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Nicole was laughing against my side, covering her mouth with her hand.

I squeezed her closer and didn’t hold myself back from dropping my nose to her hair and inhaling.

God, she smelled so good. The memories from last night were still fresh in my mind, and I wondered if she was enough of a morning person to be up for another round.

“Do you have any more questions for me, Violet, or—”

“ Ohmygod you have to see this!” Violet was whispering again, her gaze locked on something off-screen. The image of her pixelated for a moment while she moved, thumping over to a new area in her kitchen, “Are you fucking kidding me with this shit?”

“What?” Nicole and I both asked in a whisper.

Violet flipped the camera, and soon, we were looking through a window. You could tell she was adjusting the camera to avoid the blinds being in the way, but she didn’t want to open them that much and be spotted.

“Whoa, is that him?” I asked, leaning forward a bit.

A few yards away from Violet’s (thankfully clean) kitchen window was the bare back of a man with blonde hair.

It fell to his shoulders, and the top half of his hair was pulled back into a man-bun.

An axe appeared over his shoulder before he swung it down on a stump, splitting the large log in one hit.

There was a small pile of stacked wood to one side, and a small pile of logs that hadn’t been split yet on his opposite side.

“This is cruel,” Violet whispered, “He does this a few times a week. More often on weekends.” She sighed, and Nicole snorted.

“Is that his house?” Nicole asked, leaning forward. Violet’s phone panned over to a black log cabin-style home. There wasn’t a fence separating Violet's house and the black-painted one, but they were too far apart to be in the same building.

“We’re next-door neighbors, much to his chagrin.” Violet snickered. “Our primary bedrooms both have outdoor decks that face each other. He can’t escape me.” She ended her sentence with a low, comically evil laugh.

“That cabin looks so magical,” Nicole’s voice sounded dreamy, so I immediately filed away that bit of information about her, right next to all the other cute little facts I’ve learned about her.

Nicole experiences with secondhand embarrassment .

Nicole loves guacamole.

Nicole scrunches her nose when she’s grossed out.

Nicole’s parents both passed away.

Nicole is an only child.

Nicole is scared to lose her new friends at work.

Nicole gets nervous whenever I bring up introducing her to my friends.

Nicole prefers to be the little spoon.

Nicole gravitates toward the color yellow, like me.

Nicole thinks modern-looking cabins are dreamy.

In my brain, I collected these pieces of information into a bedazzled jar labeled “Nicole” and slid them underneath my bed until I needed them.

“Come visit!” Violet whispered. The camera blurred, and her wide green eyes filled the screen again, “I need a bestie’s day.”

“I’ll check my schedule,” Nicole trailed her fingertips along my thigh, out of sight from my phone’s camera. Goosebumps erupted on my exposed skin, and I suddenly had the urge to rip my athletic shorts off and ask Nicole to tease me with her fingertips everywhere.

I craved her physical touch more than anything.

Violet asked me a few more questions regarding her phone call with Gracie’s school district before we said goodbye.

Instead of inquiring about breakfast, Nicole snuggled into me some more. She adjusted her position so her back was mostly against my side, so she could mindlessly scroll on her phone with both hands.

I stared at her.

Casually lying on me like this.

It was a form of cuddling we’d engaged in more and more over the last few weeks.

Casual. Intimate. Safe.

Suddenly, the sound of Joshua Madey singing filled the quiet space. I thought it came from my phone, since sometimes he’ll break into song on a call. I was just starting to wonder how my phone answered his call without me noticing it, when I realized the song wasn’t coming from my phone at all.

It was coming from Nicole’s.

My body stiffened under hers.

Oh .

One look at her phone, gave me a clear visual of a video clip of Carbon Cut performing years ago.

It was a clip of Josh swallowing a bug at an outdoor event mid-song.

I’d seen it numerous times, because, after it happened, I shoved it in Josh’s face every time I could.

I constantly teased him about it. I would walk into the townhome without a word, just my phone out, showing him messing up his biggest hit mid-song by swallowing a bug and hacking up a lung in front of thousands.

I would randomly cast it on their TV mid-conversation.

I played it in front of him so often after it happened that baby Susie had learned how to fake cough to get a laugh out of the adults around her.

What was the point of being best friends with the most famous rock star in the world if I couldn’t give him shit when he messed up on stage?

Nicole glanced up at me with her dark eyes, smiling widely, before seeing my face. Something she saw made her smile dim.

“Sorry, sorry,” she turned the volume down on her phone, but let the video replay again.

Her body shook with a restrained giggle at Josh turning away from the audience and loudly smacking his chest. Garrett, the lead guitarist, pointed and laughed at Josh as the rest of the band paused the song to mock him.

“Are you a fan?” I asked, desperately trying to act casual about it.

A small voice in the back of my head was a little concerned.

Did Nicole want to just use me to get to my friend? It wouldn’t be the first time.

To be fair, it only happened one single time a few years ago, but still.

No , I scolded myself, Nicole likes me .

She’d been adamant about finding her own friends outside of dating me. She wouldn’t use me to get to Josh. Nicole was not that kind of person .

