Page 84 of Severance

Dakota laughs. “I’d probably ask the same questions if I were him. He’s just concerned.”

“Are you siding with my father now?”

“No. I’m just trying to put myself in his shoes and be objective here. I want to be with you, but I don’t want us to keep sneaking around. It’s fucking lame. I just want everyone, including your parents, to be okay with us. No matter how weird of a couple we may be.”

“Weareweird, aren’t we?” I whisper, and my lips stretch into a smile. I press my back against the door and sit on the floor. “Why are you so perfect?”

“Trust me, I’m not. You haven’t seen my bad side yet,” he rasps. His voice is deep and low and sends shivers down my spine.

“Maybe I want to.”

“I know you do. Iwantyou to.”

There’s a moment of quiet, and it’s so peaceful in my mind, so clear, despite the fact that my parents are probably downstairs looking online for some convent to ship me off to.

“Can I ask you something?” I finally brave the question I’ve been wondering about, mostly because asking it face to face terrifies me.

“Sure.”

“Why did you ask me out?”

“What do you meanwhy?”

“I mean…I’m not the type of girl you’d normally date. You know, I bake cupcakes for fun.”

“What do cupcakes have to do with us?”

“You know what I mean.”

“No. I don’t.”

I blow out a sigh. “You know what they call girls like me.”

“I really don’t. You’re overthinking it, beautiful.”

I feel heat rushing to my cheeks. He’s never called mebeautifulbefore. “Are you going to answer my question?”

“Are you going to ask the right one?”

“I’m asking you. I just want to know what a guy like you sees in a girl like me. I’m not doubting us. I just need to know because I want to understand how we work. Because I don’t know how to explain it to my parents so that they can understand it too.”

There’s a pause.

“Remember the night we met?” Dakota says quietly. “I watched you during the set. You weren’t just enjoying the music. You were the music. Your face was bliss. Not a care in the world. And I wanted to know you and now that I do, I think you’re beautiful. Take-my-fucking-breath-away beautiful. All of you. The cupcakes included.”

My heart swells with emotions. “You haven’t even tried any yet.”

“That’s because you’ve never baked for me.”

“I will when Jess and I get a place.”

“You can bake at my place.”

“I don’t want to invade your kitchen.” What I mean to say is, I don’t want Mikah prowling around me all grumpy and slurping on his beer while I’m preparing my specialty dish for my boyfriend.

“I’m serious. My brother is going to be out of town next weekend. We can organize a whole bakefest if you want.”

I snort out a laugh. “A bakefest sounds good.”

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