Chapter 27
Date Night
We finished our dinner and made our way out of Linda’s.
I felt slightly buzzed around the corners of my eyes, but it wasn’t enough to do anything but make me a bit warmer.
Glancing at my phone, I was shocked to see that the night was still young.
Winter seriously threw my perception of time out of whack. It was only eight.
“You want to go do something fun?” Grey asked before we’d made it more than a couple of steps outside the restaurant.
I blushed, uncertain what he meant by fun. “That depends. What did you have in mind?”
I wasn’t sure if I wanted to sleep with him again tonight.
No, I did. But I wasn’t sure that I should if the opportunity arose.
Part of me still hadn’t decided if he was really in this, despite recent evidence pointing to the fact.
And if he wasn’t, I had to protect myself from more excruciating heartbreak.
That meant keeping things in our pants until I was certain.
Apparently, I’d thrown up one too many walls during our brief period of radio silence.
I could forgive, but I was still reluctant to trust.
Grey’s playful smirk danced across his lips. “Well, I was going to suggest ice-skating. What were you—”
“Ice-skating sounds lovely,” I said in a rush to keep him from finishing his question—even though I’d never been skating in my life.
He grinned. “Perfect. I already booked the rink.”
I furrowed my brow. “How long have you been planning tonight?”
“A day or so,” he said.
I didn’t trust the mischief in his eyes.
“Of course, if you’d turned me down at dinner, tonight would’ve ended much more abruptly.”
“Would you have been mad?”
Grey laughed. “No, not at all. Hurt? Yes. But I would’ve respectfully walked you home and told you good night. But now…” He shrugged. “Now tonight can be whatever we want it to be.”
“And you want it to be ice-skating.”
“Ice-skating with my boyfriend,” he corrected with heavy emphasis on the last word.
Instead of cringing like I probably would’ve a few months ago, my heart fluttered. “I’ll have to get used to that.”
“What?” he asked.
“Being someone’s boyfriend.”
“I thought you’ve dated people before,” he said with a confused look. “Weren’t you going out with Pepper or whatever her name was?”
I gave him a playful nudge. “Her name was Piper. And we went on a few dates, but we never dated. I don’t think I’ve ever been close enough to anyone to be a boyfriend.”
“Then, I’ll consider myself lucky.” Grey was suddenly very close.
The air around us was freezing, and the heat radiating between us urged me to move closer to him.
It rose in a mist from our parted lips. His brown eyes bored into mine, reflecting my desire back at me.
I didn’t wait for him to kiss me. With a sudden surge of confidence, I planted my lips on his, enjoying his small, surprised gasp when I did.
I smiled into the kiss, letting it linger for a moment more before breaking away.
“So, are we going skating, or what?” I asked.
Grey cleared his throat and slid a hand into his jeans pocket in an attempt to hide the noticeable bulge my kiss had caused. “Yeah, let’s go.”
He grabbed my had with his free one, and we walked across campus, ignoring the questioning looks from passersby.
I’d never held hands with someone in public before.
Public displays of affection had always made me feel too exposed, like everyone’s eyes were glued to me.
But none of that mattered, though I was much more likely to get looks holding Grey’s hand than ever before.
Maybe it was because, for the first time in my life, holding hands with someone felt unbelievably right.
We made our way to the skating rink—a building just off campus that I’d managed to avoid for the past two and half years.
Grey didn’t let go of my hand until he stepped up to the counter to rent our skates from a very bored-looking blond girl.
She blinked slowly in response to him asking how her night was going.
Rather than linger in awkward silence, he swiped his card to pay.
“I should warn you,” I said as I pulled the skate onto my foot. “This could end very badly.”
“Not experienced with skating?” Grey asked.
I shook my head. “You’ve known me how long? Hand-eye coordination is nowhere on my list of strong suits.”
He nudged me playfully with his shoulder. “Guess I’ll just have to hold you up.”
Heat crept up my neck, threatening to spill into my face.
The idea of Grey holding me in any sense had my mind flashing back to that night before Christmas break—him on top of me, me pressing myself into him.
It had felt like we were trying to fuse ourselves together, like no matter how close we got or how tightly we held onto each other, it wasn’t enough.
I shook my head to clear the memories from my mind. I was not in the right place to dwell on those thoughts. I didn’t want to get turned on at an ice rink.
“You ready?” Grey asked.
I wasn’t even close to ready to risk my life on a giant ice cube.
But I took Grey’s outstretched hand anyway.
He led me onto the ice, joining the small crowd of people enjoying the rink.
I had all the skill and grace of a newborn deer, tripping on my own feet.
But Grey, good for his word, held me with one hand on my arm and the other arm wrapped around my waist, keeping me steady.
Electric currents ran through my body, radiating from the places where his body touched mine—my elbow, my hand, my waist. I glanced at him as he concentrated on keeping us both on our feet.
It was enough to make me want to kiss him.
Why have I not kissed him yet? The stupid peck earlier didn’t count.
At that moment, my right foot slipped, and I fell into him. Grey winced as my elbow hit him in the ribs. He managed to keep us upright, but it was a close call.
“Maybe we should get to the railing,” he suggested with a chuckle.
“I hate to say, ‘I told you so,’” I began.
“Do you?” He smirked crookedly at me.
“No, not really,” I admitted slyly. “I love saying ‘I told you so’ under most circumstances. But I don’t love being so uncoordinated.”
We made it to the handrail, and I grabbed onto it like it was a life preserver and I was struggling to stay afloat in the ocean.
My breath caught in my throat as we made eye contact again.
I would have to get used to him looking at me like that.
Before, his gaze had held a level of control—a self-imposed distance that he’d kept except for the few times we’d pushed things too far.
