Page 179 of Save You

I really like seeing James here.

Seeing him laugh makes mehappy.

A wave of yearning washes over me.It’s trying to drive me over to him, but I stay where I am and close the door quietly behind me.As it clicks gently, James’s smile fades.

For a moment, we just stand there, face-to-face, looking at each other.

“I’m sorry about yesterday,” I say eventually, breaking the ice.

James shakes his head slowly.

“I should have told you sooner.It—”

“Ruby,” he interrupts me softly.“You don’t owe me an explanation.”

He’s right.I know that.Even so, I wish I could turn back time and stop a situation like last night ever happening.

“Why did you run away like that?”I ask cautiously.

He gulps hard.“I was just out of my depth with the whole thing.Wren and I haven’t fought like that for ages.”

“I know your friendship with Wren means a lot to you,” I say quietly.“I’m sorry.”

James walks over to my desk and runs his finger over the spines of the books that have been stacked there all week.“You don’t have to apologize.And I didn’t come here to talk about Wren.”

“You didn’t?What, then?”I whisper.God knows where my voice has disappeared to.

He glances at me briefly, then turns his full attention back to the chaos on my desk.“Do you know why Wren got so angry?”he asks.

I shake my head and take the two steps that bring me to stand beside him.“No.”

“He was angry because he feels like you’re more important to me than anything else now.”

James pauses for a moment before he continues.“And he’s right.”

He’s still standing by my desk.And he’s not looking at me while he’s saying these important words.

“James,” I whisper, to make him turn toward me.

He does as I wish, and the look in his eyes overwhelms me.I can see all the same emotions that are flooding through my body.

At this moment, such a powerful wave of affection for him washes over me that I almost have to look away.Cautiously, I raise my hand and stroke the messy strands of hair off his forehead.Then I lay my hand on his cheek.His face feels warm to my touch, and as I run my fingers softly over his skin, James wraps his hand around them.

It hasn’t been that long since we were last standing like this.That time, I touched his cheek, plucked up all my courage, and confessed to James that I didn’t want to lose him.Then he took my hand from his face and turned away from me.

But now the opposite happens.

James holds my hand tight and shuts his eyes.As I stroke my thumb over his skin, a tremble runs through his whole body.He opens his eyes again and I hold my breath.

“I don’t want anything to come between us again, Ruby,” he whispers.

I can hardly breathe with James this close to me.The weight of his words hangs in the air, and at this second, I realize that I feel exactly the same.

I don’t want to be apart from him anymore.

I can’t be angry or sad any longer.

I want to feel that rush again, at long last, that James and I give each other.I want to talk to him again, message him again, share my worries and fears with him.