The echoes of kids screaming and laughing are no longer audible. The dogs don’t bark, announcements don’t happen, planes don’t take off or land.
Everything is as silent as it was last night when it was just Grey and me in my bed, cuddling.
I can smell him over the scent of coffee that lingers in the air, or the baked goods from the café just around the corner from us. All I can smell is the fresh note of his cologne, the equal parts of musk and something wooden, yet flowery. I never paid much attention to Grey’s smell, but I can now with one hundred percent certainty say that he is my favorite scent of all time.
I can taste him on my tongue, so much of him and a little bit like apple juice because he took a sip from mine just a few minutes prior. My two favorite tastes now mixed together equal heaven on earth.
Bunching his shirt up in my hands more than ever, I hold onto him tightly, not caring about the wrinkles I am causing. I don’t think he cares much about them either.
My heart is beating so rapidly inside my chest, I believe Grey can feel thethump-thumpright against his. It’s good if he can because then he knows what this kiss is doing to me.
Oh please don’t let him kiss me just because he wants to cheer me up, that’d be so cruel. It’s working, but at the same time I hate him a little for doing this to me.
Why couldn’t he have kissed me yesterday? At a time where we had enough time to make out a little, shared more than just one kiss before he has to leave me for months. We could’ve spent the whole evening kissing and cuddling, watching movies, and kissing some more. But no, he chosenowto kiss me. Now when I only have him for another minute.
When our lips part, Grey leans his forehead to mine, still keeping his eyes closed like he doesn’t quite want to come back to reality yet. But if there’s one thing I learned about fantasies, they always end eventually, and right now, I really hate that for us.
He’s breathing a little heavily, but so am I. We’re still trying to catch our breaths from a kiss so good, it almost makes me forget I ever kissed someone before him.
All I want to do is move in one more time, get one more taste of him just for the sake of it, but Grey then lifts his head from mine and looks past me for a second before his entire face pales. His eyes stay fixed on something or someone right behind me, but as I try to turn around to see what’s caught his attention, he slides his hands from the back of my head down to my jaw, keeping me from moving.
“Grey?” I say quietly, carefully. If there’s one thing I refuse to do, it’s scare him away.
His eyes snap to mine, his face immediately finding color again. “Yes?”
“Can you promise me not to disappear this time?” I ask, worried he’ll ghost me again. Worried that he’ll ignore me all over again.
Now that I know what his kisses taste like, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to not yearn for them. But if this kiss means losing him, then I’ll happily pretend it never happened.
“I’m not going anywhere this time, Luan. I promise.”
I nod, quickly, letting out a shaky breath. “So, you’re not going to freak out because you just kissed me, which then results in you ignoring me again? Because, Grey Davis, I can pretend this never happened for your sake, but please don’t ignore me again.”
He smiles, actually smiles. Soft and sweet, and so fucking beautifully. And then he leans down again, presses his lips to mine one more time like he’s telling me he, too, won’t be able to forget this happened. That he cannot and will not pretend he never kissed me.
“I’ll find a way to make this right,” Grey promises. What exactly, I don’t know, but I’ll trust his words.
After that, Grey sends another look over my shoulder, this time a heated one rather than something anxious. It’s not for very long, but it’s there.
“Does that mean I can flirt with you now?” I ask, smirking at him.
Grey furrows his eyebrows. “Then what the hell have you done the past year?”
“Kept flirting a little more… low-key.”
He tilts his head sideways, his dark eyes piercing holes into my soul. “Well, I guess flirting is allowed. But only to a certain degree as we’re not a couple, you still have to win me over, you know?”
Oh, the game’s on. If there’s something I’m good at, it’s flirting.
Okay, actually, I’m bad at it, but because I am a funny-bad, it’s good, you know? He’ll wish he never allowed me to flirt.
Grinning, I nod my head at him once. “You’re so going to regret this.”
He chuckles and then pulls me into a tight hug, kissing the top of my head. “I already do.”
???
“Are you sure you don’t want something, honey?” Ma asks, holding up an extra plate.