Page 83 of Starstruck

“What?” I laughed, tracing his smile lines as he gazed at me.

One of his shoulders shrugged. “Nothing. It’s just…” His eyes closed, hisbrows pulling a second later. “I guess I was just surprised when you asked me to come tonight.” he kicked a rock off the path in front of us, dropping my stare. “I mean, we haven’t really hung out in a while.”

I glanced up at him, offering a small smile. “I know, with classes and makingtime for the girls and myself and trying not to get lost everyday, I guess it’s been a minute.”

His laugh was genuine. “So, how come you asked me tonight?”

Because the boy I’m also crushing on hadn’t spoken to me in so long, and he’sleaving anyway so I have to get over my feelings for him, even though I’m pretty sure all they did after tonight was make a permanent home in my heart.

I felt my heart tighten. Tristan's shadow had been looming over me for weeksnow, and tonight it finally caught up with me. Part of me was fascinated by how easy it was for him to take up each corner of my mind, and part of me really hated it.

I cleared my throat. “I forgot how much I liked being around you.”

It wasn’t a lie, exactly. Henry had always been easy, uncomplicated—until hewasn’t. But tonight, with the noise of the crowd and the game blurring everything else out, it felt simple again. For a moment, it felt safe.

Henry’s eyes widened with surprise. “And what exactly made you forget?”

Our steps stopped as we reached a crosswalk, giving me the the perfectopportunity to replay that morning in the park with Tristan.

Shutting my eyes for the moment I did, trying to recall what he’d said, washopeless once I pictured him. The strands of his hair drifting across his forehead effortlessly, his tattoos peeking out on his wrists from under his shirt, the warning in his voice that did nothing but tell me that he cared about me.

“I’m not sure,” I blurted, finding his eyes.

The street light before us illuminated green, and we carried on our walk.

Henry slowed as we turned the corner and headed down the street where mydorm building sat, looking at me with a softness I hadn’t seen in a while. “I’vemissed this too, you know.” He paused, searching my eyes. “It’s just… you’ve got this…energy. It’s like, you walk into a room and everything just shifts. I’m drawn to it. To you. I always have been.”

Would he always be though?

Despite the question lighting up my mind, that didn’t stop my stomach fromdropping, and my skin buzz with hope. For a second, I let myself believe that maybe this was what I needed—to fall into a first love without the complications and the rules and the bunkering down of my heart to avoid it breaking so soon.

But I couldn’t stop my mind from drifting back to the way Tristan laughed, likehe didn’t care who was watching when he was around me, to the way he looked at me like we were the only two people to ever exist in Liberty’s hallways.

Because I care about you, Gold’s. I care about you enough that I’d stay herejust to make sure he doesn’t touch an ounce of the good that I know for a fact your heart lives on.

This time when my eyes clamped shut, I kept them that way, for amoment. I let myself exist in the darkness. Anything to ease the ache that was manifesting in the centre of my forehead.

Silence clung to our shadows as we weaved through the late night foot traffic, nothing but casual glances up to him that he didn’t catch, because his attention was sky.

And it was hard for me to imagine that the boy who was holding my hand andcounting the stars was plotting something bad.

As we reached the edge of my dorm building, the warm light spilling out fromthe lobby windows, I turned to him. “Can I ask you something?”

Finally, his ocean eyes fell on me. “Anything.”

I sucked in a breath, filling my lungs with every ounce of it I couldbefore I dropped my gaze. “And not to sound all regency era but…” I tilted my eyes back to find his. “What, exactly, are your intentions here?”

“My intentions?”

I nodded. “With me. This.”

For a moment, Henry looked unsure. His mouth opened slightly, as though hewere searching for the right words, but when he spoke, his voice was as clear as the blue that swam in his eyes. “I like you Goldie, in a way that I don’t think I’ve ever liked another person before. Whatever I’m feeling, it feels… heavier.”

“Sounds painful.” I smiled up at him, earning one right back off him.

“It’s not painful.” He took a step closer, close enough that I could see his breathhitting the night air. “But even if it was, it would be worth the pain.”

He said that he wasn’t going to limit himself.

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