Page 73 of Hail Marry
I smile, relieved he thinks so. “Right? He needed that.”
“A hundred percent.”
“But that was an exception,” I say, mostly for my own benefit. My brain has already begun concocting scenarios where physical contact with Luca might be necessary.
What I need is time to clear my head.
I reach for my phone and check Google Maps. The route says three and a half hours now. There must be a major accident or something.
“You should just stay here tonight,” Luca says.
My eyes jump to his.
“I’ll sleep on the couch,” he offers, as if to clarify that he didn’t mean anything by his suggestion.
I look at said couch. It’s not meant for a body the width or length of his. “Would you take the pillow with you?”
His mouth quirks up at one edge. “Of course.”
I smile, then look at my phone again. Three and a half hours in traffic sounds like a nightmare, but if I stay in this room with Luca tonight…our rules will be in mortal peril. This monster inside me that wants Luca and wants him to want me? It will tear those rules to shreds.
Icould sleep on the couch. I could sleep on the floor or in the bathtub, honestly. But I have standards.
Even more than sleep, though, I need a reset, and three and a half hours in the car is a good jumpstart.
“I’m just gonna head home.” I stand up and turn to look at him. “You win the pillow. For tonight.”
He rises, towering over me. “Really generous of you to let me have my own pillow.” He jerks his head toward the door. “Come on. I’ll walk you out.”
We bag up my wet clothes and head for the hotel parking lot, both of us lost in our own thoughts.
“We’re good, right?” I say as we reach my car.
He frowns like the question comes as a surprise. “Of course.”
“Okay, I just don’t want it to be weird.”
“Nothing is weird.” He chucks me under the chin.
I smile. I can’t help it. “Good. Because I don’t do weird.”
“Agree to disagree,” he teases.
A hug seems like the right thing to do to say goodbye, but with our new rules, I don’t really know what to do, so I wait for him to make the move.
He doesn’t.
“See you later, Tori,” he says, opening my car door.
“See ya,” I say.
I have no idea when I’ll see him, but based on how soon I want it to be, I’m thinking it’ll be best to hold off for as long as possible.
17
LUCA
After mini campends on Friday, I have the week off before organized team activities get underway for the next few weeks. It’s also finals at USC.
