Page 78 of All Our Almosts

“I just mean, I’m the one who wanted to do this from the beginning. And it was a pretty hard road to get you here eight years later. And that’s fine,” I insist, leaning up on my forearm to look at him fully. “I wouldn’t have wanted you to do anything you didn’t want to do at the time. I just mean, you know, wanting to be with me now is good enough, even if it’s new.”

“Sophie. Just to anchor us in the reality of this situation. Are you talking about the night when you were browned out on absinthe, asked me to be your friend, told me you were a virgin, and then had to be physically carried home? That’s the night when you ‘wanted to do this’?”

“Well, when you put it like that…”

He laughs and kisses me softly. “I wanted you then too. I’ve never stopped.”

I roll onto him, straddling his torso and grabbing his face to pull him into a rougher kiss. He reciprocates enthusiastically, his hands traveling up my body, then back down to rest on my hips.

But then another thought bursts through my mind and I pull back. “Oh God. We’re going to have to tell Lia and Nolan. They’re gonna lose their minds.”

“They…” he hesitates before confessing “...may have been helping me out.”

“Helping you out?”

“Helping me with you. Helping me figure out how to tell you how I felt, these last couple weeks.”

“Oh yeah?” I say with a note of mischief. “And how do you feel?”

“Like I’m obsessed with you,” he says before rolling on top of me and attacking kisses down my face and neck. I erupt into laughter.

“I can’t believe they didn’t tell me. I’ve been freaking out for weeks thinking I was being a creep for checking you out and wanting to…” I trail off.

“Wanting to?”

“Well, do what we just did! I don’t know if I should be mad at them or impressed that they kept a secret for the first time in their lives.”

“Don’t be mad,” he says. “I was really losing it there, and they screwed my head back on. Especially Lia.”

“I still kind of want revenge.”

“What are you thinking?” he asks, curiosity piqued.

“What if instead of telling them about us the normal way, with words, we just send a picture of us right now with no explanation? And then refuse to answer them for like a full day?”

“You’re evil,” he laughs, pulling me back into another smiling kiss.

“Here, lie down next to me.”

He does as I ask, handing over his phone. I position my head so that it’s resting on his bare shoulder, with his arm holding me in place. I raise the phone up in front of us, take a picture, then flip it around so we can review our work. And it’s absolutely perfect.

I’m beaming up at the camera with a thousand-watt, over-satisfied smile. Andy is looking away from the camera, nose nuzzled against my hair, eyes closed, wearing an absolutely dopey grin. Only one of his dimples is visible from that angle, but everything about it screams two-dimple smile. And even though it only captured from our shoulders up, we are very clearly unclothed, together, in a bed.

I hit send and we burst into laughter.

“I think that was the single trolliest thing I’ve ever done in my life,” I say, tears streaking down my face.

“We’re going to regret that when they break down the door,” Andy says, pulling me tighter into his chest.

“Put your phone on silent. We’ll deal with them tomorrow. Tonight, I just want this.”

He agrees, flipping the phone to silent then kissing the top of my head. We curl into each other and gradually drift off to sleep.

24

I wake up slowly, floating back into consciousness. There’s a bright streak of sun across my face, and a warm chest pressed against my own. Even in sleep, our bodies demand to be intertwined. Andy’s arm is wrapped under my waist, holding me tight. The other cradles the back of my neck with the gentlest touch, letting my cheek rest on his chest. Our legs twist together like vines, trapping me exactly where I want to be.

It crosses my mind to check the time, but the moment I start to roll over Andy pulls me back with a low, “Mmm not yet.” I’m powerless to argue, nestling back into him and raising a hand to his jaw, feeling the slight prickles of morning stubble there for the first time.