Page 87 of You Float My Boat

Two. I must be really good at acting if Charlie never realizedIlikedhim.

‘Sorry,’ he started again, ‘I should have got it all out there before I kissed you and started making things awkward. Can you tell I’ve never done this before? Okay, I’ll shut up now. You go.’

Wow. This was not how I expected this morning to go.

I’d gotten so used to my love/crush being unrequited that now it seemed to be very much requited, I wasn’t entirely sure what to do with it.

How long had I waited for Charlie to say those words to me? It felt like forever. Even in the weeks since the beginning of term I’d been secretly hoping that one day I’d hear them. I’d resigned myself to the fact this wasn’t real. It could never be real, and yet here he was sitting in front of me, saying exactly that. Kind of.

‘Are you going to say something?’ he asked finally. ‘It’s not normally me who’s the chatty one?’

I stifled a giggle, which seemed to unstick me from the mental block I was having. I really needed to startpractising the second halves of conversations I had with myself. It would certainly be more helpful in situations like this.

‘You really like me?’

He nodded, ‘Yeah.’

‘Like melike me?’

‘Yes. Ilike youlike you. Since the moment you kissed me in the Blue Oar, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you. Or thinking about kissing you again. When we’re apart, I want to see you. When I see you all I want to do is kiss you, touch you, hold your hand, breathe you in. I like you, Violet, and I haven’t liked anyone in a long time.’

Whoa.

‘But I guess I should be asking you the same question,’ he added, lifting one hand off my knee so he could release my lower lip from the grip of my teeth. ‘Because if we’re kissing for real, it kind of changes the rules.’

I nodded, deeply. ‘Yeah. Our fake relationship seems to have changed, doesn’t it?’

‘It does. And do you like me enough to see where things could go?’

I’d been holding back the smile for what felt like forever, and it finally let itself free. ‘Yes, I like you enough to see where things could go.’

Charlie let out a deep breath I didn’t realize he’d been holding. ‘Thank god for that.’

I glanced down to where his hand had inched towards mine, lacing our fingers together. ‘But …’

‘Not sure I like the sound of that.’

‘What about Evie?’

Out of nowhere the conversation I’d had with Evie a few weeks ago flashed into my brain, along with the death stare she’d given me outside the sandwich shop the other day. I could just about cope with Charlie and Evie if I kept myself at arm’s length, but if she was telling the truth, and Charlie and I became what I’d always wanted, then I wasn’t sure how I’d manage. I had the feeling she wasn’t going down without a fight, and I wasn’t even fighting.

‘What, Violet?’ he asked, his brows almost touching for how deeply they’d dropped. ‘What is it?’

‘I should tell you something …’

‘Okay.’

‘I bumped into Evie a few weeks ago and she said you two always find your way back to one another. She’s determined to get you back.’

Concern brimmed in his big green eyes as they searched my face until he dipped down to make sure that I could see him properly. His hands cupped my cheeks, holding firm enough that I couldn’t look away, so I could see how sincere he was.

‘I’m sorry that happened. Or that I wasn’t there to refute her, but believe me when I say that I will never get back together with Evie. Never.’

I looked at him, holding his gaze while on the precipice of something I’d wanted for so long. ‘Okay.’

‘Okay? As in …’

‘Yeah. Let’s see where things go.’

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