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“You didn’t,” I assure them. “Really. This was amazing. Way more fun than sitting around alone. Thank you for letting me show you around.”
His parents smile warmly. I look cautiously to Diego, wondering if I’ll find anger there. Fear, perhaps. But he’s watching me with something else entirely, a warmth that sinks through me like hot cocoa on a snowy day.
“I’ll … see you in class, Diego,” I say.
He very nearly smiles, and that hot cocoa feeling seeps all the way down to my toes.
“Yeah,” he says. “I’ll see you then.”
I make my escape, heart skipping as I slip into the traffic cluttering the halls.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Diego
I WANT TO see you tonight.
My hands trembled as I typed out that text. It’s the first time I’ve been the one to reach out, the first time I’ve asked for this instead of being swept along by Avery. Seeing them with my family wiped out all my reasonable arguments against seeing them again. I woke up at their house today, and here I am going right back over late at night, after a café shift has ended and all the customers and servers have left.
Avery is on the couch in the living room when I arrive. They’re wearing the slacks and vest and tie that they don for the café. Their hair is even more sleek and straight than usual, and a bit of makeup highlights their eyes and glimmers on their lips.
I see why they get so many customers at that café of theirs. I hear there are other servers working there, but I can’t imagine why people would choose anyone but Avery.
“Hey,” Avery says, turning on the couch and smiling at me. “I didn’t have time to change. Wanna watch a movie? Sometimes I unwind from the café this way.”
I toe off my shoes and join them on the couch, cozying up close under a blanket that Avery spreads over our laps. I wrap a hand around their waist, indulging in kissing the side of their head as I settle in.
“You don’t need to change,” I say. “You look great.”
Avery chuckles. “It’s a little formal for movie night on the couch.”
“I like it, but if you want to get comfortable, don’t let me stop you.”
Avery smiles, self-satisfied, basking in my compliment, and it makes me want to describe every single thing I like about them just to drink in that expression for longer. They take off their vest and tie, tossing them on the table, then resume the movie they had on. I leave my arm around them as a couple actors I vaguely know of steal paintings in an elaborate heist in the rainforest, but I have to admit I’m not paying much attention. I’m more focused on burying my nose in Avery’s hair and soaking up the echoes of every quiet chuckle that rings through them.
And if the night were to end here, I can’t say I’d mind. It’s a bit startling to realize that. A bit scary, too. This isn’tpurely physical. That’s no shock; I’ve always been attracted to Avery’s intelligence. But this goes beyond that. We aren’t even talking. We’re simplyexistingin each other’s presence, silently watching a movie, holding each other on the couch. And it’s giving me the same sensation that seeped through me as I watched them charm my parents this afternoon, a feeling of warmth and security andhomethat I haven’t felt since I’ve come to Montridge.
Avery shifts closer as the movie nears its climax. Their hand has rested on my thigh through most of it, but now that hand is moving, trailing slowly up and down, getting dangerously close to my groin.
“Good movie,” Avery says.
“Mhm.”
Avery chuckles. “It wasn’t. It was terrible.” The blanket falls to the floor as they shift, throwing a leg over my thighs to sit in my lap. “But you weren’t paying much attention, were you?”
A wicked smile curls their lips. I reply by kissing the expression, my hands going to their waist to pull them toward me. Avery tangles their fingers in my messy hair and kisses me back, rocking in my lap and groaning as our tongues tangle. I let my hands trail downward, along the slope of Avery’s back and over the hump of their ass. They push back into my palms, giving me a good feel of that firm ass and tugging on my hair. When I squeeze, they groan into my mouth, and there’s no more hope ofmy having a coherent thought for the rest of the night.
Avery pulls away, cradling my head in their hands, lips bright and blushing. “I’m so glad you asked to come over here tonight,” they say. “I was kind of surprised. But in a good way, of course.”
I swallow, trying not to wince. It’s hard staring at the results of my own flaws. My fear, my cowardice, has left Avery afraid to ask for what they want, afraid to reach out, afraid to want me. It’s like a dagger in my chest, the knowledge that I’ve dimmed their brilliance in this way. They’ve been nothing but themself this entire time, and meanwhile I’ve hidden and cowered, always thinking first of protecting myself, always scared.
“I’m glad I asked too,” I say.
I slide my hands up their back and draw them in for a softer kiss, trying to reassure them. They sigh against my mouth, nearly melting against my lips, and God, I want to give them everything. Everything they want, everything they need, everything they’re hoping I can be for them. But I simply don’t know if I have those things to give, and if I’m wrong, won’t I hurt them more? What if I were to give them what they want only to decide I need to go home? The soft, yielding, trusting lips against mine deserve better than that.
They’re squirming in my lap, unable to keep still. Occasionally, their wriggling brushes over my crotch, and that light touch stirs my blood. I can’t help rememberingwhat they did to me last night, all those barely-there touches that tormented me until I was all but begging them for relief.
They pull away, and I can see some deviousness glinting in their light eyes.
