Page 121 of Here and Now
Right. I knew that one would be easy. “Okay, well, what if Miles and I were to be a ... couple?”
“Like, what?”
I glance at Miles, who is grinning at me. “Like, we have dates and maybe Miles will have dinner a lot more and we’ll go to his house so he can cook too. We’ll be ... dating.”
I’m really freaking bad at this, but I’ve had zero practice, so this is the best I got.
“So you’ll be boyfriend and girlfriend?”
“Yes,” I say quickly.
He shrugs. “That’s cool.” Then he turns to Miles. “I got new Legos from Uncle Quinn. Do you want to help?”
“I’d love to.” Miles gets up, winks at me, and when Kai is already in his room, he says, “Now you’re all out of reasons.”
I laugh. “Go build Legos and I’m going to get ready for our next hurdle.”
Going to the tournament and admitting it to our friends.
“They’re all looking at us,” I say under my breath as we’re walking into his Ultimate Frisbee tournament, holding hands.
Miles grins. “Because you’re so beautiful.”
Or it could be the fact that we’re out, together, as a couple for the first time in Ember Falls. All our friends knew what was happening, so there was no reason to hide it once Kai was on board.
“I don’t think that’s why Everett has a shit-eating grin.”
“Probably not, but I’ll make sure to get retribution for you if you want,” he offers.
I think about how much shit Everett gives me on a daily basis coming into the coffee shop and nod once. “I wouldn’t mind it.”
Miles kisses my temple. “Consider it done.”
I glance down at Kai, who is smiling so big as he sees us share a sweet moment.
“Kai, Ethan and Briggs are waving at you.”
“Can I go play?”
I nod. “Just stay where I can see you, please.”
He’s running and yells back to me: “Okay, Mom!”
Miles places his hand on the small of my back and then pinches my ass. “Hey!”
“What?”
I grin. “You know what.”
“My hand slipped. Can’t help it.”
“Sure you can’t,” I chide.
We get close to the group and my anxiety spikes again. This isn’t nearly as important as the conversation we had with Kai, but a part of me wanted to keep this to ourselves. There was no pressure or worries about what people thought. We just enjoyed each other and had weeks of it just being ... us.
Ainsley is at the grill and turns to see us. “Hey, guys!”
“Ainsley, I’d like to introduce you to someone,” Miles says, and her eyes narrow. “This is my girlfriend, Penelope. You can call her Penny. She likes that name. She doesn’t like Pen, says it’s stupid. Idon’t know, she’s got weird quirks. Anyway, she’s going to be around more, and I know you’re the nicest out of this group.”
