Page 11 of The Naga

"You can't say things like that!" I gasped out, flustered beyond belief. Then the rest of what he'd said sank in, and I asked, "Wait. You'd never been to the movies before?"

Khush shook his head, then ducked his head as if embarrassed. His arms rested on the table, and he drew figures on the wood with his finger as he spoke, eyes firmly rooted on his hands. "I don't really go out much. Yesterday, when we met, that was the first time I'd been out in a long time."

I had a feeling whatever I thought of as 'long' was nothing compared to the span he was talking about, but I didn't ask for clarification. We weren't close enough yet for me to go digging like that, so I asked him something else.

"The list you mentioned before. Can I ask what it is?"

Khush's eyes snapped up to mine, full of surprise. Had he not expected me to remember? Or had he forgotten he'd mentioned it?

Either way, it took him a moment to find his voice, and when he did, his eyes slid back to his hands as he spoke.

"It's a list of places I want to go now that I can, things I want to try. A bucket list of sorts."

A bucket list, huh?

"Have you had dinner in a restaurant before?" I asked, and Khush shook his head, then glanced up at me.

Smiling, I reached over and took his hand in mine, giving it a light squeeze. "So we've already crossed off two items from your list, huh? I'd love to cross off more of them with you if you'll have me."

Khush's eyes widened, and then he clasped my hand back, his grip just a tad too tight. "I'd love that."

I smiled and hoped Khush wouldn't break my heart, because despite every promise I'd made to myself, I was already in too deep.

Five

Khush

Until now, my bucketlist had just been a thing in my head, a list of experiences I wanted to, well, experience. I didn't know why I'd even mentioned it to Dustin in our texts, but now that I'd told him about it, I wanted to grab a pen and paper and jot down an actual list. Because Dustin had said we wanted to have those experiences with me.

I wanted to do everything with him so bad. I truly did. But before that, I wanted to tell him the truth. I couldn't keep him in the dark.

Which meant that I'd have to tell Headmaster Morrigan and everyone else about Dustin. I was so not looking forward to that chat. Not because I didn't want to introduce Dustin to everyone, but just because I sucked at conversations like those. I got all caught up in my head about the perfect way to phrase something and then blurted out something ridiculous. It was embarrassing as all hell.

After dinner, we 'walked' around for a while, talking. Dustin told me about his cat Scrappy and showed me pictures of her, then told me some stories about the craziest customers he'd talked to last week, and about the book he was reading. We both stuck to easy, getting-to-know-each-other topics, and before we realized it, it was ten.

"I guess we should head home now," Dustin said, then blinked. "Our homes, I mean. Uh, our separate homes. Separately. Alone. Ugh!"

I laughed as Dustin covered his face with his palms, my laughter only growing when he glared at me from between two fingers. He looked adorable, all flustered and embarrassed, and I resisted the urge to kiss him just yet. Maybe it was stupid, but I wanted to wait until he could see me, all of me, before I kissed him.

"So we're going home, are we?"

"Shut up. How are you getting home? Want a ride?" Dustin asked, hooking his thumb to point somewhere behind him.

"Nah, my friend is around here somewhere. He'll come get me," I said, then pulled my phone out to text Bellamy.

"Is he one of the friends you live with?"

"He is," I said, and then got stuck gazing at Dustin's blue eyes until a throat cleared somewhere beside me. Glancing up, I swallowed when I spotted Bellamy.

"Hey, Bellamy. That was quick. Uh, this is Dustin. Dustin, this is Bellamy," I introduced, and blinked as they both sized each other up. Wait. What was happening?

"Hey," Dustin finally said, holding out a hand. "Nice to meet you."

"You too," Bellamy said, shaking his hand. Then he glanced at me. "Ready to go?"

"Yep." I glanced up at Dustin, who gave me a smile and a finger wave.

"I'll text you later," he said with a wink, and I nodded.

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