Page 5 of A Sky Full Of Stars

His eyes flash to mine and he grimaces. “God, sorry,” he says before spinning around and grabbing the door handle. “I’ll leave.”

“Wait!” I call out, without giving it any thought as I lean over to switch on my lamp. “Are you okay?” I repeat, wanting to keep him here for a little while longer, but also genuinely worried. I’ve seen Thomas many times—he’s always the life of the party— and this doesn’t seem like him.

“Yeah, yeah. All good,” he says, huffing out a nervous laugh as he peers over his shoulder. “I just needed a minute,” he adds, his deep voice making me shiver.

“So you decided to do it in my room,” I joke, hoping to bring out his always stunning smile.

And it works.

Thomas smiles shyly as he runs a hand through his messy, brown hair before gripping the back of his neck. “I didn’t realize it was your room at the time. I assumed it was Luke’s with the signs on the door.” He softly groans as his hand drops, and I can’t help but laugh.

Damn, Luke. I told him not to do that. Although, maybe I should be thanking him.

“It’s fine,” I say casually, but it’s more than fine; it’s a pleasure. “I get it. We all need a time-out every now and then, and there aren’t many places to hide that aren’t off-limits.”

“Including here. This room is probably the most off-limits room of the house. If I remember correctly, Luke has a general rule about this room—something along the lines of, ‘you enter, you die.’”

“I’d be willing to bet those were hisexactwords.”

“Probably,” he agrees. “I never really paid attention.” He shrugs before sucking his bottom lip into his mouth, the movement drawing my gaze.

“Guess that means you’re not afraid of my big bro?” My voice comes out quieter than it should to overcome the music, but he hears me all the same.

“Nah, he’s little to me.”

God, if that doesn’t highlight our difference in age, I don’t know what will.

“Either way, I should go.” He turns to leave, but I can’t let him. This might be my one chance to talk to him.

“Wait. It’s okay. You can stay. I won’t tell if you don’t.”

“Hell no!” He staggers. “I’m not risking Luke coming to find me.”

I burst out laughing, bringing another beautiful smile to my intruder’s face. “I thought you weren’t scared of him?” I joke but his face falls.

“What can I say? I need my friends.”

“Are you a good friend of his?” I feign ignorance, loving the way Thomas’s brows furrow before his lips pull into a smirk.

“Are you messing with me, Lainey?”

Lainey. He called me Lainey.

“No,” I say, the smallest smile on my face. “What do you mean?”

“I’ve known your brother for years… I think I was around fourteen when I first saw you.”

My smile fades as my heart beats erratically in my chest.He remembers that?

I can still picture it vividly. I was hanging upside down from the huge tree in our old yard when Luke and his friends came over to play football…and that’s when I saw Thomas. Luke had recently started high school football and made new friends—Thomas being one of them. It was his cute floppy hair and boyish smile that got me.

Luke being Luke, he didn’t bother to introduce us, but Thomas waved before hitting me with the most beautiful smile I think I’d ever seen, and when I waved back, still upside down, he laughed.

You could say I’ve held on to that little moment.

“It doesn’t ring a bell,” I lie, making Thomas chuckle, just like he did back then. Meanwhile, I’m struggling to keep myself grounded as my soul floats on cloud nine.

“Whether we know each other or not, I’m a good listener,” I say like it’s no big deal, when in reality I’d love for him to stay and talk with me for hours. About anything. Everything.

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