Page 94 of One Night

"How's the family?" Dylan asks as I put my phone away.

"Good, although there was some drama at the dinner table. Apparently my dad doesn't like Lark, my sister's boyfriend."

"His name is Lark? Like the bird?"

"So it IS a bird. I knew it sounded like a bird but I wasn't sure if it was."

"Why doesn't your dad like him?"

"Because he touched my sister."

"Touched her how?" he asks cautiously.

"He put his arm around her so he basically touched her shoulders." I roll my eyes. "My dad yelled at him and told him to leave."

"Shit, that's harsh. Now I'm worried about meeting him."

"You probably won't meet him. I always go home. They don't come here."

"You don't think I'll ever meet him?"

What is he implying? That we'll be together in the future? I'd like for that to be true but I'm not sure I believe it. It's too soon to say. I still don't trust this will last. It started with a one-night stand. How many relationships start that way and end with the couple being together? None that I know of.

"Amber?" he says since I didn't answer him.

"Yeah. I don't know if you'll meet them. They probably won't come here until I graduate."

"Which you plan to do next summer. Are you saying we won't be together then?"

"Dylan, we've only dated for a couple weeks. It's too early to say what will happen. You graduate in May and may end up leaving Chicago for a job."

"Maybe I wouldn't take it. Not if it meant the end for us."

I look at him. He's totally serious. He really thinks we'll be together. But how could he think that? We're both graduating this year. Our futures are uncertain and could take us anywhere in the country.

"Dylan, you don't mean that. You know if you got the right job, you'd have to take it, wherever it is."

He just nods, and then gets quiet for the remaining few minutes it takes to get back to my apartment.

When we reach my door, he pulls me in for a kiss. A slow, deep kiss, his arm wrapped around me, keeping me close, his hand cupping the back of my head. It has my mind swimming with thoughts of doing more with him, repeating what we did last May. That was so great that I don't think we could replicate it, but with our intense chemistry, I bet we could come close.

"We're still in public," he says, smiling as he lets me go. "I might have to bring you out here every ten minutes just so we can do this."

I laugh. "We won't watch much TV if we do that." I open my door and we go inside. He helps me with my coat, then takes off his own while I go turn some lights on.

"You want something to drink?" I ask, going in the kitchen.

"Maybe a pop if you got it."

I grab a can for each of us and meet him on the couch. "Anything special you want to watch?" I take the remote from the coffee table and turn on the TV.

"You can pick. As long as it's not that home channel. My mom is obsessed with that channel. It was always on at our house growing up. Now I can't even watch it."

"But those shows are so good. Like the one where people search for houses. Or that one where they do room makeovers."

He lifts his brow. "Are you serious? You really want to watch that?"

He sounds so disappointed I have to laugh. "No. I'm not a big fan of that channel either. Those shows bore me, maybe because I don't own a house. Maybe when I'm older I'll find them interesting."

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