Page 29 of This Changes Everything

Rory’s face was beet red. He dropped my arm, and it felt like the whole thing fell off my body.

“So . . . I need to ask.” I gathered every ounce of courage I had bottled up inside my body since birth. “Why does this song remind you of me? I’ve tried to figure it out, and I can’t.”

Rory pinched his lips and looked down. “Okay.” He lifted his coffee-colored eyes carefully, but didn’t land them fully on mine. He wiped his palms on his pants. “Do you remember the first time we met? We were at the driving range, and you almost killed me because you kept hitting the divider?”

“Please don’t remind me.”

“Well.” Rory smiled and raised his eyes a little more. He was almost there. We were almost connected. He shifted his body to face mine. “It was November, and it was raining, and I just . . .” He struggled to continue, and his eyes focused elsewhere. “Pretty much every Guns N’ Roses song makes me think about you now, which I know is weird, but my brothers know this, and they bug me about it.” Rory shifted his hand so it was closer to mine on the couch. I could feel the energy charging between us.

“Why do your brothers bug you about it?” I was going to barf.

“Come on, Cainey.” He exhaled a small laugh.

“It’s just . . . Rory.” I laughed and rubbed my palm over my eye. “Do you like me?” I blurted. “Because sometimes I think I know, but most of the time I don’t think I know anything about anything.”

“Cains.” I could hear the smile in Rory’s voice, but I couldn’t look.

“I genuinely have no idea. Like what’s . . . Like . . . What . . . Like. What?” I was flustered and forgot my purpose in life.

“Ellie.” Rory said my real name this time. “Look at me.”

I lifted my eyes. Rory’s smile sloped down, and his dimple deepened. His eyes pulled across my face until they landed on my mouth. Then, to both of our surprise, the music changed again. It flipped over to Radiohead, taking us out of the moment. Our eyes locked.

“Are you kidding me?” I was unable to hide my disappointment. “You’re finally—”

I couldn’t finish my thought because Rory’s lips crashed into mine. His kiss was firm, exquisite, and desperate. My mind went blank, and the only thing I could hear was my heartbeat pounding through my eardrums. Rory was kissing me. Rory was kissing me. Oh my god. Rory was kissing me. Everything inside me stopped, stunned, paralyzed, all of it, and all I could do was feel.

Rory parted my mouth with his tongue and rolled it into mine. We both lifted to our knees on the couch, and our bodies pressed into each other as if we had done exactly this in another life. I couldn’t control a small whimper slipping from the back of my throat. I had never made a sound like that before in my life, and he instinctively brought both hands to my cheeks as if he were trying to capture it and take it from me.

His hands shifted to the back of my head, his fingers digging into my hair and securing me in place. I moved my hands up his back and trailed them over his shoulder blades until they found their way to the back of his neck. I brushed my thumbs against his jaw, feeling his movements, memorizing his touch and face with my eyes closed. Rory pulled back to take a breath, and we both smiled.

“Oh my god, Rory,” I whispered.

He softly shushed me, peacefully and happily. His mouth reached for mine once more.

“Oh my god, it’s happening again,” I muttered, having entirely lost my mind.

Rory gently laughed, then murmured against my lips, “Kiss me, Ellie.”

Rory saying my real name did something to me that I couldn’t explain. It changed my brain chemistry. I pushed my hands into his curly hair, and our bodies shifted, fastening to each other. I kissed him slowly, deeply. I kissed him in a way I had never kissed anyone before. We took our time tasting each other. It was as if we were discovering who we really were for the very first time. His arms wrapped around my waist, pushing my shirt aside so his skin could feel mine. He enveloped me as if I were breakable yet he wanted to crush me.

The moment we parted, Rory dropped his forehead onto my shoulder. He collapsed into our embrace, and my face pressed into his hair. He smelled like shampoo and freshly cut grass.

“I have wanted to do that for so long,” I whispered. I didn’t know my insides could smile, but they were.

Rory turned his head into me. Our hug tightened. He lightly kissed my neck, then skimmed his lips along my skin to beneath my jaw and my cheek. He looked at me, searching my eyes and finding my heart. “Ellie . . . This is . . .” He shook his head, unable to process what was happening.

“I know.”

We both silently laughed as our lips found each other again.

“Do you have anything to eat, Cains?” Cameron’s voice appeared before his body as he walked down the hallway toward the living room. Rory and I threw ourselves off each other and ended up at either end of the couch. Rory grabbed a decorative pillow and slammed it down over his lap.

“Umm, yup. Pizza in the fridge.” My voice was hurried. Rory slapped his hand over his mouth and snorted, trying to stop himself from laughing.

“Anything to drink?” Cameron asked as he turned the corner.

“Just look, dummy.” Kara followed closely behind Cameron. They both pillaged the fridge. “You guys want anything to eat?”