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I forced a chuckle. “It would’ve been awfully embarrassing to get our asses kicked by an angry mob of magicians.”
“They would’ve held us down and pulled coins out of our ears until we screamed for mercy.”
“They’d find our bodies strangled with never-ending strands of handkerchiefs.”
We laughed, but it was a nervous laugh from two people who were avoiding a topic. We’d been staring straight ahead while talking, so when Nadia turned to face me it was extra intense.
“Dorian…”
Suddenly I was terrified of having this discussion. No matter how good she had felt in the moment, I wanted to go back to the safety of our budding friendship. I couldn’t risk ruining the whole arrangement the four of us had with Nadia. I wouldn’t make that mistake.
“It was just the heat of the moment,” I blurted out, cutting her off. “Nothing to it. We were both just overly excited to not get our asses kicked by magicians.”
Her eyes were round and beautiful as she blinked at me. I wished I knew what was going on behind them. The thoughts swirling within.
“The heat of the moment,” she finally said. “Alright.”
The train rumbled on.
“We might want to kill some time before getting our pay,” I said. “If we return too quickly they’ll get suspicious.”
Nadia abruptly jumped out of her seat. “I think, um, that I might maybe go to Central Park early to meet Andy.”
My heart sank. “Yeah, good idea.”
“Can you collect my pay?”
“They might not let me,” I said.
The train was screeching to a stop. Nadia looked at the door. “That’s alright. If they do, then great, but it’s not the end of the world if they don’t.”
“Not the end of the world,” I repeated.
And just like that, she was gone.
34
Nadia
I needed the money from the temp agency, but it was more important in that exact moment to get away from the crippling awkwardness with Dorian. I exited the train even though I was a station too early and followed the crowd of New Yorkers up into the city, where the sun was shining nicely.
The kiss with Dorian was incredible. The kind of kiss that totally rewrites the way you see someone. One moment we were friends, and the next moment there was something deeper there. Something that had been lurking all along, waiting to manifest at the right moment.
And now I couldn’t stop thinking about the way his lips felt.
The heat of the moment, that’s what he’d called it. Like the freaking Asia song. He thought it was a mistake. Something that shouldn’t have happened, and should not happen again.
It was the opposite of what I was going to say to him. I wanted to tell him that it felt incredible, and that I didn’t care about their original proposition set-up. I liked Dorian, both as a friend and more than a friend. We had a kind of natural chemistry that developed without any expectations. I wanted to follow those feelings wherever they led.
But clearly, he didn’t.
So why did the kiss happen?
As I walked toward Central Park, I replayed the kiss in my head. I didn’t know who had kissed first. We’d been huddled together in the booth, excited and scared. And then it just sort of happened.
Was it just the circumstances of the moment? Or was it more?
When I reached the park, I turned north. I had a while to walk before I reached the meeting place with Andy, which was perfect since I had so much extra time. It would have been a chilly day but the shining sun on my cheeks warmed me up just enough to be pleasant.
