Chapter 26
The warehouse hadn’t transformed in the magical, fairy-godmother sense of the word. The walls were still plated with rust, the windows were decorated with a patchwork of tape, and the concrete floors were stained with oil and years of neglect.
But the magic came in the colossal floral carpets Haven found at an open market right outside of town.
I convinced my mom to donate the set of black, circular dining tables for the night.
Indie scored us buffet tables with vintage serving bowls and cups.
Emmy brought in old Halloween decor from her parents’ closed-down holiday store.
And Covee designed the banners and posters that would put most marketing companies to shame.
“Well?” Indie asked when she noticed I’d stepped back to the front door to marvel at what all our guests would take in next week.
“Stuff of dreams?” Haven teased as she joined my side. Her smile faded into something more serious when she took a proper look at how the space had transformed.
I folded my arms over my chest, trying not to sound too prideful because my parents had drilled it into my skull that pride comes before the fall. And I couldn’t afford a fall this deep into the semester. “I think they’re going to love it.”
Indie scoffed, shaking her head. “You think?”
“She’s being modest,” Haven murmured, eyes still sparkling in awe. “You know who’s going to kick themselves till the cows come home?”
“Olivia Noel Johnson,” I said with a smile. This time, I couldn’t avoid tipping my chin up in pride. Hopefully, the fall came as a slight stumble. I could bear the embarrassment of tripping over my feet.
“Do you think she’ll show?” Indie asked.
“For sure,” Haven and I said at the same time without hesitation.
“She’ll want a first-row seat, and a chance to tell me I should have listened to her.
” I took a deep breath, relieved that her dream wouldn’t happen.
We still had a boatload of things to complete: finalizing the stage, doing a sound check for the band, and ensuring every member knew what they had to cook and how soon they’d have to cook it.
But mostly, this back-aching, headache-inducing, beautiful, exciting masquerade party was going to happen with more than enough time to spare.
And even some extra cash to donate to the local women’s shelter.
“So!” I clapped, reinvigorated by the hint of success within reach. “Which one of you is going to stick around and help me figure out the stage?”
Indie whipped out her phone like it had been ringing. “Oh, no. I have to make a tutoring session.”
“You’re a straight-A student,” I said.
“And why do you think that is?” She squeezed my shoulder before going to grab her bag. “Nice work, Prez. Thanks to you, we’ll live to party another day.”
I sighed but turned to Haven with hope. She was already shaking her head.
“I have to drive you both back to campus,” she reminded me. “My show’s streaming at five.”
“Won’t it still be streaming at six?” I asked.
She shook her head. “Who knows? No one knows these things, so it's best to enjoy them as soon as possible.”
I laughed. “You two are unbelievable.”
“Come on, let the woman enjoy her show.” Indie tossed her arm around my shoulder. “Me enjoy studying. And you enjoy that cute tight end of yours. Don’t you two have a date?”
The tips of my ears burned, but my expression remained stoic.
I hadn’t seen David outside of lectures since our driving lessons last weekend.
He’d been swamped with practice and training and trying to keep his head above water in classes.
And I’d delved into org work… not far enough to avoid checking my messages every hour.
But enough so that I could push his smile, the memory of his touch, and how his lips felt on mine to the back of my mind for an impressive five minutes at a time.
Indie’s mention of him just ruined my current streak.
“A meeting,” I said.
“Ooh, a meeting?” Indie asked with a laugh. “Sexy.”
“Shut up.” I bit back a smile and pulled out my phone to check my messages. Technically, David and I had a meeting scheduled in our calendars for one another. And the only reason it was there was because he’d texted me halfway through week:
I really need to see you.
My initial concerned response was:
what happened? What’s wrong?
David
I just need to see you.
It’d taken me a second to puzzle together that this was a social text, and this was David’s way of saying he missed me.
I’d joked:
I could pencil you in. Send you a calendar invite.
His response was:
Perfect. Do that, please.
I didn’t know what triggered the politeness and the lack of patience. I knew I appreciated it because I’d spent days trying to figure out a decent enough dare to have an excuse to see him.
My heart jumped when I saw a message notification with his name on it. Blocking off the stage became as low priority to me as it was to Haven and Indie.
They noticed and instantly started aww’ing me.
“Alright, alright.” I waved them away. “He’s picking me up.”
“How far is he?” Indie asked.
I checked his location. “Twenty-five minutes.”
“We’ll wait with you,” Haven offered.
“You know, that gives us plenty of time to move a couple of boxes—” I tried.
“Outside,” Indie interrupted and started herding us to the door. “We’re all waiting for him outside. You need to get away from this place, Yara. It’s got a hold on you.”
“The grip’s tight,” Haven agreed as she stared around the warehouse with the look she got when she wanted to burn incense around the house.
I let them corral me outside. The air was biting now that we were nearing the end of fall. We hurried to Haven’s car for warmth while we waited. David somehow turned a twenty-five-minute drive into a fifteen-minute drive.
