Page 95

His smile is gentle as he releases me to the floor, but my arms stay wrapped around him of their own volition. His thumbs stroke my cheeks in soothing passes. “This year is going to be different,” he promises, and I nod, vowing the same. I don’t care how it has to happen; I’m not going another school year without seeing him again.
Picking the food up from the floor, he guides me to my bed where we sit down on top of the comforter, and then he starts pulling all the food from the bags he brought. Warm hoagies, chips, sodas, candy, some pastries from his favorite bakery nearby.
“How did you get all of this in the time you had between the airport and here?”
“I bribed Elijah. Asked him to pick it all up for me before he grabbed me from the airport so I could come straight to you.” He kisses my cheek, and my heart melts into a puddle that spills onto the floor.
We do exactly what he suggested, catching up as we eat. He asks about Addy, and I ask about his family and friends—though I’ve seen them often, and have spoken to him about them often, too.
Our bellies are full, all of our trash cleaned up and our leftover food put away, my heart aching a little bit less in his presence, when I get the wonderful idea to playTruth or Dare.
He chuckles but agrees without any need to convince him.
“Truth or dare?” I start.
“Truth,” he replies with a growing grin.
“Okay.” I take a deep breath, pretending to think about my first question when I don’t need to. “On a scale of one to ten, how much did you miss me?”
“Easy. Ten,” he immediately replies, and I hide my own smile behind the sleeve of my sweatshirt covering my hand.
When I manage to pull it away, I admit, “Same. That would be an easy ten for me, too. Or maybe more like a hundred—a thousand.”
Bumping me softly with his shoulder, he doesn’t bother to hide his own smile. “My turn now. Truth or dare?”
“Truth,” I say.
“How many of my games are you coming to see this year?” Not,Will you?Not,Are you?And my heart warms at the distinction, with the assumption that, without a doubt, it will be happening.
My smile grows bigger and then softens, warming me from the inside out. “As many as humanly possible,” I answer. I’ve managed to save more than I thought possible this last year, precisely so I could do just that. Because I’m so proud of him—in awe of him, really—and it will be worth every penny to finally see him play in person and not just on the screen of my phone. But more than that, just to seehim.
“Truth or dare?” I ask again.
His lips twist to the side, considering. “Truth.”
“Will you stay in New York for a bit, when the season is over this year?”
He swallows his bite of food with a dip of his head. “Without a doubt.”
I can’t contain the multitudes of smiles spilling out of me. We continuously pick truth, both of us fully aware it’s our excuse to ask everything—learn everything—we’ve missed out on throughout the year.
“How do you really feel about being drafted to Denver?” Because we talked about this, but not as in depth as I would have liked to. I congratulated him, and I asked if he was happy, and he said that of course he was, but now I’m really asking, and he gives me a full, transparent answer.
“Grateful. Without a doubt. But a bit disappointed if I’m being honest. I couldn’t be further from home, and home is where I want to be. With my family, my friends. With you.”
I duck my head and smile, before asking, “Can’t you stay longer than two days?”
“If I could, I would. Believe me, I would.” He wraps his hands around my knees and edges me closer. “What has been the best part of your year so far?”
“You, here. Finally.” He bites the corner of his smile as I ask, “What about you? What’s the best part of yours?”
“Me. Here. Finally.” The subtle storm of his gaze settles over mine, and I’ve never blushed so hard. It doesn’t matter that we’re so familiar with each other now, I just do.
We continue to expel truth after truth after truth, until somewhere along the way, he finally picksDare.It starts off innocently enough—I dare you to eat a spoonful of hot sauce; I dare you to moon the next person who walks by your window; I dare you to singMy Heart Will Go Onat the top of your lungs while kneeling at the edge of my bed and keeping your arms splayed wide like Jack and Rose.
And then my latest brilliant idea— “I dare you to kiss me. But like, as horribly as you can.”
“Horribly?” He presses a hand to his chest like he’s offended. “I’m sorry, but I don’t think I’m capable of a bad kiss, Declan.”