Chapter 31
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Since Sophie’s been back from break, I’ve had her out experiencing something new on both Saturdays.
Two-stepping and water-tower climbing. Third Saturday in a row—gotta keep it up.
Sophie lives for this stuff, and I want her happy.
She will have everything. I’ve been working on a list of bucket-list-worthy experiences that won’t cost me an arm and a leg.
Can’t be buying yachts or flying to Tahiti.
But I’ve got a buddy lined up to lend me his motorboat when it’s warm enough to swim, and I know a place to cliff-jump safely.
With some research I found an escape room that’s supposed to be wild and a zip-lining spot in Dallas.
There’s also a cool under-twenty-one karaoke bar in Austin, but we’ll see if my cousin Caleb is up for that visit.
And if I can convince my guys on the floor, I’m gonna see if we can’t make a masquerade party happen for Valentine’s here in a few weeks.
Tonight’s adventure is just minutes from becoming reality.
I’m driving back to campus with a meal from a Levi-recommended fancy-pants restaurant that Sophie and I are gonna eat in the pitch dark.
It’s called dark dining, and I’m pretty sure she’ll get a big kick out of it.
A dark bedroom won’t work for obvious reasons, so I borrowed the Dark Lounge.
While the other Flooders were super cool about sharing it for a couple hours, the trick was clearing it with Calvin—a.k.a.
Abu, our resident adviser. He’s the one who has to walk around during Open Dorms and make sure we’re behaving ourselves.
This school’s strict rules include that doors must stay open if a girl is in the room, but an open door during a pitch-dark dinner would ruin the effect.
I swore up and down to Calvin about no funny business during Open Dorms—this time or ever—and he was kind enough to talk to his boss, Albert Hall’s resident director, into bending the rules this once.
All the favor asking has me woozy. I’ve been pulling strings left and right for Sophie reasons lately.
Speaking of which, I asked Levi and Haymitch to help me cover the windows of the Dark Lounge earlier.
Black trash bags and duct tape did the trick.
The walls are already black. With a strip below the door, absolutely nothing is visible in there.
We won’t even need blindfolds. I won’t be able to have a waiter since no one can come in or out, so Haymitch and Levi are in the lounge right now filling our water glasses and setting the table like a couple of champs.
Here in a minute, Levi’s gotta run—hot date with his own girl.
At a stoplight I text Sophie another clue.
Black is the theme of the night
Sophie
I have no idea what you’re talking about!!!!
See? She loves surprises.
I’ve been texting hints all day like “Be hungry when I pick you up” and “Can’t wait to ‘see’ you.”
But really …
What do I wear??
My girl is all about the last-minute rush.
Anything
Just be comfortable
There’s something about Sophie that makes me feel alive.
Her larger-than-life energy is contagious, a defibrillator that zaps my heart into a better beat.
Another guy might wear a snazzy suit tonight, but I’m—wait for it—dressed like Zorro.
Black tee with black jeans. When I get back, I’m gonna loop a red tie like a belt.
I even cut eyeholes into a black strip of fabric.
It’s in my pocket, so I gotta remember to throw that on too.
I know, it’s barely related to a dinner in the dark.
But she loves Zorro, and he wears black.
She brings this out in me—this playful, reckless side I forgot I had.
A side that feels a lot more like me than anything has in years.
It’s an addictive cycle. Sophie grins and draws closer, and suddenly I’m free.
Free to be wild, to let loose, to have fun.
And the more I lean in, the happier she is.
I’ll never forget that first trip to B-Dubs, before our crew was even a thing.
Sophie argued with me about country music, and a flash of brazen, cocky, and reckless ignited in me after lying dormant for years.
The part of me that used to mastermind middle school pranks and organize all-out Capture the Flag battles.
The part that peeked out when I first moved to Flooders but got buried under homework and football.
I had let it go when Dad’s back went out.
When I saw him covering everything and stepped up to help.
When I realized that football made him happier than anything else, and I threw myself into it.
Wouldn’t change a second of it. He was proud of me.
