Be My Forever

Chapter 29

When my consciousness came back, I felt hot. The feeling of having someone holding me in bed was nice. I sighed from contentment. Until it clicked in my mind that I had no idea who was holding me. My eyes flew open. This wasn’t my room!

“Oh my gods.”

The place was clean, tidy, and the walls had the same creamy colour as mine. My blood turned to ice. Oh, fuck me. This couldn’t be true. As I tried to get up, the arms around me tightened their grip.

“Stop moving. It’s early.”

Oh no. Oh no no no. What have I done? Of all the places I could’ve landed, this was the only one I should have avoided at all costs. I jumped from the bed, but the dizziness from the hangover caught me fast. I grabbed the desk to steady myself.

“Evy, stop fretting so much.”

How could he be so calm about it? Danté finally sat up, with nothing but his pyjama pants on. The sun gave his naked torso a soft golden glow. A weird part of me wanted to mark his skin. If those were my thoughts while being sober, I was afraid to imagine what I had done a few hours ago. I couldn’t even remember meeting him at the College. I gulped down some air. Here we go .

“Have we…?”

My voice died down. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get the words out. Danté sensed my distress. He stayed silent a few seconds too long, enough to make my anxiety creep up and make me nauseous. Bastard .

He huffed out a laugh. “No.”

“Oh, thank goodness.”

The icy panic in my limbs went down, and I fell back against the desk. Except that by doing so, I gave him a full view of my ass, and the little black panties I wore couldn’t hide much. I straightened and tugged at the faded blue t-shirt. I wanted to burn that piece of fabric.

Danté smirked, an evil twinkle in his beautiful eyes. “Though you were very insistent on trying to get in my pants. I almost had to tie you to a chair.”

I should have been relieved that he stopped me. I would have been even more mortified if I had to face him after we had actually slept together. Except that I couldn’t stop the disappointment from blooming inside my chest. And embarrassment. So much embarrassment.

“Someone kill me, please.”

“Don’t worry. You were completely wasted.”

“That never stopped you before.”

The words left my mouth before I could think. Danté crossed his arms over his abs, which I tried to ignore as best as I could. He had brought so many drunk girls here. Why would I be the exception? I waited for him to bite back, but he didn’t. I just grabbed my clothes that were folded on the nightstand.

“I am sorry for the inconvenience. This must have been as mortifying for you last night as it is for me now.”

All I wanted to do was go back to my own room and wallow in self-pity for as long as I could. A little smile played on his lips. Had I kissed him? If I did, I wish I could remember. I wanted more memories than a few stolen kisses in a half-lit staircase. Because now my chances were over. Stupid little Evy with her stupid puppy crush on her neighbour.

“Evelyn, please calm down. You look like you’ll combust any time soon. I don’t mind.”

I don’t mind . Just great.

“Because I’m not your type. I know.”

Danté sighed but kept his cool. How he did it, I had no clue. I would hit my own head against the wall if it wasn’t already pounding.

“You are my type. I already said so.”

“Stop joking. I’m standing in your bedroom with nothing on but see-through underwear and a shirt every single one of your one-night stands has worn. This really isn’t funny.”

“Why would I be joking?”

I let myself lean against his desk, holding my black dress against my stomach like armour. Like that piece of cloth would be able to keep me standing once I had to walk out of that door. The words tumbled out of my mouth. “Because I’ve had the biggest crush on you since we met, and you pity me.”

He flashed me his toothy smile, where his eyes disappeared in crescent moons. That was the man I had liked from the start. The one that actually smiled at people and was very kind and compassionate. Not the one whose anger was cold and terrifying, albeit very hot.

“You are adorable.”

“See? You’re pitying me!”

He threw one of the pillows at me. I had a hard time catching it, my limbs heavy. I was preparing myself mentally for what would follow. Danté laughed. Why was he so happy?

“Oh, Evelyn, shut up. You literally live on the other side of the hall. If I didn’t like you, I would have put you in your own bed.”

That was a rather good point. Hope fluttered in the organ hidden under my ribs. I just hoped he wouldn’t break it.

“Really?”

“Of course.”

I bit my lip, a gesture that didn’t go unnoticed. His eyes dropped to my mouth.

“Then why did you stop me last night?”

Danté snapped his head back up. There was no judgement in his eyes. “Because I don’t want you to be a drunk one-night stand.”

“Huh, but… I am very confused right now.”

I tilted my head to the side. Drunk one-night stands were our thing. Danté got up and made the bed. His muscles moved under his smooth skin. Skin I could’ve scratched and marked if he had let me.

“I’m not. Get dressed, and we’ll talk about it around breakfast.”

“Do you mind if I change at my own place? I don’t feel like getting breakfast in high heels.”

Or in a tight black dress that smelled like alcohol and cigarettes.

“Please do. But don’t forget to give me my shirt back.”

My cheeks heated. Could this morning be even weirder?

“Oh, right,” I stammered.

He had seen most of what was underneath it anyway, I supposed. As I started tugging at the shirt, Danté grabbed my wrists.

“I didn’t say right here and now! Go back to your apartment!”

