Page 202 of Finding Delaware

A tingling warmth blooms inside my stomach, spreading to my scalp and the tips of my toes, rendering me awestruck and speechless. I search his face, completely at a loss for words. His eyes soften as he takes out one of the boutonnieres to pin it on my jacket, making me tense when the material of the dress shirt scrapes over the sore spot on my left pec.

“Now you put this one on me,” he says, grabbing my hand to set the box in my palm. I oblige, sticking it to his lapel before running my hands down his chest and wrapping my arms around him, loving the feel of this man against me after four long days.

“You did this for me?” My voice is hoarse, nearly silent under the music, but Taylor hears me just fine. He nods, lickinghis lips, which I capture with my own, greedily licking into his mouth. After a few heated moments of sucking on each other’s tongues and pulling hair, he breaks away breathlessly, lips red and swollen from my teeth.

“We can revisit this later,” he groans, grinding against me, “I have plans.”

I nuzzle into his neck, kissing along the dragonfly tattoo covering his Adam’s apple. “Four days, baby. I’ve been without you for four days. I need you.”

God, I need him so bad. Need to be inside him, filling him up, claiming him.

A raspy chuckle vibrates against my lips on his throat. “We’ll have plenty of time for that, trust me. But right now, I want to dance with you.”

Reluctantly, I pull away and let him drag me by my hand through the sea of balloons swirling around our feet. A few of the words on some of them catch my eye, and I choke out a laugh.

“‘Just Divorced’? ‘Aging Like Fine Wine’?”

Taylor kicks at a balloon that says‘Best Bitches'with a smirk. “The party supply store didn’t have a lot in stock. We grabbed what we could last minute.”

“We?” I come to a halt, tugging him around to face me. “Who’s we? Is this why my dad wasn’t home? Why you were gone all weekend?”

“Huckslee,” he whines, sighing in exasperation. “Would you just let me surprise you without trying to ruin it?”

I lift a brow at him. “No.”

With a light scoff, he turns away. “Come on. I’ll explain while we dance.”

I let him continue to pull me through the gym, expecting us to stop in the middle of the room. But when he changes direction and leads me to the stage in the corner, my feet slowly come to a standstill. Ghosts of memories replay in my head, my heartbeat kicking up to flood my ears as feelings of shame and fear squeeze my throat. When Taylor turns around, though, and looks at me with those eyes glittering like the ocean under a summer sun, all my thoughts cease.

It’s just him and me, surrounded by soft lights, speakers softly playing 'i apologise if you feel something' by Bring Me The Horizon. His hand is warm in mine, thumb sliding over my knuckles in a calming caress, the familiar scent of his shampoo like a blanket over all my doubts.

“Do you trust me?” His gaze is intense, imploring, digging underneath the surface, and I don’t even need to think about my answer.

I don’t hesitate. Don’t think twice.

“With my whole heart.”

And I do. Unflinchingly, fiercely, with every ounce of my soul, I know that Taylor would never break me. Not like before, when we were young and naive, still too far under our parents’ thumbs to be anything to each other than what we were.

Now, we’re just Taylor and Huckslee. Two men who fell for each other despite every reason not to, every odd stacked against them. And if this love between us could blossom despite all of the bullshit, how could I have ever questioned that it wouldn’t survive a few months of separation out of the year? Our bond is stronger than that. I see it now. I feel it.

We slip behind the curtain, stepping onto the stage, which is as dank and musty as I remember. Band equipment still litters the space, along with a few props from old plays and stacked plastic chairs. Taylor spins around to face me when we reach the middle, still cautiously searching my face as he wraps his arms around my neck, and my hands instinctively find his waist.

“I promise I’m not going to freak out,” I whisper against his mouth, not thoroughly kissing him, lightly pressing our lips together.

He shakes his head, brows furrowing when we sway to the music. “I’m not worried about that.”

He says it with conviction, as if his faith in me is unshakable, and I have to clear out the emotion clogging my throat.

“Then what’s the face for?”

“I just...” He pulls his head back slightly, teeth sinking into his bottom lip as he glances away. “I went and saw your dad yesterday. We had a long talk. Well, I mostly talked, and he listened. You and I lost so much time because of what I did to you and speaking with Aaron made me realize that I don’t want to waste a single second more.”

Gently cupping his cheek, I drag his gaze back to mine. “Is that what this is, Tay? Making up for what we missed?”

“Partly. I can never change what I did, but I hoped we could do the same thing you did for me in my father’s old trailer. Replace the bad with something good.”

The weight of his words makes my chest tighten, moisture stinging my lids, and I quickly burrow into his shoulder to hide the obliteration I feel. It’s nothing like the last time I stood here–this is dismantling in all the best ways, letting everypiece of armor that I’d built to protect myself fall. It leaves me raw, like an exposed nerve, tender and aching, but...I love it.

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