Page 150 of Built to Fall
“I shouldn’t even tell you what I was coming over here to say to you,” she mutters as she pulls away.
I cup her jaw in my hands, looking her right in those beautiful doe eyes. “Tell me.”
“I was going to suck it up, come over here, and tell you that I would rather have no strings than nothing at all,” she says in one tortured breath. “I was fully prepared for it to mean nothing to you, but it was better than itactuallybeing nothing for me.”
“That’s exactly what I didn’t want,” I tell her honestly.
We’re still in the middle of the hallway. I’m sure we’re going to make it back down to my apartment eventually, but right now, I need her to hear this.
“I didn’t want you to conform to me, pretty girl. I promise you, I want you to speak your mind, bitch me out, andneversettle for when I give you anything less than what you want. It’s exactly why you’re different for me, Lina.”
Her lips part slightly, and I can see her eyes beginning to shine again—but this time, it’s not sadness.
“Okay,” she whispers.
“Okay?” I echo, my thumb brushing under her eye.
She smiles—small at first, then like the sun cracking through the clouds. “Let’s go back to your apartment.”
I motion toward her door. “Grab your bag, and we can go.”
The second she begins to open the door, we hear the sound of her roommates scrambling out of the entryway.
Lina looks back at me with the door still almost all the way closed and laughs.
I hold her shoulder. “Give them a minute to pretend they weren’t eavesdropping.”
She bites back a smile and then leans her forehead against the door.
From inside, we hear a whisper, “Shit, shit, move, go—” and the unmistakable sound of socked feet skidding across hardwood.
A muffled thud.
Then silence.
Lina looks at me over her shoulder, eyes sparkling now. “You think that’s long enough?”
I grin. “Better give it another five seconds for dramatic effect.”
We count together under our breath. “Five… four… three… two…”
She opens the door with a flourish. “Hi, guys!”
The living room is empty. Suspiciously so. A throw pillow lies abandoned in the middle of the floor, and someone’s half-drunk smoothie is sweating on the coffee table. The hallway light flicks off a beat too late, like someonejustducked out of sight.
Lina chuckles and grabs her tote from the hook by the door. “Subtle, they are not.”
“Honestly, I respect the effort,” I say, reaching for her hand as she locks the door behind her.
“Oh, hey guys!” Eden says, pretending to just now exit her room. “What’s up?”
Lina raises an eyebrow at her. “The gig is up. We know the three of you were listening by the door.”
She freezes, knowing she’s been caught red-handed.
Meredith and Kara both come out of another bedroom, and they look just as guilty.
“We can talk about this tomorrow,” Lina says easily, dipping into her room to grab the normal bag she brings when she spends the night at my place. “I have to change real quick.”