“Right…”

I could hear Danté snicker as I grabbed my pumps and handbag before opening the front door. I shot a quick glance in the hall; luckily no one was around. I quickly opened my own apartment. Jasmine and Theo were sitting at our kitchen table, eating a breakfast made of cereal and orange juice out of a box. Both turned to meet me. Theo’s attention fell on the t-shirt that was clearly not mine, that barely covered my intimate parts.

“Well, someone had a rough night,” he said, all smiles.

Not as rough as my morning had been.

“I’ll quickly take a shower.”

Jasmine followed me inside the bathroom. She crossed her arms while I waited for the water to warm.

“So, how was your night?”

“Honestly, I am relieved to not remember anything. Danté said I almost tore his clothes off.”

I shivered. Yeah, I really didn’t want to remember that. Maybe having been that drunk was a good thing. I shook my head.

“Good, he kept his promise then.”

Wait. She knew?

Jasmine blinked once. “You told Danté Theo wanted to ‘bang a loooot’, if I recall it correctly. So Danté refused to let me take you home.”

He had babysat me, basically. Moments like these should convince me to stop drinking so much if that was what I got afterward, except they never did.

I made a face. “Well, I hope you banged a lot, then.”

Jasmine laughed. “We did. Are you going out?”

“He wants to talk.”

She nodded. “Please be honest with him. You know you can’t continue the way you do.”

My heartbeat sped up. In the heat of the moment, I hadn’t really thought about what our talk would look like. One thing was sure, this was the talk we were supposed to have months ago. The one that would determine what would happen to us. Even though I felt nervous, things didn’t seem as grim as I had been eyeing them all these months.

I sighed. “I’ll be honest.”

“Good.”

***

I didn’t waste time with makeup like I normally did. If there was a chance I would walk out of the café with red, puffy eyes, there was no need to add smudged mascara to the lot.

Danté was already sitting at our booth when I walked inside Hot Stuff. The familiar sound of the bell calmed my nerves ever so slightly. His hair was still damp from the shower.

“So, what are you getting? A healthy smoothie? Lots of protein?”

I rolled my eyes at the jab. How could I believe for a mere second that Danté would stop teasing me? Most of my panic went up in smoke.

“First of all, rude. How dare you stereotype me like this? I want to help people in their relationship with food, and keeping them from eating stuff they like or crave is just the fastest road to failure. So no, I am going to indulge myself with a big plate of pancakes. And secondly, juices aren’t good actually. It increases the blood sugar levels.”

Now it was his turn to roll his eyes. If this was supposed to be a sort of date, things between us felt as comfortable as they had always been. Well, before I blew everything up, that is.

“Alright, Miss Knows It All. Understood.”

“Are you mocking me?”

I grabbed the menu and hit him in the arm. Danté showed the palms of his hands in surrender. I dropped my makeshift weapon.

“I would never.”

“Of course you wouldn’t. What will you get?”

Danté put a theatrical hand on his chest. “A sweet coffee, eggs, and toast with lots of butter.”

The sweet drink and unholy amount of butter did sound amazing.

“Good.”

My stomach grumbled as if it agreed. Pancakes it was. And a hot chocolate milk with speculoos and lots of whipped cream. Chloe appeared with her little notebook to take our orders. Every now and then, she shot me a questioning look, but ended up grinning before going back to the kitchen. I danced on my chair. This breakfast was making me excited. Danté stared at me, and I stopped moving. Him being so serious could only mean one thing.

“I’ll get to the point since you’re not going to talk first,” he started.

Danté clasped his hands together on the table. I found myself fidgeting under his intense gaze. This was it. My palms grew sweaty.

“I care about you. More than a friend should.”

His gaze was so intense that I couldn’t hold it, so I looked at my hands instead. The sound of blood rushing through my veins was so loud that I could barely hear my surroundings anymore.

“You shouldn’t say things like this.”

“Why not, if I mean them?”

My hands held the edge of the table until my joints turned white. It was time to be upfront. “Because you never commit. Pretty words leave your mouth all the time, but you never commit. So tell me what you want, because I can’t do this anymore.”

All this going back and forth between us was tiring, and heartbreaking in its own way. I wanted him. Since the day we met, he had become the person I wanted to share my life with. I couldn’t keep sharing my life with him if he wasn’t going to be serious.

Danté leaned over the table and kissed me in front of the whole café. I found myself too stunned to react.

“You. I want you. Is that clear enough?”

I could feel a dumb smile creep up my face as I looked away. I nodded. “I think so.”

Chloe put our orders on the table, and I bit my tongue to not tell her to fuck off, in a loving way. She had seen everything. Oh gods, so things were real now? I took a bite of my fluffy pancake to let it sink in.

“Does that mean you and I are, like, a thing?”

“There is no “like”. We are a thing.”

There was still a shadow looming over us, one that kept me from jumping from my chair and doing a happy dance. It would be easier to just be an ostrich like I always was. Being an ostrich wouldn’t help me out now. If anything, it would only give me anxiety in the long run.

“What about Manal?” I asked, doing my best to keep the uncertainty out of my voice.

