18. Niall
CHAPTER 18
NIALL
Sitting across from Eli, fork in hand, I still couldn’t believe we’d gotten here. Less than friendly—that was one way to describe how I’d been toward him when he first showed up at Michigan U. Closed off. Guarded. And now?
Now, I was eating breakfast with him, the same guy I’d grumbled at just weeks ago, like it was the most normal thing in the world.
It wasn’t just the food, though the butter- and maple-syrup-topped pancakes were pretty damn good, even if I was still skeptical about his whole ‘ Cooking is love ’ philosophy. It was… everything else. The way the conversation flowed, easy and unforced. The way Eli smiled like this was exactly how he’d planned his morning to go.
The way I noticed things about him.
Like how his eyes crinkled at the corners when he laughed. How he talked with his hands, always moving, like he had too much energy to keep contained. How he took tiny bites but still managed to eat like he was starving.
I’d been so focused on keeping my distance before. Now, I wasn’t sure I wanted to.
Eli caught me looking. His gaze held mine, and something passed between us, something I couldn’t name but could feel. A charge in the air, a hum beneath my skin. His lips parted slightly like he was about to say something, but then he just smiled and shook his head a little before he reached for his coffee.
I took a sip of mine, ignoring the way my chest tightened. Whatever that moment had been, I wasn’t ready to think about it.
Instead, I cleared my throat and set my mug down. “I, uh… I gotta admit. You had a lot of patience teaching me how to do all this.”
Eli smirked. “That’s your way of saying I’m a great teacher, huh?”
“Don’t push it.”
He laughed, nudging my foot under the table. And just like that, the tension eased.
But something stuck with me. Something I wanted to do.
It would take a couple of days to set up, and maybe it was stupid, but the idea lodged itself in my brain before I could shake it loose. The thought of showing Eli—of seeing his reaction—made something leap in my chest, sharp and fast.
I froze, gripping my fork.
What the hell was that?
I barely recognized myself lately.
Before I could spiral, Eli checked his phone and groaned. “Shit. We’re running late.”
The easy, lingering pace of breakfast shattered. Chairs scraped, dishes clattered. We moved in sync, grabbing plates, stacking them in the sink.
“Damn,” Eli muttered, glancing down at himself. “I’m a mess.”
He wasn’t wrong. Flour streaked his arms, and the batter had somehow made its way onto his collarbone. I wasn’t in much better shape.
Without hesitation, Eli reached for the hem of his shirt and tugged it over his head.
My brain short-circuited… even while he casually draped his shirt over the back of a chair. Like it was nothing. Like it was just another part of cleaning up.
Then he turned toward me.
And the view…
His chest—lean but defined—held my attention for all of two seconds before my gaze caught on something else.
His nipples.
Pierced.
Two small silver barbells caught the light, mocking me.
I swallowed hard.
I was staring.
Shit.
Eli, completely unaware, turned back to the sink, rinsing dishes like he hadn’t just turned my brain inside out.
I yanked off my own shirt before I could think twice, as if that would help, as if being equally shirtless would even the playing field. It didn’t.
Because now I was hyperaware of every movement he made. The flex of his arms. The smooth stretch of golden skin. The way a single droplet of water ran down his chest and?—
Fuck.
I draped my shirt over the next chair.
Thoughts I had no business thinking rushed in—what those piercings would feel like under my fingertips. What they’d taste like if I…
No. No, absolutely the hell not.
This was ridiculous.
Ludicrous.
I had no idea where these thoughts were coming from.
Or maybe I did. Maybe I’d just been ignoring them.
“Okay, no more stalling,” Eli said, shutting off the sink and shaking his hands dry. “We have, what? Fifteen minutes?”
I blinked, struggling to process words.
Then I glanced at my own phone.
Shit.
Fifteen minutes to shower, change, and get to our respective classes.
“Who gets the bathroom first?” Eli asked, tilting his head with a half-smirk.
I exhaled slowly, forcing my thoughts into order. “Toss a coin?”
He grinned. “You got a coin?”
“…No.”
Eli laughed, shoving at my shoulder as he moved past me. “Too slow, Captain. I’m going first.”
I scowled at his back as he disappeared into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him.
And then I exhaled.
Hard.
Bracing my hands on the counter, I let my head drop between my shoulders.
I needed to get it together.
It was just a piercing.
Two piercings.
Silver.
On Eli’s?—
Fuck.
I was in trouble.