Page 58 of Fear of Love
“No one here cares,” Landon started to say.
“I care.” Trevor put his hand up, a shit-eating grin on his face.
“Me, too,” Bryton added.
“You guys are the biggest assholes.” Mateo said, aiming the insult at all of them, though he clearly didn’t mean it.
“So… was it?” Bryton asked again, unable to let it go. A good minute passed as we all waited for Mateo’s answer.
“Yes,” Mateo said, his voice quiet but we all heard him. Immediately, our entire friend group started laughing. “Yeah,yeah, laugh it up, you bunch of assholes.” I laughed even harder at Mateo’s annoyed expression.
“Don’t worry, Maty, we’ve all pooped our pants at some point.” Josie was the first to come up to his side and wrap her arm around him.
“I never have,” Wyatt interjected.
“Come on, Jo. Let’s go see our own animals.” Mateo glared at all of us before him and Josie walked in the opposite direction. With a chuckle, Wyatt, Mila, and Bryton started after them.
“He’s never going to live that down.” Trevor shook his head with a smile as he and Tasha walked in the other direction toward the wolves. In a matter of minutes, it was just Landon and me on the path.
“Was that too mean?” I asked Landon when we turned down a different paved trail that led to the aquatic center.
“He’ll survive. The little shit lives to annoy and tease us. It’s only fair to do it back to him.” Landon shrugged it off.
“Yeah, but it’s like kicking a puppy.” Which wasn’t wrong. Mateo was like a golden retriever.
“Trust me. Mateo is living for the attention he’s probably getting from Josie and Mila right now.”
True.
The two of us were quiet as we walked along the path. The large trees offered coverage from the sun, which was nice in the summer but made the air seem chillier now. I tugged the sleeves of my sweater over my hands, grateful I did, in fact, go with the turtleneck. While it covered the love bite, it also kept me warm.
“Cold?” Landon asked.
“A little,” I admitted. Without saying a word, Landon reached down and clasped his hand in mine. A small tug had me pressed against his side before he lifted our joined hands up and over my head until his arm was draped across my shoulder. It was a move so smooth I was at a loss for words for a second.
“Better?”
“Uh… yeah.” I tilted my head back to see his face. “Didn’t realize you had moves.”
“You love to think I don’t have game,” he said as we walked through the doors of the aquatic exhibit. Huge replicas of sea animals hung from the ceiling and stood on the ground. It was busier in here with families milling about as we headed for the archway.
“Well…”
“You just have to argue with me, don’t you?” Landon’s arm tightened around my shoulder, tugging me tighter to his side.
“It’s my favorite pastime.” I grinned.
“Uh huh.”
I squeezed his fingers with mine twice as the lights above us darkened. We were quiet as we walked farther into the darkened room. We followed the flow of people toward a giant tank.
“Woah,” little voices said around us. Inside the glass enclosure were giant fish that almost looked like eels. They swam around, some hiding behind the giant rocks. Their faces were kind of sunken in with bulbous eyes that stood out. They weren’t exactly pretty.
We left that tank and continued, stopping every few feet to see something new. Being together, just the two of us with Landon’s arm wrapped around me, hands intertwined, I couldn’t help but wonder if this was what a date would look like for us.
Our friends were on the other side of the zoo, so we could walk around hand in hand without the fear of getting caught. It was nice being able to hold Landon’s hand like this. To do something outside of our apartments and his hockey rink.
Obviously, this wasn’t a date. Landon and I weren’t together like that. Butifwe were, would we go on dates like this?Hold hands and enjoy each other’s company? I couldn’t even remember what it was like to date.