“Someone’s excited,” Haven said under her breath when she saw his car pull into the lot.
She still wasn’t convinced he was good for me, but she’d been open to changing that belief when I told her about his attempt at teaching me how to drive.
A man who helped someone gain more autonomy was one worthy of respect in her book.
“Have fun.” Indie winked at me. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
“Of course not.” I hopped out of the car, giving them a final wave before hurrying over to David’s car. He got out as soon as he saw me coming, meeting me on the passenger side. I stopped a couple of feet away, buzzing at the sight of him.
David wore a gray Henley underneath his worn black jean jacket. His hair stuck out from underneath a green beanie, the strands curling from a recent wash.
“Hi,” I greeted, not knowing what to do with my hands, so I stuffed them into my jacket pockets.
A shield of unfamiliar shyness went up around me, making it difficult to meet David’s eyes.
I blamed it on Haven and Indie. They were watching us from the van.
I waved my hand behind my back, trying to gesture for them to go away.
The car’s engine remained rumbling in the background.
“What’s going on with them?” David raised a brow, glancing over my shoulder.
I shrugged. “They’re… curious.”
He leaned against the car, making it that much more tempting to wrap my arms around his neck and pull him down for a kiss. “About?”
“If we’re actually real. If you’re good for me. If we’ll last.” The last one was more me.
“I have a solid answer for two out of three.”
I squinted. “Which two?”
“Come here.” He gestured me over with two fingers.
I didn’t move an inch. “Which two, David?”
He chuckled and shook his head. “You never humor me.”
I gave him a ‘come on’ eye roll. “You don’t like to be humored.”
“I’d like it if you’re doing it. I like a lot of things more when you’re doing it.”
It was hard to swallow. His deep voice settled nicely on my skin, eliciting the burning desire to feel his mouth on me. It didn’t matter where, only for how long… I entertained the idea of forever. Impractical, but I wasn’t sure anything else would suffice.
David pushed off the car, tired of waiting for me to come to him. My breath caught in my throat when he placed one hand on my cheek and tucked his fingers around my belt loop, pulling me against him. It was embarrassing how quickly my clit screamed for attention.
“You’re never going to listen,” he whispered against my lips. “Are you?”
“What incentive do I have?” I was proud that my words came out in one coherent take. I could hear my heart in my ears, nearly blotting out the noise of Haven’s van finally driving away.
David chuckled as he watched them go. “They didn’t want to see the rest of the show?”
“Is that what you’re doing?” I asked, my hands clutching his biceps. I wanted to give in to him with reckless abandon. “Putting on a show?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know; I’ve been wondering if that’s the only way we work.”
My forehead wrinkled. “You think so?”
“Maybe I should have said fear.” His gaze flickered to my lips.
I smiled, stomach fluttering with hope. “You’re afraid of us? The real us?”
He nodded. “Of course. I’m afraid of going back to what we were. What about you?”
“Terrified,” I promised without hesitation. We shared a laugh.
“I hated this week,” he confessed. “Thinking about you from sunrise to sunset. Trying to figure out how to get out of practice just to see you. Yara, you live so far away. Has it always been that far?”
“Since sophomore year,” I said, still laughing, still feeling so wanted and desired.
“So inconvenient,” he mumbled and then closed the gap to kiss me. I wrapped my arms around his neck as my lips parted. David’s thumb brushed tender circles on my cheek while his tongue promised something far more explicit.
“Standing out in this cold’s inconvenient,” I said when we broke away for a second.
“Am I not doing a good job at warming you up?” he teased and pulled me closer for another kiss.
This one lit me up from the inside, burning any caution I had lingering about me, him, or us.
Who cared about maybe when every part of me screamed to just enjoy this moment?
This man. This wonderfully frustrating, contrary, bullheaded, incomprehensibly beautiful man.
“Passable,” I said through heavy breaths.
“Passable?” The vibration from his chuckle would have felt so much better on my clit. “Your body says otherwise.”
I smiled against his mouth. “I don’t care what my body says. What I say is, I don’t want to be this horny in the cold. Take me somewhere warm.”
He took a breath and kissed my forehead. “Sorry to break it to you…”
I frowned, afraid he was going to say he needed to go somewhere after this. That our window is just large enough for this short-lived makeout. “What?”
“Our meeting takes place outside,” he said.
I laughed, but when he didn’t so much as smile, the noise faded out. “Seriously? You… this is an actual meeting?”
“If that’s code for date, then yes.”
My stomach jumped with excitement. “You’re taking me on a date?”
“Why are you so surprised?”
“I didn’t think dates were your vibe.”
“Remember when I said you needed to stop assuming things about me?”
I closed one eye, embarrassed. “Sorry, sorry.”
He chuckled and shook his head. “It’s okay. We’re both learning.”