Page 103 of Crescendo

“How can we miss something I didn’t know we were doing?” she asked, jogging slightly to catch me up as we fled out of the Crescendo building.

I laughed. “In truth, I don’t know if we are going to miss it, I still need to book the tickets, and there will be another one soon even if we miss the next one, but still. It’s more—”

“—exciting this way,” she finished.

I smiled. Exactly that.

Exactlythis.Her, me, some wild, ridiculous mission, and someone who could finish my sentences and just always be on the same page as me.

I couldn’t give this up. Couldn’t giveherup.

The force of it hit me like a wall as we raced towards the Underground station. It wasn’t practical and it wasn’t logical, and I had no idea how we’d ever make it work—and trying something so tricky and complicated with someone you’d only known for two months was ridiculous—but I couldn’t not want to try. The thought of losing her from my life was more than I could bear. And I’d been through enough things I couldn’t bear. I’d put myself away long enough for one lifetime. I needed her in my life, needed to… give her everything she wanted in life.

We finally stopped moving as we crammed onto the Tube with the rush hour crowd and she looked down at me with a confused face. I didn’t care if she was confused if it brought her back to me, and she was back. The distant look in her eyes was gone. I knew it would probably come back, but, for one wild, beautiful moment, pressed against her on the Tube, surrounded by a hundred people living vibrant, London lives, she looked at me like I was the only thing in the world and she’d follow me on any wild adventure I ever wanted to take her on.

“Where are we going?” she asked, amused.

I shook my head. “Nope. It’s a surprise.”

“But I hate surprises.”

“No, you don’t. Youlovesurprises.”

“Ugh. Fine. I love them when I’m feeling spoiled, but right now, I’m feeling curious.”

“It’s not too far, don’t worry. And, hopefully, it will be worth it.”

She narrowed her eyes at me. “That just makes me more curious.”

I laughed. “Well, maybe I can distract you with gossip.”

Her eyebrows shot up her head. “It’ll have to be some pretty significant gossip to distract me from all this.”

The crowd was already pressing us together, but I moved impossibly closer into her, relishing the press of her bodyagainst mine, the intimacy of being able to be so close to her without having to pretend it wasn’t exactly where I wanted to be, and I looked up at her with a mischievous grin. “Guess who Bansi made out with?”

Her mouth dropped open. “Bansi?”

“Mm-hm. Bansi. Guess whoBansimade out with.”

“Well, whoever it was is lucky because he’s a catch, but why the hell did he tell you and not me? Doesn’t he know by this point that I need all his gossip?”

I laughed. “Hedidn’t tell me.”

Her eyes flashed excitedly—so blue, so alive, soher.“The person he made out with told you? Or just someone who saw it?”

“The former.”

She blew out a breath and I watched her consider, feeling like the rest of the world was disappearing around us. “Okay, yeah, this is juicy. Clara? Dodge? Fucking Eliza? You two have been friendly the last few days. She might have told you that.”

I laughed. “Nope.”

She ran through almost everyone else we were even remotely friends with on the course before she sighed and gave up.

I laughed again, gripping her hand, and dragging her off the train to transfer lines.

We ran through the station like teenagers in love and all I could think was how much I’d missed out in recent years, how much I’d been missing out on before I met her.

How did something so complicated feel so very easy?

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