Page 23 of Eastern Lights

Number three:

I turned to Red, who was in deep thought as she bit her bottom lip and scribbled on the Post-it. Every now and again, she’d pause and nibble that lip. I couldn’t stop watching her stop-and-go writing process. Everything about her, I found so damn attractive.

I went back to my last Post-it and scribbled down my last wish.

Number three: More nights like this. More nights with Red.

We put the notes up on the brick wall. I knew they’d probably blow away at some point in time. I knew they would roll up and tear at some point. But, at that moment, it felt powerful to put our wishes into the atmosphere.

Red walked over to my notes, and I walked over to hers. She wished for longevity, she wished for love, and she wished for more time.

I couldn’t help but wish for more time, too. Each second I spent with her that evening felt like something important was slowly evaporating from my life. There I was, hoping to make her fall in love with me as a way to help her get over her ex, and there I was, falling quickly for a girl who wasn’t going to stick around after sunrise.

Oh, the situations we put ourselves in, Con.

“More nights with Red,” she said out loud before turning to me. “You wished for more nights with me?”

“Yes. More nights with you.”

She laughed a little and fiddled with her hands. “That’s funny,” she said, pointing toward the wall. “Because I cheated a bit and wrote a fourth note.” She revealed the sticky note in her palm then handed it over to me. “I wished for you, too.”

I read the words:More Captain America.

I smirked and brushed my hand against the back of my neck. “More of me?”

“More of you.”

Fuck.

My heart.

I’d always known it was there, but I hadn’t known it could beat like that, like a million fireworks all exploding at once into a damn masterpiece.

I held my hand out toward her. “Dance with me.”

“What?” She giggled. And my gosh, I loved her giggle. “There’s no music.”

“Don’t care. Just dance with me.”

She gave me her hand and I pulled her toward me. Our bodies swayed slowly as she wrapped her arms around my neck and rested her head against my chest.

“I can feel your heartbeats,” she told me.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I was a corny guy. When it came to being the cornmaster, I was the leader of the pack. But I didn’t want to go full-blown corn and tell her that heart she was feeling was beating for her.

But let’s be honest…that heart was beating for her.

“Mario never danced with me. He said it was stupid,” she told me. Everything she told me about that man made me hate him that much more.

“Do you like dancing?” I asked.

“Yeah. I love it.”

“Can you make me a promise, Red?”

“Yes.”

“Never again fall in love with a man who won’t dance with you.”

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