Page 78 of Keep Me Never
Does she feel the same way?
If not yet, could she?
Somewhere deep down, I find the courage to hope the answer is yes, because something tells me, if it’s a no, it will be the hit I can’t get up from.
“I can’t eat another bite, or I’ll explode.” Payton drops back on the picnic table, sighing into the night.
“Boo, you only ate half!” Cameron drunkenly hiccups, asking for the rest of Payton’s ice cream, having already finished her own. “Come on, Big Guy. Time to put me to sleep.”
Brady hops up so fast, the rest of us chuckle. He sweeps her legs from under her and jogs toward her dorm building, with her bridal style in his arms.
I raise a brow at Mason. “I take it your sister’s staying the night at your house?”
“Yep.” He laughs, climbing to his feet as well and tugging Payton to hers. “Come on, baby. Our little man will be up early. Let’s not skip out on any sleep we can get.”
“You just want to sneak into your Tahoe before we go inside,” she teases, but there is no protest in her voice.
He laughs loudly, wraps her up, and winks our way. “Night.”
Paige waves them away, and I nod my chin, turning back to her.
She smiles and hops down, picking up the others’ ice cream cups, so I grab the last few and follow her to the trash bin. We fall in line together, heading toward her dorm building.
“You know,” she says as we get closer. “I think the last party I went to with you—well, not with you but that you were actually at—might have been last year at Halloween. That was almost a year ago now.” She peeks over at me. “You remember that?”
“Oh, trust me.” I chuckle. “I remember. You all dressed as the Powerpuff Girls and us guys about had a heart attack.”
She smiles. “I don’t know. Brady seemed pleased to see Cam in that.”
“Yeah, ’cause he was still pretending they were just friends and not already falling in love with each other.”
She smiles at the grass, and I reach for her hand, threading our fingers together. “I slept in your dorm that night.”
“You did. And you know what I did?”
“Snuck out before I woke up and sent Cam in to get me and make sure I made it out and home safe?”
“Guilty.” I chuckle. “But before that I counted to a thousand, forward and backward, trying to calm down and keep myself from climbing out of bed and picking you up because I couldn’t stand the thought of you under Brady’s covers.” I look ahead, at the path. “I just wanted to put you down in mine.”
“What?!” she laughs, tugging on my hand a little. “Are you serious?”
“Yep.” I chuckle, spinning and picking her up, her little legs coming around me, arms wrapping around my neck. “You drove me crazy, Angel. Even when you didn’t know it.”
“I wanted to drive you crazy, but I didn’t think it was working,”she admits, sliding her lips over mine. “I’m not good at the whole flirty stuff, but I wanted you to see me. You just never gave me any indication that you did.”
Regret rolls through me, and I run my knuckle along her cheek. “I know. That was me trying to figure my own shit out. I wouldn’t have been able to be any good to you at the time.”
Her forehead falls to mine. “And now?”
I take a deep breath, smiling softly, maybe a little sorrowfully. I don’t reiterate what I already shared, that I’m still not sure I’m worth the hassle. That I might be nothing but a disappointment in the end, but I hope. “Now I just hope I can be because I feel good, Paige. About us. This.”
“Me too,” she whispers.
Some of the weight lifts off my shoulders at her confession and I hold her a little tighter.
As we reach her dorm door, she slides down, tapping her key card and pushing it open. I walk her to her dorm room, no one even batting an eye—one, because it’s college, and two, this building is coed.
I tug her to me, kissing her good night, but she pulls back, biting on her lip anxiously.
