I kept quiet, my stare unfaltering.

“I don’t always want to throw you out a window anymore,” he tried again.

Why, thank you.

With a shrug, I started moving toward the kitchen door and got ready to call someone out but Maddox quickly came to cover my mouth with his hand and called out, “You’re presence doesn’t actually annoy me, okay? And that’s all you’re going to get. So can I please get my waffles?”

“No manhandling my boyfriend,or you’re not going to like what hole I shove those waffles through, Mad.”

In the hopes of not starting a bigger fight and because Maddox had actually saidplease, I gave them to him.

He quickly sat down next to Adam and started wolfing them down.

This whole thing still felt a little surreal, to be honest. It felt so domestic, sonatural, that sometimes I wanted to pinch myself just to check I wasn’t dreaming. My life still wasn’t perfect by any means—I still had grades I couldn’t help but worry about, a future I kept trying to plan down to the smallest detail, and troubled feelings about my own self-worth, but the latter had been getting a lot better as of late. Allowing myself not to stress about internships this year had been an incredible weight off my shoulders, and trying this thing calledlivinghad been a pretty enjoyable experiment.

And Henry? Now that he’d decided to pursue something that he actually liked, he looked a lot happier. Sometimes, we just lay in his bed, similar to how we used to lie down in the grass side by side, and he told me all about the things he was looking into. The possibilities for his future that excited him. The hopes and wishes he was allowing himself to have. And not only about his future—ourfuture. Our life. Our happiness.

And that, more than anything, made me feel like I was the luckiest guy in the world.

Sitting right next to Henry with my own plate, I said, “At this rate, you’ll be declaring your undying love for me in approximately two hundred years.”

Maddox scoffed, puncturing the poor waffles with his fork. “Unlikely. Love and I don’t like to share a room.”

That statement made Adam’s brows furrow, but the moment was quickly gone as Henry eyed his best friend. “Where are you going this early?”

Unlike the rest of us, he wasn’t wearing the clothes he’d slept in, not to mention his inky black hair was already perfectly styled.

“Got somewhere to be.”

“A date?” I asked and was responded with a swift glare.

“Not a date.”

“Can I come?” Adam asked all of a sudden.

Both Henry and I stopped eating at that. In fact, my boyfriend almost choked on his waffle, so I quickly handed him his coffee, making circular motions with my hand on his back as we eagerly waited for the Hellhound’s answer.

Eyes narrowed, he said, “You don’t even know where I’m going.”

Adam shrugged. “It’s probably in town, right? Just, you know. If you want to give me a ride.”

His apparent nonchalance was almost ruined by how he seemed to be hanging on to every word that came out of Maddox’s mouth.

My boyfriend eyed him closely. “Aren’t you going to go see your girlfriend this morning?”

That seemed to catch Adam off-guard. “I, uh…No. I’m not seeing her today.”

Hmm.

The discomfort was clear in the line of his shoulders, but he maintained eye contact with Maddox as the latter scrutinized him.

After several quiet beats, he said, “Be ready in ten minutes, or I’m leaving without you.”

Adam’s dimpled smile suddenly illuminated his face like someone had told him it was Christmas, nonchalance be damned.

Waffles gone, he got up. “I wasbornready,” he said.

Then he winked.