Page 43 of With You

I’ll be holding her to that.

When we finish eating and are sent off with a bag of food to take back with us, we decide to wander around a bit before flying back home. Amelie keeps her hand in mine as we walk through the slowly settling streets with fewer people around than before. She sticks close to me, wrapping her arm around mine as the evening gets colder. I break us apart for a few seconds so that I can take my jacket off and drape it over her shoulders. That same feeling from the incident at the club hits me again, my heart skipping a beat as my jacket looks better on her than it ever has on me.

It’s too easy to imagine doing this over and over again, too easy to believe that we’re a real couple and not just pretending for one night. I want this to be more than just tonight, so I ask her something before I can think too much of it.

“What are you doing next week?”

“Hmm?” She hums, looking up at me with a tilt of her head.

“I’m attending a charity auction with my parents next Tuesday. I can bring a plus one.” I say the words quickly, hoping she won’t read too much into them. It’s not a date. Just an excuse to spend more time with her outside of the studio.

“And you want that to be me?”

“Why not?” I shrug, glancing down at her. “It’s technically not a date because my parents will be there.”

“Ah, so you want me to meet your parents. What happened to not moving too fast?” she says with a glint in her eye.

“I want you to save me from the boredom of sitting alone with my parents while they talk to all their friends.”

“Why not take Damien?”

“Love that guy, but I’d much rather go with you. My mom has been wanting to meet you, anyway.” I don’t wait for Amelie to question it before I explain. “She’s the one that got us the shoe appointment. She’s just curious about you.”

Amelie ponders it for a moment as we keep walking, and the silence would be stifling if her hand wasn’t still in mine, our fingers locked together as her nails scrape against the back of my hand.

“Okay, I’ll come,” she says, stepping in front of me so we’re facing each other.

The streetlights glow around us like a spotlight, illuminating Amelie so I can see her pretty face more clearly. There’s warmth in her eyes and pain in my chest, and her hand is in mine, and everything about it is so overwhelming I lose my breath for a second.

It’s brought back as soon as Amelie tips her head up and presses her lips against mine. It’s not for a performance, or rehearsal, or any kind of practice. On this street, on this night, under the moonlit sky, this kiss is just for us.

Chapter 18

Amelie

“I’m bored,” Evie groans, dropping her head against the desk. “Let’s go watch a movie or something instead.”

“Have you finished your essays?” Zena asks, leaning back in her seat and stretching her arms above her.

“Yes…” Evie replies in the most suspicious way possible, and she’s so bad at lying, it’s comical.

I nudge her arm with mine, encouraging her to keep going, but I know once she’s given up, it’s already over.

“Fifteen more minutes, then we can go to my room,” I tell her, as she lifts herself off the desk just to slump her entire body against mine.

“You can survive for fifteen minutes,” Zena tells her, pulling Evie off me and setting her upright.

The three of us have been set up in the library for a few hours now. River and I realised it wasn’t feasible to practice every single day so we’ve decided to take one day a week to focus on homework, or whatever else we need to do that isn’t rehearsing. Our weekends are free as well, but if both of us are still at university and don’t have anything else going on, we practice on those days, too.

We haven’t kissed outside of practice since that night in Milan a few days ago. We haven’t talked about it either. When we reach that point in the routine, it’s the most chaste kiss possible, even though I want more. But I was the one who told River we can’t get carried away, and he’s been very good at sticking to that. I’m already distracted by thoughts of him, so taking whatever our relationship is now any further, would only make it worse.

“Amelie, what about you?”

Case in point, as I don’t know what Zena is asking of me right now.

“What about me?” I ask, closing my books and stacking them on top of each other like Evie and Zena have done already.

“Are you giving up too?”