on me.”

Slowly, a shock of surprise, it dawns on him that Kieran sounds nervous. As in, Zach is making him nervous, somehow.

So—

“Yeah.” Zach nearly trips over himself in his haste. “Yes. Yes please.”

Kieran’s smile—and the barely perceptible lift in his shoulders—makes every moment of awkwardness that got them to this moment abundantly worth it.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Rena