Page 65 of Unfix Me

It wasn’t until we were in the car that he relaxed. I reached over to rest my hand on his thigh. It reminded me of what was under those jeans and I found myself glancing over at him a few times on the way back to campus.

“So, are you gonna go home for the holidays?” I asked.

“I haven’t really thought about it. They’ll probably want me to. Christmas, at least.”

“I’m gonna drive back.”

He looked at me with a shocked expression. “You’ll have time?”

“If I’m dumb and let West drive, we can get there in a couple of days. Even if we stop to sleep, we can do it in three if we try hard enough. Gives us about two weeks to be home before we have to leave again.”

“Damn. It sounds kind of fun, actually.”

“It is. By the time you get there, you’re tired of being in the car, but it’s cool to see everything and stop at some places along the way.”

“I’ve never road tripped. Most of our vacations happened in Colorado, just in a different city. We went skiing a few times, but I don’t like the snow very much.”

I gasped dramatically. “You’re a Scrooge.”

He laughed and shook his head. “No, I like the holiday. I’m just more of a mild weather kind of guy.”

“Is that why you chose Seattle? A near constant drizzle, but not too cold or hot.”

“Maybe,” he mused. His fingers curled over mine on his thigh. “My parents wanted me to go to Texas, but…”

“Don’t like rednecks?”

“I went a few times and just don’t want to go back.”

Squeezing his leg, I made a mental note to revisit that topic at some point in the future.

After I pulled into a spot, I checked my phone. There was a text from my mom asking me to call her, which made my stomach clench. I had to remind myself that if it was really serious, she would’ve already tried to call me. It was probably just a regular update.

That or she’d seen my Instagram post with a picture of me dancing with West. I’d captioned it, “Not my first choice, but once I’m off this field…” She’d already asked if I’d met anyone yet. It wouldn’t hurt to tell her, but I wanted to respect Sen’s boundaries, even with people he didn’t know.

“I’ll meet you up there,” I said. “Need to make a call real quick.”

He started to get out of the car, but I caught his wrist and pulled him toward me. With my thumb on his cheek and my fingers around the back of his neck, I kissed him the way I’d wanted to in the Halloween store. I wanted- no, needed- him to know how much I cared about him. It had been almost two months since we met and we’d first kissed only a few weeks ago, but I was committed to this.

That thought made me pull back suddenly.

“What is it?” he asked breathlessly.

“I’m not seeing anyone else.”

He raised a brow. “Okay. I didn’t think you were.”

“Yeah, but I needed you toknow. I want you to be my only one. On the down low until you’re ready, of course, but I really like you, Sen. I want to keep doing this and more… and more, and more, and more.”

I kept going until he finally smiled. It was so bright and free from the tension he’d been displaying lately.

“I like you too,” he said. “And I’m working on figuring it all out.” Some of the uncertainty returned to his face. “I want to be able to be with you in public too. You deserve that. If you can be patient…”

“Hey, I can wait for you. As long as I know this is what you want.”

“It is.”

I didn’t attempt to hide the joy I felt. “Cool. Know that this requires you to be at all of my games, away and home. I need your full, unwavering support of my dreams.”

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