Page 30 of Summer Haze & Tokyo Craze

Whatever this is, I have to nip this in the bud.

Lucy was so right. I have a crush. And today didn’t help.

The way he went along with all of my whims? The way I caught him staring at me with a smile in his eyes from time to time? Even the topics we talked about, like who in their right mind unpacks a traumatic family upbringing to their coworker?

And why am I calling us coworkers now in my head? We’re goddamn rivals! He’s supposedly the villain in my story and I in his.

Before I can decipher it further, all the lights go out, and music that never fails to bring goosebumps to my arms blasts through the speakers as the fireworks show begins.

Instantly, I’m entranced, only realizing the distance between us lessened when his shoulder bumps against mine. Before long, we're standing shoulder to shoulder, our sides touching. I’m hyper aware of him, the warmth where we touch, and I canfeelhis every breath.

Adam moves, and I’m about to sigh in relief when his arm snakes around my shoulders and it gets stuck in my throat and I gulp past it.

My heart is beating so fast, I'm scared it might jump out of my chest and it feels like every single muscle in my body tenses as I stay ridiculously still in this hold.

"Sorry," Adam says lowly and slowly lifts his arm. "Should I-?"

My eyes are wide like a deer in headlights. And I very much feel like one.

We’re about to cross a line. Both of us are already balancing on it on one leg, about to somersault over it.

What’s the worst that could happen right here and right now? I bit my lip, thoughts racing. Nobody has to know. It never has to go further. But right here, right now is probably the most romantic moment I’ll ever get in my life with a guy I’m crushing on anyways.

Nobody has to know.

"No," I shake my head, surprised at my own voice, and he puts his arm back, pulling me against him. Finally, I allow myself to relax and even melt against his chest, my emotions running amok. My favorite song of this show begins playing on the speakers, and suddenly, what I'm looking at is not the castle and movie projection or even the pyro anymore, but Adam's face, lit up by the fireworks, sparks dancing in his eyes.

He holds my gaze, until his eyes flutter closed and before I can even fully grasp what's happening, he presses his soft lips against mine.

I take a sharp breath, scared I’m just dreaming, that I’ll just wake up and none of this will have happened.

Because this can’t really be happening, right?

But then he cups my face with his hands, and my eyes flutter shut and I allow myself to melt into the kiss and kiss him back, my hands running over the fabric of his shirt, until I lock them behind his neck.

The kiss makes me forget how to breathe. How to feel anything aside from him. How to think.

A loud boom makes the two of us freeze before we realize that we're still in public, and there’s still a firework show going on. He breaks the kiss, staying only millimeters away from my lips for a breath, until a smile spreads on his lips and his thumb strokes my cheek with a gentleness that might just make me cry, before he lets go of my face and leans back next to me with his arm around my shoulders.

I feel him chuckle when I lift my hand to touch my lips in disbelief. They are still tingling the feeling of his lips burned into them.

The song switches over to the next one, but I can barely pay attention. Everything feels like it's happening through cotton, like I'm in a dream, just a sliver away from reality.

Maybe I am, maybe there's still alcohol in my bloodstream making me hallucinate this, but this feels real. Adam feels real. A little too real.

When I look up at him, he pulls me closer to him and presses a kiss against my temple.

Fuck. I am in so much trouble.

Adam

So that happened.

I have no idea what came over me. Was it spur of the moment? Emotions running wild, the atmosphere of the amusement park catching up to me?

No, I know better.

It was her.

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