Page 107 of Make Me Want it Too

She doesn’t deserve that. I was in a beautiful, delusional bubble all week thinking that we could start something real. But she just got out of a long relationship. She needs time. And space.

I don’t want her to think of me as just a rebound.

So, I let her go.

I shut the door and when I turn around, Noah is standing in the living room, arms crossed. “What the fuck are you doing? You need to go after her.”

I slump down on the couch and hold my head in my hands. “Nah, man. It’s not like that.”

“I know exactly what it’s like. I also know the way she looked at you the last few days. It was a way she’d never looked at you before. She never even looked at Spencer like that. You can’t fake that.”

“Turns out, you can.”

“Bullshit. Were you two fucking?”

I nod.

“Was it good?”

“It was the best I’ve ever experienced in my life.”

Noah widens his stance. “Maybe it started out fake, but it sounds pretty real to me.”

“Even if she did like me like that, I’m not the guy she spends the rest of her life with. I’m not the guy she takes home to her mom. Or the one she marries. I’m the fling. I’m the rebound. The good time, but also, the short time.”

Noah snorts. “No, I’m the one she doesn’t take home to mom. Livvy’s mom thinks I’m the anti-Christ. You are exactly that guy. How can you not see that?”

I chew the inside of my cheek as I chew his words over.

“Did you tell her how you feel about her?” he asks.

“No.”

His biceps flex across his chest. He gives me a stern look and waits.

Fuck! “I’ve got to go talk to her.”

Noah throws up his arms. “Fucking finally.”

I shoot up and run out the door, blood coursing through my veins like a freight train. Heart thudding against my chest. Palms sweaty.

I hit the down elevator button.

My hand is shaking.

I wait for it to come, watching the light flash as I hop back and forth between my feet. Up and up. Slowly. Closer and closer.

What am I going to say to her? I have no idea. But I just need to get to her.

Finally, the elevator reaches the top floor and chimes as it stops.

The doors slide open with a whoosh and I’m about to leap inside when, standing there, in the middle of the elevator, is Macy. Bags in both hands, eyes welled up with tears.

She sort of shakes her head and shrugs, like she doesn’t know why she’s here, either.

My chest inflates like I can finally breathe again.

Heart still racing, I rush into the elevator, hands on both sides of her face, and kiss her hard on the mouth.