30 #2
I weakly smile and nod, telling her it’s okay to continue.
She hesitates before she pushes herself onto her knees, reaching my height better.
I tilt my head back to watch her as her breathing increases.
Shaky hands brush my hair back from my forehead before she leans down to place a gentle kiss there.
All the while, my heart has left my chest and come back pounding harder than it ever has before.
No one’s kissed my forehead. Maybe my mom when I was a kid, and I was sick, but this is different.
She’s so gentle with me. Like she’s afraid I’ll break.
Or she’s afraid she’ll do the wrong thing.
But she never could. I’m the one who keeps messing everything up.
She slowly sits back on her legs, keeping her hand in my hair.
“You deserve good things, Huxley Adams,” she says to me. “You deserve everything great in the world.”
My heart wants to sing from her words, but my mind keeps on screaming, You don’t know me!
She doesn’t, and she probably never will. But that doesn’t stop me from loving her the way I do. And I’ll never stop loving her. Even when all the air leaves my lungs and my heart stops beating, Valentina Demarco will still be the love of my life.
I shake my head, and she frowns. “Huxley—”
“I don’t deserve you.” And I never will.
Val stares at me in confusion as she stiffly shakes her head. “I’m not great.”
I reach for her, holding her face tightly in my grasp. “You’re amazing.”
I could kiss her right now. But if I did, I’d never stop. So I lean forward and turn my head at the last second to press a soft kiss to her cheek. She shivers from the almost kiss, so I trail my lips up to her ear. “Not yet, Love.”
She nods and turns her head to look back out at the stars.
“They really are so beautiful.” I turn my head to look out at them, too. “So calming.”
I smile at her. “You’re welcome.”
“For what?”
I gesture to the sky. “Who drove you out to see the stars?”
“The truck.”
I glare at her, breaking down her straight face and pulling her beautiful smile out.
This girl.
“Come here, you.”
Val yelps and jumps off the tailgate, giggling as she runs away from me. I chase after her, nearly catching her a few times before she turns out of reach. Every time, her bright smile shines back at me as she giggles and continues to run.
There’s joy in this moment. Joy I thought I had lost a long time ago. But she brings it out of me like it’s nothing. Truly, the sunshine on a cloudy day.
I finally catch her, eliciting a scream from her that turns into a laugh as I spin her around. My lips press to her ear. “Gotcha, Love.”
She turns around in my arms and weakly hits my chest. “I was at a disadvantage.”
I raise a brow at her. “And what was that disadvantage exactly?”
“Height.”
Both my eyebrows go up this time. “Height?”
She nods. “You have longer legs since you’re taller than me. Which means you cover more ground faster.”
I nod slowly. “Fair point.” Then I drop down and lift her by her thighs, earning a cute gasp as she grips my shoulders for support. I set her down on the edge of the truck and lay my arms on either side of her thighs, wrapping my hands around her back to keep her in place.
“There,” I say, staring up at her. “Now you’re taller than me.”
Val’s wide eyes stare down at me, and I’d give anything to stay here forever. Her looking at me with the stars behind her is a picture I will keep locked in my mind.
She slowly slides her hands up my shoulders, pulling me up with them so I’m standing straight. Being at eye level with her takes me back to Freshman year, when we talked on the stairs after our first class together. God, things are so different now.
She twists her fingers in my hair and does something I honestly didn’t expect her to do. She opens her legs a little wider around me. I glance down and feel my heart beg to jump out of my chest. But I just take a step closer to her, letting my hands rest on her thighs.
“This okay?” I whisper.
She nods. “It’s okay.”
I want to kiss her now. We’re in the perfect position, and her lips are drawing me in. But she looks up at the sky, and I know she isn’t ready.
“It’s like the sky’s split into two. Like we’re in two places at once.”
I glance up and see what she sees. The star-filled sky, more faded on one side by the city's lights.
“Where would you go if you could be in two places at once?”
She continues to stare up at the sky as she smiles. “I’d be in New York.”
“For your brother?”
She nods and looks at me. “And the city is just amazing. But it doesn’t have stars either.”
I hesitate, then take a step closer to her, pulling a deep breath from her chest that pushes it into mine. “And where else?” I whisper.
Her hands tighten in my hair. “I kind of like where I am.”
I swallow hard, attempting to keep my heart in my chest.
My hands move up her thighs and to her hips. She shivers and grips my hair tighter as my nose gently brushes against hers. I smirk and lean up to kiss her forehead, letting mine rest against hers after.
“I like where I am, too.”
Her voice is shaky as she asks, “What about your other place?”
But I shake my head. “Just here.”
She pulls back to look at me, surprised by my answer. But I smile at her. And she smiles back.
“Just here,” she repeats.
And now I know. I know for certain that we are okay. And I also know that I will never forget Valentina Demarco. No matter if the stars stop shining in the night sky, I will always remember her.