I fit so perfectly with another person.
Finally.
After years of thinking it wasn’t possible for me.
But it’shim, it’s Sevan goddamn Berlant, standing right there in front of me and starting to make me smile too because when he looks that way it’s too contagious.
“You’re…” I say, trailing off.
He touches the lower part of my cheek, his gaze following his hand. “I love your dimples.”
I’m still trying to catch my breath, and I pull in a lungful of steamy air. “They’ve been there since I was a kid.”
“Never even knew you had them until we started hanging out more.”
“Liar. You knew me before.”
“Yeah, but you used to just scowl so much when you saw me.”
“I don’t scowl.”
“You scowl, babe.”
I glare at him for a moment but then I can’t help myself from smiling again, so I try to hide it by crushing my mouth against his in a kiss.
He laughs softly as I move, pinning him to the shower wall, squeezing his hips as I kiss him over and over again.
Reality is there, somewhere, dim in the background of my mind:I’m not going to have this forever.
I’d be crazy to think I would.
But if I think about that too hard I’ll collapse. For now, I’m taking everything I can get. Staying in a fantasy for as long as I can until reality shatters back into my world.
I’m zoning out,staring at his tattoos while we’re drying off, when he finally talks again.
“Any specific plans for the alumni dinner next week?” he asks. “Execs you want to talk to, internships you’re gunning for?”
The truth is I’ve barely thought about it at all.
I work up some semblance of an answer for him, though.
“Uh, there’s one guy, Nevinson. He seems like the exact opposite of my father, so that’s good enough for me when it comes to schmoozing with a CEO.”
I don’t mention that it doesn’t matter what I want.
I’m not getting any internship, and I’m hoping that every single one goes to Daggers and Luros members this year.
Sev glances up at me in the mirror, leaning over the countertop for a moment. “Niko told me your dad was awful to you and Hunter.”
I look down, adjusting the towel wrapped around my waist. “He wasn’t exactly a Mr. Rogers type of dad, no.”
I don’t know how much Niko told him, but judging by the serious look on Sev’s face, he probably knows the worst of it.
The air in the room suddenly seems to shift.
Like we’re no longer in our own bubble anymore, and my real life is making its way back in, uninvited.
“I got bullied really badly in early elementary school, too,” he says, applying lotion to his arms in a way that only highlights his muscles.