Page 53 of Take What You Want

“Nope.”

“Well, he did. Not their law school, but he’s always had dreams of his kids following in his footsteps and continuing his legacy there. And you and I both know Walker isn’t going to be the one to do that.”

Nikolai stifles a grin. “So you became his only hope?”

“Pretty much.” I shrug.

“You shouldn’t do it just because it’s your dad’s dream.”

“You think I’d actually do something like alter the entire course of my future because it’s what someone else wants?” My tone is defensive and Nikolai holds his hands up in surrender, leaving the spots where he was previously holding me ice cold.

“Not at all,” he backtracks. “I was just saying it in case no one else had told you so.”

“If it wasn’t my dream, I wouldn’t be doing it. But it is. I want to make sure artists like you and my brother and Reid and Hayden don’t get screwed over.”

Unlike the movie still playing in the background, I want to specialize in entertainment law. Their band has already been approached by a few agents, interested in signing them after graduation, and the majority of them have been shady at best, downright deceitful at worst.

Luckily, my parents have helped them navigate their options and most recently, some guy named Arun invited them to LA a few weeks ago for a meeting. His interest seems legit, and according to my parents’ lawyer, the contract is surprisingly decent.

But it’s easy to imagine how easily it would be for young artists to sign the first promise that comes across their starving, creative hands and bind them in for years with no way out.

“You going to work for me one day, LJ?” Nikolai smirks, and it does something to my heart.

“You wish, pretty boy.”

He shifts and places one of his legs over my own, blanketing it in heat. “Well then, I’m glad to know you’ll have my back one day when you graduate with that fancy degree.”

“You know it. I’m going to do it.” The words are spoken to him, but they’re more of a reassurance to myself. I believe I can do it. I’m smart enough. Driven enough. But soon I’m going to go from a big fish in a little pond to a little fish in a shark tank.

“I know you are. There’s not a single doubt in my mind.” He says it so definitively, so sure of himself and my ability that my chest swells and I lean forward and press my lips to his.

He opens, allowing my tongue to snake inside his mouth and taste him. It feels like we’re the only two people in the world as we kiss, cocooned in his car and tucked away in the trees.

He’s the one to break the kiss. I pull back, slightly breathless, as I take in his flushed cheeks and lazy smile.

He’s beautiful.

And he’s all mine.

At least for right now.

“Are you still riding the high of your acceptance letter you got this week, or is the dreamy look in your eye from kissing me?” he teases, and while his words are playful, they invite a heavy, gloomy cloud over our night.

“We haven’t really talked about that.” I pick at a loose thread in the quilt cocooning us both against the chill.

“About you getting accepted to Harvard? Or about you moving to Boston in a few months and me moving to LA?”

The upcoming miles that are going to separate us wrap about my throat and chest. We’re just starting to explore this new connection between us. Are we going to be able to withstand the distance?

And what about my brother? Our friends? When do we tell them? We’re lying by omission to everyone we love and that’s just one more brick on top of an already unstable foundation as we look ahead to being separated.

“Hey,” Nikolai says, cupping my face and pulling my gaze to meet his. His eyes are soft and unbothered, no trace of the swirling anxiety that’s currently churning my gut and making me regret eating that last handful of sour gummies. “Don’t think about that right now.”

“But don’t you think we should talk about it? I mean, it’s not just a car ride away or a few hours. It’s across an entire country.”

His lips thin and he chews the inside of his cheek. “Why not just focus on the now? Enjoy this moment?”

I wish I could. More than anything. It’s one of my favorite traits of his. The ability to live in the moment, not stress about the unknowns of the future and take everything day by day.

---