“Do what?”
“This. Whatever this is. I’m not good at it.”
Jason’s laugh was soft, disbelieving. “You think I am?”
I looked up. He was closer now. I hadn’t noticed him move.
“You make me nervous,” I admitted, and it felt like the most dangerous thing I’d ever said.
His eyes went soft. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“Good,” he said. “That’s good. I make you nervous. You make me stupid. We’re even.”
My chest felt too tight to breathe. I could see the faint sheen of sweat still clinging to his collarbone, the way his pulse jumped in his neck.
“I don’t want to mess this up,” I said.
“You won’t.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I don’t care,” Jason said. His voice had dropped lower, rough at the edges. “I’d rather you mess it up than not try at all.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. I didn’t know how to tell him that I’d spent the last two days trying to convince myself I didn’t want this, that I’d failed completely, that the thought of him regretting it again was worse than not having it at all.
So I didn’t say anything.
I stepped forward instead.
Jason’s breath caught. He didn’t move. He didn’t reach for me. He just stood there, letting me close the distance at my own speed.
When I stopped, we were close enough that I could feel the warmth coming off his skin. Close enough that I had to tilt my head slightly to meet his eyes.
“I like you, too,” I said. The words felt clumsy, too small for what they were supposed to hold. “In case that wasn’t obvious.”
His mouth twitched. “It wasn’t.”
“Well, now you know.”
“Now I know,” he echoed, and his voice had gone soft again.
We stood there, breathing the same air, not touching but close enough that it didn’t matter.
Jason leaned in slowly enough that I could have stopped it if I wanted to. I didn’t.
His mouth met mine, tentative at first, then firmer when I didn’t pull away. His hand came up to my jaw, thumb brushing along my cheekbone. The kiss deepened, his lips parting slightly, and I felt the careful control in the way he held himself back, like he was afraid of breaking something fragile.
I kissed him harder.
A door banged open. Footsteps echoed against tile, water dripping, someone humming off-key.
We jerked apart.
Jason’s hand dropped. I stumbled back half a step, heart hammering so hard I could hear it in my ears.
A guy rounded the corner from the showers, towel around his waist, hair dripping. He glanced at us, nodded vaguely, and headed toward his locker on the far end.