Page 110 of Dream On

“We never dated,” he says again. A few minutes pass as more couples stroll by, laughing and holding dog leashes in their hands. Then he asks me, “Did it hurt?”

The question takes me off guard, and I attempt to scrounge up the underlying context. “Did what hurt?”

“The breakup.”

“Oh.” I toss the near-empty shake in a trash can, sparing a glance over my shoulder at Castle who trails behind us by a few feet. “It did, in a way. But it wasn’t so much a broken heart.”Not like when you left, I itch to say. “It was more a broken reality. Everything changed. I’d become content in the routine, in always having someone there to call, to have dinner with, to hold my hand when—”

Lex snatches up my hand. “Paparazzi at ten o’clock.” He tugs me closer, then wraps an arm around my back, his palm brushing up and down my spine. “Sorry. Keep going.”

“Um…” A camera flashes in my periphery, my thoughts scattering. “Well, that’s really all it was. A shift in the routine.”

“He didn’t deserve you, Nicks.” His warm hand continues to draw gentle patterns up and down my back.

The apples of my cheeks brighten, staining red. “Oh. Thank—”

“Lex! Stevie!” A young woman bounces up and down from across the walkway, darting toward us when recognition sets in. “Oh my God. I’m fangirling so hard right now. Can I get your autograph?”

Lex plasters on a smile, dropping his hand from my back and reaching into his pocket after he discards his shake. “Sure. What’s your name?”

The flaxen-haired teenager nearly bursts into tears as she extends her arm. “Right here is fine. My name is Cami. Holy shit. I think I might faint.”

I take a step back, glancing behind me at Castle as he saunters closer, eyes trained on the woman. “That’s a pretty name,” I tell her, tucking my hair behind my ears.

“Thank you! I love your name too. So cute.”

Lex hands me the black marker.

I blink. “Me?”

“Ah, yes! Do you mind?” Cami wonders, still bouncing on the heels of her sneakers like an overcaffeinated rabbit.

“Not at all.” My fingers brush with Lex’s as I take the marker and scribble my unpracticed signature across the underside of her arm. Lex’s name is basically a loop-the-loop, while mine accentuates every letter and takes me fifty million years to write, encompassing the entirety of her arm from her wrist to her elbow.

“Sorry.” I cringe. “I haven’t really found a way to condense it yet.”

Cami rotates her arm side to side as it catches the dying light. “Eek! I’m totally taking a picture of this and framing it above my bed. I’ve lived here for three years and have never run into a famous person before. This is the best day ever!”

Her excitement is endearing.

I quirk a smile as she fumbles for her cell phone.

“Can I get a quick selfie?”

“No problem,” Lex says, tucking me into the crevice of his arm.

Squealing with delight, Cami crouches in front of us, holds her hand out as far as it’ll go until we’re both in the frame, and snaps twenty-seven pictures. “Am I blinking? Oh God, I’m blinking.” Another twenty-seven photos go off like rapid fire. “Thank you so much!”

Lex doesn’t let go, still holding on to me as the girl scampers off with a wave. I wave back with a cheery, “Nice meeting you!”

“Ahh!” She disappears into the crowd.

A chuckle sails against the top of my head, reminding me how close he is. Lex leans in and murmurs into my ear, “Your first fan.”

My arm has a mind of its own, curling around his back as my fingertips lightly graze his belt loop. “Pretty sure I wasn’t the main attraction.”

He stiffens a little when my thumb dips underneath his polo and skims a patch of skin. Before I can move away, he pulls me closer, until we’re nearly stepping on each other’s feet as we walk.

It would be so easy, I realize. So easy for the charade to split into pieces, allowing something real to slip through the cracks.