Page 221 of Collided

I gulp. “I thought I should give my eyes some rest, you know.”

You make me nervous with those beautiful blue eyes of yours.

Really. Why are they so pretty?

“By staring at my fucking chest?” I can hear the confusion in his tone.

“It’s nice.”

“And my eyes aren’t?”

That makes me look at him and I’m bewitched by his stare. He looks at me as if he’ll never get tired of the view.

My stomach fills with butterflies.

“No. Your eyes…they’re beautiful. Really beautiful.”

A muscle jumps in his jaw. “I’m going to kiss you.”

I startle. “W-what?”

He frowns hard as he moves closer to me. “Is there something fucking wrong?”

My gaze runs across the room and catches the stares of so many people who are looking at us, observing us, and talking about us. My social anxiety kicks in hard, and my nerves quiver.

His hand cups my chin and draws my face toward his. “What’s wrong?”

My lips tremble. I’m on edge from all the attention that I don’t want.

“Can we do it when it’s just the two of us?”

“Is someone making you nervous? Tell me their name—”

I grab his hand and shake my head. “No. It’s no one,” I assure him. “I’m just nervous here with so many people watching us.”

Understanding dawns on him and he pulls my face closer to his. Bending his head down, he whispers against my cheek, “I’m taking you to my secret spot after school.” Then kisses my cheek.

When he moves back, the butterflies in my stomach are soaring.

Marie squeals and pulls my attention.

“He kissed her,” she tells Sebastian who’s giving Heath an amused look.

“I saw that, babe.”

“That was so cute.”

“Indeed.”

Heath scoffs. “Don’t you two have other things to do besides watching us?”

Marie scrolls through her phone and shows us the screen. “I took a picture of you two.” She captured a moment where we were lost in each other’s eyes as Heath held my chin up.

Heath pulls out his phone. “Airdrop it to me right now.”

A few seconds later, he has the picture on his phone and we both stare at it. Then, he sets the picture as his wallpaper and my heart claws my chest open to come outside.

Switching off his phone, he turns it back on and we both see the picture that’s on his lock screen and home screen.