Page 12 of Reclaimed

"I guess there was an incident in the city earlier. Enforcers got into it with some people who were protesting or something."

"What's that have to do with the concert?"

"Dunno." I cross one metallic clad leg over the other and lean back. "He just said it wasn't safe."

"Laaaame," she sighs, flipping her blonde hair over her shoulder.

"Right?" I scoff. "I spent months sorting through junked parts at his garage to collect enough scrap metal and copper wire to buy this ticket. I'm not missing it."

I pull out my phone, and she leans her head on my shoulder as we scroll through social media, trading gossip the rest of the ride.

The concert is absolutely amazing. Retrograde plays every one of my favorites, and at the end, they play a song that hasn’t even been released yet.

"Jersey, wait up," Zeke says, jogging up beside me afterwards.

Hannah and I share a look as she slows, falling into stride with Cody behind us.

Butterflies swarm in my stomach and I have to bite my cheek to keep from smiling like an idiot as Zeke slings an arm around my shoulders.

"I had a lot of fun hanging out with you tonight," he says with a smile.

"Me too," I laugh nervously.

"There was this one thing you did though, that made me sad."

My feet grind to a stop as I stare up at him, dumbfounded.

He dips his head down and whispers, "You didn't take a single picture with me."

A blush heats my cheeks. "Oh."

"It's not too late," he muses.

"Oh, ha." I sink my teeth into my bottom lip, sliding my phone from my back pocket and waving it between us. "Wanna take a picture?"

"I thought you'd never ask," he winks.

Holding the phone up, I smile as the camera focuses. Right as I snap the picture, Zeke presses a kiss to my temple and I swear to god I forget how to breathe.

"I hope that was okay," he chuckles, rubbing the back of his neck. "I'd wanted to do that all night."

"Really?"

"Well, actually, I really wanted to do this…" He tips my chin up and crushes his lips against mine.

Air whooshes from my lungs and a flurry of chills races up my spine as I lean into the kiss. I'm so lost in the moment that I hardly even notice when Hannah and Cody start whooping behind us.

Zeke pulls back, shaking his head as he glares at Cody.

"We gotta go, dude," Cody says, hooking a thumb over his shoulder. "My brother's waiting."

"Alright," Zeke replies begrudgingly. With a grin, his attention shifts back to me, "Would you maybe wanna do something next week–"

"Yes," I rush out before he's even finished the sentence, mentally scolding myself for sounding so eager.

"Cool." He nods, the faintest bit of pink creeping over his cheeks. "I'll text you."

We say our goodbyes, Hannah and I rushing down to the subway platform as the boys dart across the street.