Page 19 of You + Me – Against the World

“Vadim?”

“Hmm?”

“No, forget it.”

“No, tell me.”

“This night is going to have to end, huh?”

“I think it’s already morning. Come on, let’s see,” he murmurs, standing up and keeping my hand in his.

We slowly approach the window overlooking the street, each of us drawing back a section of the closed curtains. The day is only just breaking, and the streetlights are still on. The yellow light makes us squint. In a single motion, we let the curtains fall back, plunging ourselves once again into comforting darkness.

“We could pretend it’s still night,” he whispers, tightening his fingers around my hand.

“We could pretend I’m not Alma Lancaster and you’re not Vadim Arcadi.”

“What would that change?”

“I wouldn’t be as shy, you wouldn’t have so much pride, and… I don’t know.”

“Yes, you do.”

“Maybe one of us would make the first move.”

“I was the one who made it the first time, remember?”

“Abrams forced you to!” I smile and lower my eyes.

“I don’t want you to feel obligated, or to be anyone other than Alma.”

He breathes these words, and they hit me so hard that my stomach tightens into a knot. He gazes at me like no one else ever has. And I finally dare to express what I feel, deep inside.

“I don’t want anyone else but you, Vadim.”

Without wasting another second, I push myself up on my tiptoes, driven by some supernatural force, and press my lips to his. My eyes close as Vadim brings his hand to my cheek and parts his lips to kiss me like no one else ever has before. His tongue brushes against mine, intertwining with it, almost in slow motion. I slide my fingers into his silky hair, while he presses his body against mine and cups my face with both hands. Our mouths part, only to find each other again, as if magnetized, as though our lips were made for each another. The ground starts spinning beneath my feet, and I realize I’m losing my mind. Time seems to have finally stopped. The kiss lasts an eternity—the sweetest, the wildest, the deepest of kisses.

Please, let this night never end.

I would rather die than stop kissing him.

8

I leave Vadim’s apartment in the early morning, eventually managing to tear myself from his arms. I could have stayed there my whole life, but the sun was rising, and real life returning in the form of a new day.

I’ve never felt anything like this. The way we became one, floating together on a kind of cloud—or rather, a whirlwind. That deep kiss, that powerful desire… And this bubble so fragile it could have burst at any moment. This guy is a magnet. A ticking time bomb. He made me lose my mind, my control, all my bearings in the space of those few stolen hours.

And more than anything, he made me take the first step: I, Alma, kissed Vadim Arcadi.

Practically dancing down the street, I stop by Clémentine’s place before classes start. I remember to call my parents, then take a shower, steal some clothes from my partner in crime, and tell her all about the surreal night I just spent. I feel the urge to scream it out with her while we jump on her bed.

Is what happened too good to be true…? Did I dream it?

Strangely, in the harsh light of day, in my best friend’s poky little dorm room, my euphoria deflates like a soufflé. An uneasy sensation washes over me. My words aren’t enough to describe what happened, how I felt, and Clémentine’s open-mouthed reaction says it all.

I had almost forgotten that I had a boyfriend.

It’s not that I wanted to cheat on Tim. I just didn’t even think about him. The idea of me being that kind of girl suddenly makes me panic. I don’t know this Alma who kisses another boy, who stays up until dawn, who lies to her parents about where she’s spending the night. Thoughts race through my head. My ears start to ring, and my legs shake.