Page 28 of Fear of Love (Falling #3)

I squeezed his fingers with mine twice as the lights above us darkened. We were quiet as we walked farther into the darkened room. We followed the flow of people toward a giant tank.

“Woah,” little voices said around us. Inside the glass enclosure were giant fish that almost looked like eels. They swam around, some hiding behind the giant rocks. Their faces were kind of sunken in with bulbous eyes that stood out. They weren’t exactly pretty.

We left that tank and continued, stopping every few feet to see something new. Being together, just the two of us with Landon’s arm wrapped around me, hands intertwined, I couldn’t help but wonder if this was what a date would look like for us.

Our friends were on the other side of the zoo, so we could walk around hand in hand without the fear of getting caught. It was nice being able to hold Landon’s hand like this. To do something outside of our apartments and his hockey rink.

Obviously, this wasn’t a date. Landon and I weren’t together like that. But if we were, would we go on dates like this? Hold hands and enjoy each other’s company? I couldn’t even remember what it was like to date.

“Has that other magazine company finally taken no for an answer?” Landon asked.

A few days ago at Landon’s apartment, I told him about the magazine company that wanted to partner with me and how they wouldn’t stop sending me emails and phone calls to reconsider.

I hadn’t planned on talking to Landon about it, but as we laid in bed the words slipped free.

“I hope so. I haven’t gotten an email or call in two days, so progress.” I was getting fed up with them not taking no as an answer. I made my decision, and they needed to stop harassing me about it.

“Well, I’m proud of you for standing your ground,” Landon said with a squeeze to my hand. I blushed at his praise, but thankfully, it was too dark in here to notice.

I didn’t know what it was about Landon’s uplifting words that made my chest tighten. Landon had that father figure vibe about him that made you want to impress him. Plus, when Landon said something he meant it, he didn’t mince words to be nice.

He didn’t say anything else until we came to a stop in front of the jellyfish display. The blue lights made the pink and white pop. Some had really long tentacles that looked like string as they slowly moved around. It was mesmerizing to watch.

“I’m sorry for ever saying you were money hungry,” Landon spoke, his voice a whisper. I glanced up at him, confused.

“You already apologized.”

“I know but that was a horrible apology.”

“It was.” He shot me a look that made me grin.

“I snapped at you for no reason, and what I said was hurtful. You aren’t money hungry, and you turning away this other magazine proves that,” Landon said with pure sincerity. I didn’t need another apology, but I did appreciate it.

“Thank you.” I brought my opposite arm that wasn’t holding his hand up and wrapped it around his waist. I leaned into his side as he dropped his cheek onto my head.

My heart felt like it was going to jump out of my chest as we stood there. The feelings that stirred in me had panic crawling up my spine. It was almost too much. I pushed it all down as I ducked out from under Landon’s arm.

“Come on.” Relacing our fingers, I tugged him away from the jellyfish to another section of the exhibit.

I ignored the thoughts in my head, and instead, started asking Landon questions. Questions I should have known by now.

“So rapid-fire questions.” He raised an eyebrow but didn’t argue. “Favorite holiday?” Getting to know Landon better probably wasn’t going to help my feelings, but it was better than letting my thoughts take control.

“I like Thanksgiving. You?”

“Never really been much of a holiday person.” I answered, which made the corners of Landon’s lips pull down in a frown. Before he could ask more I asked another question. “Coffee or energy drink?”

“Coffee.” That I already knew. Whether we were at my place or his, Landon had at least three cups of coffee before he left.

“Favorite food?” I asked.

“Bread.”

“Bread…” I shot him a look as we walked side by side toward another room.

“Bread,” he said again.

“Okay, we’ll touch on that later.”

I asked him question after question as we kept walking.

I paused my questioning when we came across a huge tank before picking back up.

I learned that Landon was allergic to kiwi and pineapple.

He was a secret Lord of the Rings nerd, and when he learned I hadn’t seen any of the movies, he made a vow that we would watch them all together.

Each piece of information showed me Landon was far from the guy I thought I knew. There was a lot more to him that he hid from everyone. We had that in common. We both had walls and secrets that kept us closed off from others.

I ran out of questions by the time we reached the main part of the aquatic exhibit. The room was ginormous with three rows of seats along the far wall and an open section in front, all facing a humongous wall of water.

We both turned to face the tank, even though that really wasn’t the word I would use to describe it.

It was filled with every sea life animal you could think of.

Manta rays that were black with white spots swam by, flashing their underbellies as they did.

Little fish swam around in clusters. I counted at least six different kinds of sharks swimming lazily.

They each had what looked like scratches along their skin.

One was missing a chunk from its tail. There even was a sea turtle off to the side.

“Woah,” I breathed. It was by far my favorite thing I’d seen all day.

People all around us sat or stood as they stared at the sea life. I wasn’t sure how long we stayed there, but I easily could have watched longer. I was so busy observing the giant mantra ray go by that I didn’t notice Landon snapping pictures with his phone.

A little bit more time passed before a squeeze on my hand turned my attention to him.

“Ready to go? The others are outside,” he mentioned. I wanted to stay longer, but I knew we already spent a good amount of time here.

“Yeah.” I tried to keep the disappointment out of my voice.

“We’ll come back,” Landon said as we weaved around kids to get to the exit.

“You promise?”

“Pinky promise.” He held out his left pinky finger for me to hook mine around.

We walked to the exit, but before I could step through, Landon tugged me back a step. I turned, confused for a second as Landon’s hand came up and cupped my cheek. His lips touched mine, and my eyes immediately fluttered shut. I kissed him back eagerly. When he pulled away, I whimpered.

“Tonight.” My insides flipped at the promise in his tone.

He gave me one last quick kiss before we stepped outside. Our hands parted slowly, fingertips brushing for a second longer before we met our friends.