Page 110 of All at Once

“No. We won’t.” I shake my head. “We’ll just keep pretending.”

“There’s no point in me even arguing. You’re going to keep talking right now,” he almost mumbles to himself, while glancing down at his feet.

“Why didn’t you kiss me?” I ask.

He looks into my eyes so intensely that it doesn’t feel like he’s sitting just a few feet away. “I—”

I interrupt, “I wanted you to kiss me. But you didn’t. Why?”

Maybe I look devastated right now because he looks broken after hearing my words. When he doesn’t reply, I lean more forward with a longingness growing in my eyes and say, “Stop being so nice to me if you don’t like me the way I like you.”

Luca’s lips part. “Jasmine, I—”

I don’t hear anything he says afterward. It’s all just a blur.

_________

When I wake up, the first thing I notice is the added fabric over me.

Why is there a jacket covering my chest? More importantly,where the fuck is my shirt?!

Before I have time to panic, I notice Luca asleep on the floor without a pillow. “Luca!”

His body jolts as his eyes widen. “What? Are you okay?”

“Yes. What the fuck happened? And where is my shirt?” My head is pounding, and there’s an obvious ringing in my ears.

“You got drunk,” he says. “And then you took off your shirt and threw it on the floor before you fell asleep. Here.” He gets up, handing me back my crop top as my body continues to flush with embarrassment.

I hesitantly lift the fabric that’s still draped over me. “Is this your jacket?”

“Yeah. I won’t look,” he says, while turning around.

I knew he wouldn’t. Hearing him say it out loud though, is enough to relax my clenched jaw and tightened chest. After putting my top back on, the mortification really starts to kick in. I cover my face and groan, “I feel soembarrassed. Fuck.”

“Don’t worry. You’re fine. Nothing happened to you,” Luca reassures, when I clock how disheveled his hair looks and even more so how heavy his eyes are. It looks like he barely even slept.

Suddenly feeling less distraught and more grateful that I was around him during this, I meet his eyes and confess, “Thank you for taking care of me.” His lips slightly curve upwards. “I can’t believe I got drunk. This is the first time I got drunk.” The temperature of my forehead only increases as I move my hands back to my lap.

Luca’s voice grows quiet. “I know. You told me that again last night.”

My lips part in an instant, fearing whatelseI could have potentially said to him. Things that could have embarrassed me far more. “I did? I’m afraid to ask you what else I said.”

He’s looking at me like he knows something that I don’t, andI don’t like it.

I sigh. “Oh no…I did say more than that. Fuck.”

He continues to glance at me with the exact same expression, except now through slightly pursed lips. “Thatbad?” I ask.

“It was nothingbad,” he says with a trace of shyness, only confusing me further.

I’m about to ask a follow up when he takes a deep breath and says, “And about the other night…”

I shake my head. “No, it’s fine, I got it. We were both exhausted.”

“I don’t know if you and Enrique are a couple or not,” he says.

“We’re not,” I quickly say. “At least I don’t think we are.”

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