Page 34 of Dared

“No,” I said immediately.

“But you want to keep kissing Finn.”

“Yes.” Leaning my head on JJ’s shoulder, I sighed. “Is that wrong?”

“It’s not wrong, babe. What does Finn think about it all?”

“We spoke about it a bit after the football night, and we agreed we’d tell each other if we wanted to stop anything. I…I think that included the kissing? He seems to be happy with it all.”

JJ hummed. “Just make sure you’re on the same page. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“Okay. I will.”

He smiled at me then. “Now I’ve finished playing the overprotective friend, do you want to get a coffee?”

“Yes! Done!”

I glanced up from my laptop to see Finn staring at his own laptop, a triumphant grin on his face. My breath caught in my throat. The way his eyes were sparkling, the curve of his soft lips against his jaw that had just a hint of stubble darkening it, and his brown hair that was all tousled and messy from him running his hand through it as he worked through the difficult parts of his assignment… It was so nice, seeing him this happy.

When he caught me watching, he ducked his head, still smiling.“That was a bit loud for the library, wasn’t it?”

Looking around us, I couldn’t see anyone glaring, so he was in the clear. The part of the library we were studying in was quiet, anyway. We’d commandeered a large table next to the windows, and I was working on my group project with Connor and Niall, while Finn had been working on his engineering assignment alongside Bennett, a stack of textbooks piled high between their laptops.

I shook my head. “No one noticed. You finished your assignment?”

“Finished, proofread, and submitted a whole five hours before the deadline.”

“Same.” Bennett grinned at him triumphantly. “I’m impressed that we finished so early. Why can’t this happen every time?”

Next to me, Niall groaned. “I wish we were done with this. Whoever came up with the idea for us to design an entire booking system for a campsite was so deluded. I’m a city boy. I’ve never even seen a tent in real life.”

Connor snorted. “The camping bit isn’t the important part. It’s the programming and the databases and all that. We’re the tech guys. We make things work so other people can go camping.”

“Yeah, but I’m just saying, it would’ve been better to design a booking system for something we were familiar with…”

I tuned them out as they continued their bickering, my gaze returning to Finn, who was now frowning down at his phone.

“Finn?”

He blinked, and then he held out his phone to me, the screen angled so I could read the text.

CHARLIE:

Friday night. Student union. Bring Leo. There’s a DJ set and they’re doing BOGOF drinks. All the girls will be there

Friday. Crowds. Drinking. Girls.

I bit down on my lip.

Finn glanced at Bennett, who was engrossed in his own phone, before turning back to me. Shifting his chair closer to mine, he lowered his voice. “Don’t feel like you have to say yes. No one’s forcing you to go. We don’t have to do anything. I thought it might be a good way to celebrate after getting our assignments finished, but you know I’m just as happy doing our own thing.”

This wouldn’t be like the club, where there was a smaller group of us and we were anonymous in the crowd. Nor would it be like the casual atmosphere of the football night at Travis’ house—and even then, I’d ended up in my head, worried that I was ruining things for Finn. Despite the assurances he’d given me, there was still doubt in my mind that he really meant it.

Maybe the best thing to do was to persuade him to go alone. Then I wouldn’t have to feel guilty about holding him back, and I wouldn’t have to face my fear of going out and being surrounded by so many of my peers.

Dropping my gaze to my laptop, I hit a few random keys. “I… No. I can’t go. I have too much coursework to do. You should, though. It sounds like fun.”

“Leo. I want you to come. If you want to, that is.”

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