Page 26 of Your Sharpest Edge
The air was thick, and I wanted it to be light again. I glanced over to the clock and realized we still had four more minutes until the cookies were done.
“Your turn,” I said, hoping to bring us back to the game. “Truth or dare?”
“Dare,” he answered without missing a beat, his gaze locked on me.
I bit my lip, thinking about what I wanted to ask. “I dare you to tell me one thing you’ve been dying to say to me.”
He paused. “Are you sure you want to know?”
I nodded.
“I’ve been dying to tell you,” he began, his voice dropping to a husky whisper, “that I don’t want this night to end.”
My heart twisted, caught somewhere between longing and fear, and warmth spread through me that I hadn’t allowed myself to feel in so long. The truth of my life, the tangled mess waiting for me on the other side of this, made it impossible to pretend.
I swallowed hard, feeling the weight of the truth settle on my shoulders. “I don’t want it to end either,” I admitted, my voice barely above a whisper, “but it has to.”
He shook his head. “Truth or dare?”
His tone was a little more stoic than earlier, and I noticed how he glanced at the clock above the oven.
“Are... Are you okay?” I asked, the playful mood of our game feeling heavy all of a sudden, like a cloud had settled between us.
His head snapped toward me, and he gave my shoulder a gentle squeeze. “Yeah. Sorry. I didn’t mean to be a downer. I was... thinking.” He pulled his hand away and straightened in his chair. “Truth or dare? You better say dare.”
I let out a laugh, grateful for the return to something lighter. “Okay then. Dare.”
He leaned over the counter, scooping up some extra cookie dough on his finger. “Alright, I dare you to... lick some cookie dough off my finger.”
My cheeks heated, and I wasn’t sure if he was joking or testing me. “Are you serious?” I arched an eyebrow.
“Dead serious,” he said, holding up his index finger with a glob of dough, a teasing grin playing at his lips.
The tension that had lingered between us seemed to dissolve, and I appreciated how effortlessly we slipped back into our playful rhythm.
I took a deep breath, heart pounding, and leaned forward, sticking out my tongue as I lowered my head toward him. Just as I was about to close my lips around his finger, the shrill sound of the timer cut through the air, pulling us out of our moment.
We both froze. A flicker of disappointment crossed his face, and it echoed inside me, lingering in the space between us.
“Saved by the bell,” I murmured, but it didn’t quite have the lightness I’d intended.
The moment felt too raw, too charged, and I needed to move, to do something to break the spell.
“I’ll check on the cookies,” I said, pushing myself up from the stool.
I pulled the cookies out of the oven. They were golden and perfect, and for a moment, I let myself smile, enjoying the small victory. When I turned around, Alex was standing right behind me, so close that I could feel his warmth. He looked down at the tray as I placed it above the oven and grinned.
“You did good, Anastasia,” he said softly, and the sincerity in his voice made my chest tighten.
“Thanks... for letting me be here,” I whispered, the words heavier than I meant them to be.
“Anytime,” he murmured, and a shiver ran down my spine as he reached up to brush a stray hair from my face, tucking it gently behind my ear. “Wanna watch a movie?”
I nodded, thankful for the reprieve from the intensity of the moment. “Please.”
We settled onto the couch and fell into our usual rhythm like we had on the nights before. There was no need to fill the silence, no pressure to be anything other than ourselves. As the movie played, I glanced over at him, catching the faintest smile tugging at his lips, and I couldn’t help but smile too.
It was just the two of us, leaning into the comfort we’d found in each other, the unspoken promise between us quietly waiting, as we hung out like we always did, pretending that nothing had changed.