It all mattered to him. But those two years before his surgery were long.
Irreversible. After, I kept pushing—more explosive, more elusive, more relentless.
Every extra sprint, every brutal drill, every ounce of exhaustion was worth it when I looked up and saw him in the stands.
The tall, quiet guy, pumping his fist and screaming like a lunatic. I lived for that.
Hot food in hand, I thank my overachieving buddies about seven zillion times. All the favors.
Then, jogging to Griffin Hall, I text Sophie that I’m outside.
She’s yours first, God. Keep me in check.
When she flies out, I nearly fall over, and it’s not because she slams into me with a Sophie tackle-hug.
She’s dangerous—jaw-dropping—in a stretchy black thing that bounces up when she runs.
I’m the Luckiest Dude Alive. Except, I planned a dinner where I can’t even look at her?
Make that World’s Biggest Idiot. Someone start printing plaques.
“Soph, just wow. What is this thing?”
She glances down. “I know. It’s just a—like a workout dress. It’s not even real clothes …”
Like she’s about to play a vicious game of tennis. And then do a backflip off a building. All angles and elegance, power and precision, like someone designed this little dress to showcase her perfectly … and to ruin me slowly.
She turns to badge in. “Sorry, I just don’t have much black, and you said comfortable. I’ll change—”
I grab her hand and tug her back to me. “Don’t you dare.” With a kiss on her temple, her ear, my hands sneak around her back, to her waist. Drop to her hips. And stay there. It’s safer here. “I’ve never seen you in this.”
“Yeah.” She studies her sneakers. “I don’t really … fill it out.”
“What?” It comes out a growl.
A blush creeps across her cheeks.
“If you heard the thoughts I’m trying to get rid of,” I murmur in her ear, “you’d need to dump me. And you’d never think that again.”
Her eyes widen before she tucks her face into my chest.
Oh—I dig the mask out of my pocket and pull it over my head.
She gasps. “Are you Zorro??” She curls around my neck, bouncing again. “I’m dying. Tell me, tell me. Where are we going?”
“We’re gonna have to go out after, Sparky. I can’t waste this dress.”
“Waste it? What does that even mean? Austin, you’re torturing me with suspense!”
Her voice wraps around my name. I wish she’d say it again.
“You’ll see.” With a nod, I direct her toward Flooders.
Those gorgeous long legs speed over the field in record time. Halfway across, she halts, pulls my face close, her hands gripping my jaw. “New letters?” she whispers.
No time to reply about The Game before she presses a heart-stopping kiss to my lips. And then continues dragging me across the field.
Luckiest. Dude. Alive.
We’ve barely stepped onto the floor when the guys pounce, throwing jabs and peppering Sophie with questions.
She’s laughing, eating it up, and I can’t stop staring—only making it worse for myself.
I deserve the merciless teasing … I’m so gone for her.
And she deserves this full Flooders welcome.
It’s standard trash talk, but there’s an undercurrent of awe.
I’m not just settling down. I’m settling down with her.
Flashing them my cockiest grin, I pull her closer.
Leo’s door stays closed.
I dip down. “See what I put up with, dating someone out of my league?”
Her laugh stills for a second, and I wonder if she’s thinking that this is the same floor that watched her try to make it work with Leo.
But then she plants a noisy, over-the-top kiss on my cheek.
The guys lose it, and I about melt into the ancient carpet.
She backed me up. Claimed me right back.
Hiding it, I turn to the guys and spread my arms wide, like Let’s go.
Their laughter fades behind us as I steer her toward the Dark Lounge. But when I open the door, her shoulders droop. Give me a chance, woman. It’s not just a movie.
Levi strolls by in his fancy pants, looking like a million bucks, sort of literally.
“Attaboy,” I call.
“Attaboy yourself. Keep your hands to yourself, Sophie!”
She laughs.
And then he sends me a look that says Careful, bro. He’s not wrong. This is dangerous territory.
We step into the Dark Lounge, and I click the door shut behind us. Pitch. Black.
