27. Cole #2
I huff out a laugh, then glance up, just as some guy a little taller than me shoves his way into the space in front of us, blocking the view.
Aurora lifts onto her toes, trying to look around him, but the guy’s built like a wall. I watch the excitement on her face slip into annoyance, and I let out a breath and step closer, tapping her hip.
She turns to me, and I jerk my chin down as I crouch a little. “Get on.”
She just stares at me, her lips parting. “You’re joking.”
“Just get up here before I change my mind,” I grumble.
Her lips curl slowly into the prettiest smile, and she lets out a little laugh as she climbs onto my back, swinging her legs over my shoulders.
I straighten with her on me and shift her up a little higher, and she lets out a small breath against my ear as her arms slide to my hair to hold on.
“You good?” I ask.
“Yes,” she says, and I can hear the smile in her voice. “Very.”
She throws her arms up when the chorus kicks in and all I can hear is her singing, her voice slightly rough because she’s yelling the lyrics and doesn’t care who hears her.
A couple of songs later, she taps my shoulder, and I bend enough for her to slide down, settling her in front of me, my hands settling on her hips.
A smile pulls at my lips, and I’m so glad she’s facing away from me or else I wouldn’t even know how to explain this. I don’t even know what this is. I’m just… fuck. I’m happy.
By the time the band plays their last song and disappears offstage, Aurora’s voice is wrecked and my ears are ringing.
“That was—” She turns to me, her hair a mess and her mascara smudged under her eyes, but grinning so hard it’s impossible not to look at her. “The best concert ever.”
“They were alright,” I say with a shrug, placing my hand at the small of her back while we move with the crowd toward the exit.
She plants a hand on my chest, shoves me, and narrows her eyes. “I know you liked them.”
“I liked that it ended before I went deaf.”
“Liar.” She’s smiling so hard. Goddamn, she’s gorgeous. “You knew the words by the end.”
“It was the same four words on repeat, Prescott. Not exactly a challenge.”
She rolls her eyes, still smiling, and before I can even register that she’s moving, she steps in, lifts onto her toes, and presses a quick kiss to my cheek.
It lasts for a second—less than that probably—but it catches me completely off guard, my body tensing as I blink down at her.
“Thank you,” she says, her voice softer than I’ve ever heard before, her cheeks turning pink.
The spot where her lips touched stays hot long after she pulls away. It’s stupid. It’s barely anything. Technically, she’s still following her precious no-kissing rule. But my heart still knocks against my ribs as if she did a hell of a lot more than brush her mouth to my cheek.
I clear my throat, force my shoulders loose, and take a step back. “C’mon,” I say, jerking my chin toward the exit. “Before you decide you need merch too and I have to sell a kidney.”
She laughs, her breath drifting out in little white clouds as we cross the lot toward my car.
As soon as we start driving, she plays their songs, tapping her fingers against her thigh and mouthing every word.
A few minutes pass before she glances over and narrows her eyes at me. “You’re not singing.”
My brow lifts. “I don’t sing.”
“You did at the concert,” she points out, which makes me scoff.
“Definitely didn’t.”
“I could hear you,” she says.
I shoot her a look. “You were too busy trying to fuck the lead singer with your eyes to hear me doing anything.”
She snorts. “He wishes.”
I huff out a laugh, loving how confident she is. She knows she’s hot, knows she’s a badass and is completely unapologetic about it.
My stomach grumbles when we approach a rest stop with a bunch of fast-food places, and I glance toward her. “You hungry?”
“I could eat,” she mutters with a shrug.
I pull into a greasy burger joint and we order at the drive-thru—two burgers, fries, and I add in a milkshake because I know just how much of a sweet tooth this girl has.
We park and eat, and even with all this food, she still ends up stealing half my fries.
I argue about it but ultimately let her have them, because apparently tonight I’m just doing whatever the hell Aurora wants.
By the time we get back to campus, it’s nearly two in the morning. I park, kill the engine, and turn my head, finding Aurora blinking at me through sleepy eyes.
“Wait.” She looks out the window, then back at me. “This isn’t my apartment.”
I scoff. “You’re observant.”
She rolls her eyes. “You know what I mean. What are we doing at your apartment?”
I shrug. “You wanna stay over?”
Her brows go up and I can practically see her thoughts flash across her face. We spent every day together over the holidays, but once it got late, she always went back to her place. So I’m already bracing for her to shut me down again.
But then she lets out a breath, her shoulders loosening a little as she smiles up at me. “Okay.”
We head up the stairs together, and once we’re inside my apartment, I lock the door, kick off my boots, and toss my keys into the bowl by the door.
Aurora drops her bag onto the floor, makes it about three steps, and flops face-first onto my bed. “I’m so tired,” she mumbles into the blanket.
I let out a quiet snort and walk over, catching her ankle.
She twists in my hold and narrows her eyes. “What are you doing?”
I tug off her boots, dropping them to the floor. She watches me the whole time, even as I hook my fingers into the waistband of her shorts and drag them down her legs, tugging her shirt off next.
I toss them toward the chair in the corner, then stand and pull my T-shirt over my head.
Her eyes follow the movement, heavy with sleep and… Christ. She looks way too good on my bed.
Like she belongs here.
I grab one of my shirts from the drawer and hold it out. “Arms up.”
She pushes herself upright and lifts her arms. I pull the shirt down over her head, lingering on the sight of her in my shirt.
I tug my jeans off and climb into bed beside her. My body’s exhausted from standing for hours, but that usually doesn’t mean much. Usually, I end up flat on my back, staring into the dark wishing I could just fall asleep.
Aurora rolls into me and tucks herself against my side, her cheek warm against my chest. My whole body goes still for a second, but I let my shoulders drop and put an arm around her, tugging her closer to me.
It takes me a couple of seconds to realize we’re cuddling.
We’re actually fucking cuddling.
Never cuddled a girl before.
Kinda like it.
She’s so warm and soft against me, and every now and then, she makes these little sleepy sounds against me that make me smile, and my eyes flutter closed.
And for the first time in a long fucking time, I don’t have to fight for sleep.
It just comes.