But now? Now he looked at me like I was the life preserver—or the first day of sun after weeks of rain, fire to a freezing man, water to someone dying of thirst. It was a lot to take in, and it stirred the urge to throw myself at him and kiss him in front of everyone in the facility.
“You okay to move?” Grey asked, clearly more focused on the activity at hand than I was.
I nodded, banishing phantom thoughts of his lips on mine. “Should probably hold onto the rail for a while though.”
He smiled, and we started skating around the circumference of the ice rink.
My hand never strayed too far from the railing while Grey stayed at my opposite side, making the whole skating activity look much easier than anyone had a right to.
His body moved with an unconscious grace as he glided across the ice.
“How did you learn to skate?” I asked, slightly annoyed that he seemed just as good at it as he was at everything else he did. Surely he had to be bad at something. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be fair for the rest of us mortals.
“My mom actually used to be a skater,” Grey said. “She taught me. She absolutely loved skating, and it gave us a way to bond and for her to skate.”
“That’s sweet.” I could picture it so clearly, his mother holding her young son’s hands as they swirled around on the ice.
We stayed at the ice rink for a couple of hours. Eventually, I found my sense of balance and could follow Grey through the more treacherous inner rink, away from the safety of the guardrail. He was a good sport and never left me far behind, though he could’ve easily skated circles around me.
The longer we stayed, the more people began to recognize Grey, but it didn’t bother me so much anymore. No one approached us, and I found myself better able to handle a little staring from a distance. I would probably be staring too, if I weren’t the one with him.
It seemed like a weight had been lifted from Grey’s shoulders.
I hadn’t realized it until now, but much like his gaze, his every movement had been so guarded around me before, as if he’d been worried about saying or doing the wrong thing and scaring me off.
Or maybe he’d been worried about exposing himself to the dangers that had plagued him in the past.
None of that seemed to be on his mind now.
He wore a huge smile, and his eyes were bright with joy as we skated and joked and talked.
We caught up with everything the other had missed during our silence over the past few days.
I told him about coming out to my parents in greater detail.
He told me about his trip with his parents and a new song he’d written over break that he couldn’t wait to try out with the band—and of course, more about his decision to officially break up with Carina and date me.
The hours flew by, and before I was ready for it, they were closing down the rink for the night. Grey and I were two of the last people in the building, and my heart sank to think that the night was about to end.
“I guess we should head out.” Grey glanced at the employees closing up shop. His chest still heaved a bit from the exertion of skating, and a single bead of sweat glistened on his temple.
“Yeah,” I agreed, trying not to sound too disappointed. There was always tomorrow, though tonight felt more like a dream than reality. What if I woke up, and it was all just a dream? I wondered how long it would take me to believe it was real.
“Come on.” Grey grabbed my hand.
I followed his lead off the ice, ignoring the tingling in my fingers that shot straight up and into my heart. The whole night had been full of electric moments—the most painful kind of bliss. It couldn’t be healthy.
We changed back into our shoes and returned our skates to the employees before heading out. The night outside was brisk but welcome on our skin still warmed by exercise. The frigid air nipped at the back of my throat.
Around us, the campus came to life with students not yet burdened with homework and finally free from parental supervision as they made their way out for a night of parties and barhopping.
Everyone was much more interested in talking and laughing with their friends than in paying any attention to us.
It was nice to know that normalcy was still something I could enjoy now that we were dating.
God, we were dating. My heart did somersaults in my chest every time my brain hiccupped over the word.
But normalcy was something I shouldn’t always expect.
Not anymore. My thoughts clouded as I remembered Grey’s past and the craziness of his fandom I’d already witnessed.
“Where to now?” I asked, bringing myself back to happier things. I just hoped he wasn’t about to suggest we go home.
He shrugged noncommittally and wrapped his hand around mine.
Music drifted through windows flung open by overheated party guests.
I heard several Dreamscape songs playing from different areas, overlapping and intertwining with the music of other more mainstream artists.
If Grey was cringing at the sound of his music, as he had in the past, he was doing a good job of hiding it.
We slowed as we passed the water fountain in the middle of campus. It would be the natural place for us to part ways and end the night. My heart constricted in protest as I opened my mouth to speak.
“You hear that song?” Grey asked before I could get a word out.
I listened for a moment then nodded. “I’ve heard it before.”
“It’s by an artist named Tyler Snow.” Grey’s eyes lit with the spark that usually shone there when he talked about music. “He’s a huge inspiration for me.”
“Well, he is one of the best-selling artists of all time.” I grinned. “He’s probably inspired a lot of people.”
Grey gave me a playful nudge but didn’t comment. “Listen,” he said instead. “This is my favorite part.”
Before I realized what was happening, he took one of my hands in his while wrapping his other arm around me to pull me close.
Heat flooded my face, spreading from my cheeks to my ears as he led me in a dance right there in the middle of campus.
It was our second dance, but this one felt like it meant more.
The music played on, seeming to swell up from the ground itself to envelop us.
“One look in your eye,
The feel of your hand in mine,
One catch of your breath,
And baby, I know what’s next.”
Grey looked at me with such a tender intensity that my breath hitched in my throat, my mouth suddenly dry. I tried to swallow but ended up doing little more than bobbing my Adam’s apple.
The music continued.
“Your arms feel like home.
Forever’s written in your eyes.”
Then I was pressing my lips to Grey’s, and all thought was chased from my mind in a rush of adrenaline and desire.
Somewhere in the back of my mind, I realized that this was probably the first time I’d initiated a full-on kiss with Grey and not the other way around.
A laugh bubbled up to my lips at the absurdity of the thought.
Grey pulled away, confused. “What is it?” His cheeks were flushed pink.
“Just thinking funny thoughts,” I said.
And our lips found each other again as we danced in the street.