“Uhh.” She’s confused, but not scared.
“Okay, Soph. We’re gonna try out dark dining. Apparently eating in the dark makes you more aware of your other senses.”
She gasps.
“We get exactly twenty minutes. It’s picnic-style. Everything’s on the floor, so watch out, okay?”
A beautiful smile must accompany the clapping I hear. As I guide her in roughly the right direction, she starts singing “Into the Unknown.” Frozen, maybe?
I toe the blanket on the floor. “Here.”
Sitting across from her was the plan, but why would I want to be farther from her than absolutely necessary? Instead, the second plate lands beside hers as I lower next to her.
“This. Is. Amazing. What are we eating?”
“Italian. I got us the sampler platter so you can try everything.”
“Austin.”
Chills run up my spine. My name. That tone.
“Yeah?”
“Thank you,” she whispers.
Breathe.
Can’t ditch the dinner and kiss her all twenty minutes. Just breathe.
“At least try the food before you gas me up like that,” I say.
“Or maybe it’ll be gross and we’ll need a backup plan.”
My heart misfires. I guess we’ll be having that talk now. “I was thinking, maybe no kissing until after we eat? You know, to keep things PG in here.”
“Mm. I don’t love that plan. I’ll make you a deal, mister.”
She’s so adorable I can hardly stand it. I sit on my hands.
“No kisses on the mouth, but I can’t promise I won’t kiss your cheek or your hand or something.”
Her lips on me. “Okay.” Like I’m being strangled.
“Okay,” she says, a smile in her voice.
Her hand finds my shoulder. It follows the line of my arm and pulls my hand from under me. Her perfect lips kiss my palm. Ecstasy. Ridiculous that something so small could send me there.
My kissed hand follows her face to her neck to her shoulder to her arm all the way down, and I do the same to her hand.
A tiny moan escapes her mouth, and I’m living one second at a time. Good thing the lights are off. Who knows what crazy expression is on my face.
Gotta tone this down. The dark setup is working too well. “Hungry?”
“Starving.”
I position her hand on her plate. She must figure it out, because I hear the slide of her fork and “mmm” and chewing.
It’s not just dark in here—it’s quiet. I hear every sound she makes, every time she readjusts her weight.
I’m hyperaware and loving every minute. The food’s good I think, but I’m pretty distracted.
“You eating it up?” I joke.
She giggles at my pun. Only for Sophie.
We chat a little, but I’m nervous and my banter isn’t the best.
Finally I hear, “All done. That was incredible, Austin.”
Look, I love to eat, but I can’t drop my fork fast enough. I move my hand cautiously until I catch her shoulder. Rise up on my knees, edge closer. A kiss to her shoulder. Her neck. Her cheek. Her ear.
“Say my name again,” I whisper. Hope she doesn’t think I’m a weirdo.
Her hands find my face in the dark. She goes straight for a kiss on my lips.
Oh wow.
“Austin.”
Oh. Wow.
Her hands skim lower, and she kisses my ear. “Austin.” Down to my neck. “Austin.” She trails back up, finds my face again. Another kiss.
Heart. Slamming.
Million degrees in here. Need to breathe. Need to think.
I scoot back an inch and run a hand through my hair.
Help. Did I foul this up? How do I get out of this one?
“Soph?” Hoarse voice. Great. “I, uh. No more kisses for a sec, ’kay?”
I did it. Said something. Hardest part’s over. She’s got me.
“Okay.”
Why does her voice have to sound so beautiful? I can’t even see her, and I’m dying over here.
She slides her hands from my face to my shoulder and lays her head there. I kiss it and move my hand chastely across her upper back as I try to recover.
A knock on the door. “Time’s up, Samwise.”
There’s no way it’s been twenty minutes. No way.
“Got it, Abu,” I call. “Out in a sec.” I pull my phone out of my pocket. “Get ready for some light.”
I turn on the flashlight and check Sophie. She’s squinting. Glowing.
And the way she’s staring at me? Guaranteed that’ll be the last thing I see before I die.