Page 94 of Perfectly Us
“Y-Yeah.” He squeezes my hand a little tighter.
I lean against him as we reach the top and the whole fair comes into view. We go back down, then up again. He presses a kiss into my hair.
The inevitable happens at the end of the ride. We get stuck at the top as each car of people is unloaded. We’re suspended in the air, the ground so far below us.
Shiloh’s eyes are tightly closed, and his breathing is uneven.
“Hey.” I gently nudge him. “I’m right here with you. You don’t have to look if you don’t want to. But it’s really pretty if you do.”
Slowly, he cracks open one eyelid, then the other. The ride jolts a bit as it moves to unload the next car of people, and he tenses. I play with the bracelets on his wrist and kiss his shoulder.
“You can see the river from here,” Shiloh says, a slight tremble in his voice. “Everything seems so far away.”
“Like we’re in a different world?” I smile when he peeks over at me, dark hair falling into his face. I think of our first kiss in the projection room when he said something similar.
As he returns my smile, I wonder if he’s thinking of it too.
That smile falls a little, and he wets his lips. “Hey, Alex?”
“Yeah?”
Shiloh drops his gaze to my hand as he traces the curve of my knuckle. “Do you think this will last? You and me?”
“I hope so.” My sternum aches. I don’t like the thought of us not being together.
Then it hits me. That must be what he was worrying about at the table earlier. He’s afraid we’ll drift apart once I start college. I’d be lying if I said the thought hasn’t crossed my mind too. Anything can happen.
What if Shiloh finds someone else while I’m busy with school? Someone who can give him what I can’t?
My mind spins just like the Tilt-A-Whirl as we reach the bottom of the ride and exit the Ferris wheel. So many things are uncertain, the future unknown.
Shiloh slides his palm against mine, our fingers threading together.
“Know what I think?” I ask, stopping beside the carousel. The lights from the ride flicker across his face. “No matter what life throws at us or how much we grow and change, this thing between us? It’s forever.”
His expression softens as he touches my jaw. “Are you adding psychic to your ever-growing list of quirks? Stalker, serial killer, pyromaniac, now fortune teller.”
“You forgot to sayShiloh’s Boyfriend. That’s my favorite one. The most important.”
“I think that one falls under the stalker category.”
When I lightly slap his chest, he grabs my hand and lifts it to his lips, his eyes locked on mine. Three months with him and I still get butterflies when he looks at me like that.
“This is still hard for me to wrap my head around,” Shiloh whispers. “That we’re really together. You’re so damn perfect. And I’m not.”
“No one’s perfect. We all have flaws.” I close the small gap between us and rest my head on his shoulder. Sounds blend around us, music and excited yells. “I see your imperfections and love you more for them.”
Shiloh nuzzles my hair, arms coming around me. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
I used to dream of having a silver-screen romance, of being swept off my feet, but what I have with Shiloh is so much better. It’s real. Flawed. And beautiful.
That’s when I know things will work out between us. No one can predict what the future holds. But me and Shiloh? We’re two imperfect people who fit together perfectly.
“Wanna ride the carousel?” I ask.
Shiloh smiles and guides me over to wait in line. With his hand in mine, I don’t fear the future anymore. Our eyes meet, and I grip his hand tighter.