“What about her?” Danté asked back, sipping from his drink. How could he not see?

“Is she family?”

“No.”

His cool and his obliviousness made me want to hit some sense into him. I gulped some air down.

“Is she gay?”

Danté’s eyebrows went up. “No, she’s not. Why do you even ask?”

“I need to know if I have to keep my eyes open whenever she’s around.”

More like I needed to know if there had been any reason for me to be so afraid of her in the first place. Danté was here with me; it had to count for something. Danté scrutinized my face. I wasn’t sure of what he found there. When he offered his hand across the table, I took it and held on tight. His touch was soothing.

“She’s one of my closest friends, so she’ll be around plenty of the time. But no, there’s no reason to be afraid of our friendship. It’s just that: friendship.”

This was what I needed to hear. I nodded, suddenly feeling lightheaded. Maybe Manal and I could be friends then, if there were no ambiguous feelings between her and Danté.

“Shouldn’t you ask me out then? In an official way.”

There was a short silence. One that didn’t prepare me for what he was about to unleash.

“I didn’t know that was still required after you did a striptease and tried to get in my pants.”

I choked on my chocolate milk and splashed whipped cream over the table. My cheeks became hotter than a furnace. I didn’t know what would be better: to hit myself unconscious against the tabletop or to smack Danté senseless. The mischievous smirk on his lips told me how much he enjoyed embarrassing me.

I wiped my mouth with a napkin before cleaning the mess I made on the table. “Oh my God! Can you not bring that up?”

“No,” he simply said. “I’ll bring this up many, many times.”

I let my head fall in my hands. This was so embarrassing. He gently patted my forearm.

“Alright, Squirrel. Let’s date. How about that?”

I smiled. Embarrassed or not, this was what I wanted. He was the one that I wanted.

“I thought you’d never ask.”

***

When we were back in front of our doors, I didn’t know what to do. It was strange to go from friends to more. Was I supposed to kiss him or ask him to come inside? Let’s be honest. I was bad at relationships. Robert had been the only person I ever dated, and when he started to see us as something too serious for my liking, I had called things off.

Danté let go of my hand to fish his key out of his pocket. There was a happy glow on his cheeks. When he looked back at me, I hesitated.

“Everything alright?”

“Yes!” I almost yelled.

Danté raised a humoured brow, and I let myself fall back against the wall. There was no point in pretending with him, nor was there any point in wanting to impress him. Danté had seen me at my lowest, my worst, my best, my most awkward, and my horniest. And he was still here. And he had still asked me out. I sighed.

“I’m not so good with relationships. I don’t know what to do,” I admitted quietly.

“Just be yourself. That’s how you got me.”

I felt myself grin at that. I still couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that Danté was my boyfriend. A part of me wanted to open a window and sing and yodel my heart out. Luckily for others, I couldn’t yodel.

“I guess I did.”

He leaned down to press a sweet kiss to my lips. As he pulled back, I grabbed him by his sweater.

“Not so fast.”

The corners of his mouth tilted upwards. “Yes, milady?”

“You can’t just give me a simple kiss and disappear afterward.”

His little smile turned toothy, and his dimples appeared. Gods, how was he so beautiful? Then he kissed me again, ever so softly. Again, and again, without tongue or teeth. It was perfect. His mouth was smooth and warm, and it tasted like coffee. And it was mine now. My hand crumpled the fabric of his sweater.

When we were both breathless, Danté pulled back. “There you go.”

“Can I ask you to stay?”

“Naughty Squirrel, are you trying to get in my pants again?”

I let out an outraged gasp and poked him in the ribs. Except that Danté poked me back, and once he started to tickle me, I had to surrender.

“No sex. I need to patch up my bruised ego first. And build up the tension again.”

Danté laughed, his head falling back. I had no doubt that sex with him would be wild. Just like it would take me a long time to get used to him. Danté hadn’t wanted us to be a drunk one-night stand. I wanted us to have something solid before sex would be involved. Never had I expected us to stand where we stood today. I could wait.

“Don’t worry, Squirrel, we have all the time in the world.”

We did. The idea alone made me giddy.

I pouted. “Shouldn’t you stop calling me Squirrel now?”

“Do I have to? I like it.”

“You really don’t want to call me babe or love?”

It would be weird to hear him say it at first. At the same time, my heart was beating a bit faster at the idea alone.

“You are a babe, and you are lovely. But you’re the only one I call Squirrel.”

I almost cooed at how adorable that was. Was that why he always gave me that ridiculous nickname? An evil idea appeared in my head.

“Then I can keep calling you Alighieri?”

His smile fell. “Fine! I’ll stop calling you Squirrel.”

I hugged his middle. Danté hugged me back.

“Call me whatever you want. If you like it, I like it.”

“Now now, Squirrel, don’t get all mushy on me.”

“You know my love for romcoms. Of course I am mushy.”

He tousled my hair before opening his door. My heart fell to the floor. Was this it?

Danté turned back to me. “I have some paperwork to do. How about you stay at mine instead?”

I looped my arm with his. “If you insist.”