Page 80 of Love and Other Goals

Resting his forehead against mine, he whispers back, “Thank you.”

He leans back into our kiss, the gentleness gone as my fingers latch on to his neck and his hands find my waist, pulling me closer to him. I lose myself in his soft lips, his strong fingers against my back, his cinnamint toothpaste taste on my tongue.

My elbow bangs against the piano keys, the sound jarring us apart from each other. I take a deep breath as Mateo runs his hand through his hair, tousling it out of place. Sighing, I reach up to tame it back down and tell him it’s time for phase two of our date.

“That’s probably good, because phase one is about to get me in trouble. Your lips are off-limits for the rest of the day,” he responds with a wry grin, making me blush. His teasing smile spreads across his face as he lightly pinches the blush on my cheeks.

After returning the key, I send a secret text message and drive us to Center Square to find a parking spot. I lead Mateo into Bookafe, where we skip the line and walk back to our table, where a cortado, a flat white, and a giant snickerdoodle cookie are waiting along with a “Reserved” sign.

“Ta da!” I gesture with jazz hands. Mateo smiles as he holds the chair out for me.

“No orange chocolate chip muffin?” he asks.

I shake my head as he sits down. “Nope. Snickerdoodles are your favorite here. You’re not the only one who can pay attention.”

Mateo looks at me with gratitude, passion, tenderness, and intensity all rolled into one expression, as only he can do. He tucks my hair behind my ear as he tells me, “I’m starting to regret my decision to place your lips off-limits now.”

I lean forward to give him a lingering kiss on the cheek. “You never said anything about your cheek,” I tease.

We spend the next two hours talking about anything and everything, catching each other up on our families and classes, sharing funny stories about kids from The Hangout, and resisting the urge to kiss each other every minute. He fills me in on Isabel’s night class adventures, and I tell him all about the Esports group Dean is getting going at school.

When it’s time for me to head home for chapter, Mateo demands my keys. “I’m gonna need you to let me drive so that I can hold your hand as long as possible,” he winks at me.

I walk him up to the door of his house, like the proper ending to a date, and he reaches inside to pull out a gift. “I know I told you that you could plan our date today, but there’s no way I wasn’t getting you a present,” he tells me.

Unwrapping the paper, our smiles stare back at me, the photo we took together by Hart Lake printed onto wood. “I love it,” I whisper, looking up at Mateo.

“Just making sure you’ll never forget our first kiss,” he replies with a lopsided smile, dimple daring me to reach up and touch his cheek. I can’t resist.

“Like I could ever forget. Think we could temporarily get rid of that off-limits rule?” I ask.

Mateo slowly exhales as his eyes dip to my lips. “Ten seconds probably wouldn’t hurt.” His mouth follows his eyes, catching my lips in the perfect goodbye kiss. I giggle against his lips when my peripheral vision registers him ticking off the seconds on his fingers. At the count of ten, he reluctantly breaks off.

“Happy Valentine’s Day, Lana.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

The rest of February flies by. I try to intentionally make more effort to stay present with not only Mateo, but also Teegan and Amaya. It’s a challenging tension of wanting to stay focused on my goals while also recognizing that the end of my time at Townsend is rapidly approaching. This sweet season of life will soon be coming to a close, which I avoid thinking about as much as possible.

The week before spring break arrives, and students are split between working extra hard to stay focused and slacking off entirely. I’m clearly one of the former, but Aaron leans more toward the latter, making side comments under his breath in our Human Communications class that I can’t help but laugh at.

When Aaron calls me Tuesday afternoon, I assume he has a question about our upcoming quiz on Friday, so I answer as I’m walking out of the library.

“Hey Aaron, what’s up?” I ask.

“Lana, hi. Um, are you done with class for the day?”

“Yep, I’m just leaving the library to head back to AOPi.”

“So, there’s something that I wanted to talk to you about. Before you head home, could I come meet you, maybe in the outdoor plaza by the library? It will only take me a few minutes to get there.” Aaron says.

I hesitate, trying to decide whether to agree. If this was just a question about class, he’d ask over the phone. I have a flashback to the last time Aaron cornered me in the alley at the fall festival, and break out in a cold sweat.

“Lana, please, I only need a few minutes. There’s just…something I think you should know about.”

I agree and hang up the phone. Sitting down on a bench, I hold my backpack on my lap like makeshift armor. My fingers start tapping melodies on the bench next to me as I wait.

Aaron arrives and takes a seat next to me. I cut to the chase. “Alright, tell me what this is about.”

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