“I don’t know.” There is no safe answer, so all I can be
 
 is honest. “I don’t know if I can. I shouldn’t. I can’t.”
 
 “Why shouldn’t you?” Steph leans back a fraction.
 
 “Because of what I just told you? I want you, Adley. I don’t
 
 just want to kiss you in private. I want to take you out. On a
 
 date. I want to do things with you. I think about you all the
 
 time. I can’t sleep at night because I think about you
 
 constantly. I wake up and I used to be so focused and now I
 
 feel like I’m all over the place. This isn’t just me trying to do
 
 some experiment. I’m sure about this.”
 
 I feel like I can’t breathe. Steph is just a few inches
 
 away. She’s so beautiful. Kissing her washed out everything
 
 else in the world. It was easy to forget that I’ve been hurt. It
 
 was easy to fall into her. To lose all sense of time or the world
 
 outside. In here, it’s just us.
 
 “Do you really want to go on a date?” I should not be
 
 asking this. I should be pulling away. I should be doing
 
 everything possible to keep my heart safe.
 
 Steph’s hand slips out from under my shirt and she
 
 backs up a respectable distance. I miss her already. I miss the
 
 heat of her skin on mine. I miss our bodies so close together. I
 
 miss the instant chemistry that was so explosive between us
 
 I’m not sure that anything could contain it.
 
 “Yes.” She grins at me. “Dinner. A movie. The theater.
 
 A walk. Anything. Let me take you out.”
 
 “A play? Or theater? I’ve never been.”
 
 “Really? Oh my god, you’ll love it! I’ll find something
 
 amazing. We’ll go slow. Go on dates. We don’t have to do this,
 
 the physical stuff, if you’re not comfortable with it.”
 
 God, I want to. I want to do the physical stuff. The