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noah

“Let's go. We’re going to be so late.”

“And whose fault is that?” I tease.

“Yours. Always.”

I stop our hurried walk across campus, pulling Savannah back by her hand. “Babe. You told me you could come just from sucking me off. What did you think we were going to do after that? Bake bread?”

She laughs that throaty laugh of hers and I wrap my arms around her before dropping a kiss to her lips. I kiss her because I’ve missed her. I kiss her because I love her, and I kiss her because I don’t have to hide it anymore.

We’re only three minutes late, but thankfully the two seats we’ve occupied all semester remain open. We quietly sneak around the back, slipping into our seats as Professor Diaz hands out weeks worth of papers.

“If you get one hundred percent, I’m calling nepotism,” I whisper in her ear just as Professor Diaz stops in front of us.

She licks a finger and pulls out both of our papers before dropping them on our table.

I wait a beat, and she hits me with a knowing look over her shoulder before heading back down the stairs .

“A ninety-six. Way to go, Golden Boy. A lot better than sixty-nine.”

“We’ll save that for later.”

She rolls her eyes, shoving me back while picking up my paper. “Give me this.” Her eyes scan the paper, and with each passing second, her teasing smile fades. I watch her throat bob as I lean back in my seat, biting down on the tip of my pen.

“Anything you’d like to share with the class?” I ask.

She looks at me once, and then back at my paper.

“What I’ll take away most from this project is how unexpectedly personal it became.

I ended up learning just as much about myself as I did about my partner.

While some of my own answers took me by surprise, it was always her answers that made me reflect on myself the most. I don’t know what it says about me as an interviewer, and she likely doesn’t know this, but her words uncovered pieces of me that I hadn’t realized were there.

In the end, I’ve realized I will probably never make it in the world as a professional interviewer because somewhere between all the questions, I think I fell in love with the person sitting across from me.

” Her voice breaks as she reads the last sentence and I swipe the back of my finger over the single tear that’s slipped down her cheek.

She looks up at me, her lips battling between a frown and a smile.

I don’t say anything. My paper says it all. I only wait for her response.

“We turned these in weeks ago.”

“Mhmm.” I nod.

“You’ve known this whole time?”

“Savvy, I’ve known how I felt about you was different from the moment you wouldn’t tell me your name.”

Something between a gasp and a laugh falls from her lips, and I kiss the second salty streak that falls before dropping my forehead to hers. Her eyes slide closed as she wraps her hands around the back of my neck, her fingers doing that thing that I love.

“I love you, Noah Kingston.”

I press my lips to hers, knowing that every time we’ve kissed it’s always said more than any words ever could.

I know that when I kiss her, she feels my soul because, when I kiss her, I’m overwhelmed by the feeling of her own wrapping around mine.

Even still, I’ll never pass up an opportunity to tell her.

“I love you, too, Savvy girl.”