“Yeah, I like loud heavy music like this.” She giggled again as Tom, the bassist, calmly stepped forward to smack Josh on the back to help clear his airway, “I forget this guy’s name, but he’s lowkey my favorite. He seems like he’s tolerating the rest of the guys most of the time.”

I lifted an eyebrow.

She wasn’t wrong.

“I think his name is Tom,” I said.

Did she…not know I was friends with them?

“Tom!” She snapped her fingers, “Yes! I knew it was something basic like that. Anyway, did you know he and the drummer have been dating for years?”

I did know that.

Tom and Kyle were married as of last year.

Kyle dyed his hair purple for the occasion.

They both wore matching cream suits, and I might have shed a tear during Tom’s heartfelt vows.

“No way.” I grinned down at her, “That’s so cute.”

“I know. That’s actually how I discovered this band, I was watching the drummer and bassist do an interview together and—” Nicole turned to look up at me again under her lashes, “Sorry. I know the manly screaming music isn’t for everyone.”

“Their acoustic stuff is pretty good,” I shrugged under her.

“Oh, hard agree,” Nicole’s eyes brightened, “Wait, you listen to them, too?”

I stared at her for a moment, studying her face.

This entire conversation confused me.

Nicole met Josh.

At my rugby game all those weeks ago. Sure, he was wearing sunglasses and a baseball hat and a hoodie, specifically disguised to not be recognized by fans. But still. He had come to my games a few times before. I thought for sure word would get around about who he was.

I started mentally scanning conversations with everyone at rugby, realizing in that moment that— oh my god , I don’t think anyone had recognized Josh yet.

Maybe that’s why he kept bringing Susie.

His anonymity there was still alive and well.

“Taylor?” Nicole asked, adjusting so she could look at me more directly, “You okay?”

“Oh yeah,” I blinked back to the present, “I listen to them. My friend got me into their music.” Technically, Beck got all of us into their music.

Nicole’s smile widened, “Oh my god! No way!” She shifted so that she sat up off me.

I missed the feel of her warm body against mine, but watching her adjust her position so that she was on her knees next to me on the couch, excitement sparkling in her eyes, I decided to allow it.

“Apparently, they haven’t toured for a couple of years.

But there are rumors that they might tour again in a year or so—and I’ve never had anyone to go to those kinds of concerts with before—”

I cut her off by placing both of my hands on her cheeks, leaning in, and kissing her.

She kissed me back, both of her hands wrapping around my wrists as she let me interrupt her excitement by brushing my lips against hers. My tongue gently tasted her plump top lip, then I nipped at the bottom one, before I leaned back and looked her in the eye.

“I’d love to go with you to their concerts.”

Nicole likes Carbon Cut , so I added it to my mental Nicole jar.

Nicole’s smile widened, showing all of her teeth as she happily shimmied in her seat.

“I know it’s a little thing,” Nicole settled, scooting closer to me again so she could wrap her arms around my shoulders, “But this is cool for me. Dating someone with my same musical tastes…planning something like that with you so far in advance…”

“To be fair, I do prefer their acoustic stuff more than his screaming songs,” I brushed my nose against hers, “But I still appreciate the art. And,” I kissed her more intently, trying to force my seriousness from my lips to hers, before I pulled back and said, “I like that you’re planning things with me far in advance.

Because I want to plan things in advance with you, too. ”

Nicole gently brushed my hair off my forehead before pressing a soft peck to my nose.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

I lifted an eyebrow at her, “For what?”

She bit her bottom lip before smiling around it, “Just…not rolling your eyes. Or judging my interests. Making me feel safe enough to get excited about the things I like.”

I frowned at her, “Girl. You should not be thanking me for that. If your partner does that to you, dump their ass.”

“Well,” Nicole rolled her eyes before pulling away and standing up from the couch, “Thank you for showing me what the bare minimum behavior should be, then.”

I reached out to wrap my arms around her waist and pulled her down into my lap before she could step away.

“Thank you for telling me what you like,” I murmured against her neck, “You are so cool.”

Nicole giggled when I teased her neck with my tongue, “As long as you think I’m cool.”

“And hot as hell,” I spoke against her skin. I trailed my lips up her neck and nipped at her earlobe, “And fun.”

Nicole sighed into my embrace, “You’re fun, too. I have fun with you, no matter what we’re doing.”

“Good,” I scraped my teeth against the shell of her ear, before dramatically tipping the two of us over on the couch, “Now hold still while I have more fun with you.”

The morning shifted into laughter and moans and caresses and whispers of affection.

By the time my phone buzzed with incoming texts, an hour and a half had already passed.

I loved it.

I loved lazy mornings with Nicole.

I loved her .

Oddly enough, the thought wasn’t terrifying at all.

It felt like a breath of fresh air to admit it to myself.

But that didn’t negate the fact that this was the very first time in my adult life I had felt this way romantically toward anyone.

How did I go about proving to her that I was all in?

That, even though I had never felt the need to settle down with someone before, I was more than excited to do so now. It was a sudden shift, one I leaned into with open arms, because I knew myself well enough to know what I wanted.

What I wanted was Nicole.

Plain and simple.

I just really, really hoped she’d be open to hearing it soon.

Because I knew just how to prove it to her.