Page 25 of The Crush
I wait for a few cars to pass by before jogging across the street, and I can tell she’s looking for me as I had been for her. When she spots me, her whole face lights up, andChrist, what do I need to do to have her always looking at me like that?
“Hi!” She drops the suitcase when I reach the sidewalk, running at me until her body collides into mine like she hadn’t seen me the day before. I can’t deny that I’m just as eager.
“Hi.” I wrap my arms around her, and after one last quick glance around to be sure, I lean down to slant my mouth over hers. I can feel her smile before her lips press back, and it feels less strange than it should, kissing her in public after all the hiding. “You ready?”
She nods enthusiastically, practically vibrating with excitement beneath the arm I keep around her shoulders, and I’m suddenly all the more anxious to reach our hotel, still a little over an hour away.
“What do you have in here?” I ask her as I collect her suitcase. As anticipated, it weighs a ton.
“Well I didn’t know what all to bring, or…you know.” She shrugs, looking suddenly apprehensive. “I brought a couple books to read on the bus. And I wasn’t sure if the weather would change or if…”
I silence her with a soft kiss to her forehead, murmuring, “Cute how you think you’re going to get to wear clothes.”
She takes a sharp breath, then she laughs. “We have to eat at some point, right?”
My eyes run over her. From the bottom lip caught between her teeth to the skin left bare by her scoop neck shirt to the jeans hugging her hips and thighs.
“Oh, definitely.”
Twenty-One
Isabel
Incandescent. Incandescently happy. That’s the only way I can describe it.
The windows are cracked, blowing in a warm fall breeze as we escape up Highway 35, passing through towns and acres of cattle land similar to my own but somehow feeling entirely different because theyaren’tmy own.
Daniel is driving with one hand on the wheel and the other on my thigh, his aviator sunglasses perched on his nose and the top several buttons of his navy blue button-up undone. He’s humming and tapping his fingers on the wheel along to some old country song, one I don’t recognize but he clearly knows by heart. When he catches me looking at him, he smiles.
God, he’s so handsome. It almost hurts.
“Everything go okay?” he asks, and I wonder if he’s also feeling more relaxed the farther away we get. Like the physical distance now serves as a protective barrier between us and all the lies we told to get here.
“Yeah, once I was sure no one from home was getting on the bus, it was nice.” I capture his hand, interlocking our fingers with my left and tracing his knuckles with my right. “Would’ve beennicerto ride with you the whole way but…better safe than sorry, I guess.”
“Was a good idea,” he agrees, bringing the back of my hand to his mouth for a quick kiss before his eyes return to the road.
Should I tell him it was actually Gabe’s idea? I trust Gabe, but what if Daniel doesn’t? What if I tell him, and it puts an end to the trip before it’s even really begun?
Before I can fully decide what to do, the conversation shifts, Daniel telling me about the hotel he booked by the lake in Austin while I let the moment pass along with a pinch of guilt and a promise that I’ll tell him when the time is right.
Instead, discussions of our favorite music, books, and movies take up the rest of the ride. Relationship 101 topics that we still have yet to cover because we’ve been too busy trying to steal each other’s air.
It comes as no surprise that Daniel and I have very different opinions on the best movie genres. And while we do find some common ground on books, what I had failed to account for is that he seems to have fallen behind on about a decade’s worth of music, including Selena’s latest album which I happen to know by heart already.
“Oh, come on! You have to know ‘Bidi Bidi Bom Bom,’” I protest, grinning as he looks at me like he’s trying to figure out what I’ve said. “It’s on the radioallthe time.”
I animatedly sing him a few of the words, and he only shakes his head. “I think we might be listening to different stations.”
“Probably,” I say, before asking, “Lot of big band on your radio then?”
Not having had to glance at the map even once, he tears his eyes away from scanning street signs long enough to give me a warning look. “You better watch yourself, bonita.”
“Or what? Are you going to pull the car over?” My eyebrows rise in a challenge, and I see his own eyes narrow before he looks in the rearview mirror. Perhaps considering it, even if we are now within Austin’s city limits and not on back country roads.
“Mmm, all bark and no bite,” I say, sighing sadly when he doesn’t stop. “What a shame.”
When Daniel parks the truck in the hotel parking lot ten minutes later, he grabs my heavy suitcase and his overnight bag from the bed before circling around to open my door. Carrying both bags in his left hand, he helps me out with his right, continuing to keep a secure hold of my hand as he heads for the entrance.
