Page 48 of Forever & Always You
“I see what you’re doing,” I tell him, “but I’m .?.?.sotired.”
“What am I doing?”
“Giving me sex eyes.”
“These are not sex eyes,” Austin says, pushing himself up from his stomach. “This is just how my eyes look when I’m wondering how it’s possible you became even more beautiful than how I remembered you.”
“It’s three in the morning, please stop flattering me.”
Austin groans dramatically and says, “If I must.”
I kill the lights and blindly find my way over to my bed, pulling back the comforter. Together we snuggle up underneath, facing one another in the dark.
“We never had sleepovers when we were kids,” Austin murmurs in a low voice.
“Probably because you were a boy and my mother hated you.”
He’s so close to me that his gentle laugh dances over my face. “I know you’re tired, so I won’t talk.”
“You can talk.” I shuffle closer to him, molding my body around the contours of his and pressing my face into his warm chest, eyes closed as I focus on the slow beating of his heart. “You can talk until I fall asleep.”
Austin wraps an arm around me, his hand resting in my hair. “I hate it,” he admits.
“You hate what?”
“How easily I’m forgiving you.”
Silence pulses between us in the dark. Everything feels so heightened with our bodies intertwined like this, and I hold my breath, waiting for more.
“I hate that I always dreamed of you apologizing one day,” he whispers, “but I hate it even more that I dreamed offorgivingyou. I hate that this is exactly what I wanted.”
“It’s okay,” I say, pressing even closer into him. “It’s okay to forgive me.”
“Gabrielle. Can you promise me something?” His whispers send chills down my spine.
“Anything.”
His body stiffens around mine as he draws his mouth close to my ear, his breath hot against my skin. There is fear embedded in the request as he says, “Promise me you won’t break my heart again.”
In the silence, I’m certain he must hear the thundering beatof my heart. I want to grab hold of him and never let go, I want to shake my promises into him, I want to be the best friend he always deserved. So I say, “I promise.”
And this time I mean it with every fiber of my being.
16
There aren’t many things that can pull me out of a deep sleep, but a single whiff of pancakes is guaranteed to do it. My eyes ping open and I glance to my left, but Austin isn’t fast asleep by my side. From somewhere in my kitchen, I hear the clang of a pan.
If there are potentially pancakes up for grabs, I absolutely must investigate.
Throwing back my comforter, I hop out of bed and head through to the kitchen. Even though I suspected it already, it’s still a jolt to my system to find Austin freaking Pierce standing in my cramped kitchen wearing last night’s clothes, flipping pancakes and humming to himself.
“Good morning,” he says over his shoulder, sensing me approach.
“What are you doing?”
“You made me pancakes at my place on a Sunday morning, so I’m returning the favor,” he explains. “They probably—okay, definitely—won’t be as good as yours, but I’ve given it a shot, anyway. I was just about to come surprise you.”
“Can’t sleep through pancakes,” I say.
