22. Connor
CONNOR
W hen I can’t find anything I can stand to watch on TV, I throw the remote on the couch and give up.
While Scout and Elliot talked things over some more, I headed downstairs to give them space, to prove to Scout that I’m not immediately coming between their friendship.
But that also means I haven’t had a second alone with Elliot to actually talk about the fact we just told my entire family that we love each other.
It makes sense that it would happen like that, but I still need to talk to him, in private.
The second I hear his footsteps on the stairs, my heart rate picks up. I can’t even hear the TV anymore.
He’s in his pajama bottoms and the Blondie t-shirt he wore that night. I can’t believe he told Scout about that.
“What are you smiling about?” he asks, his own grin spreading over his face.
“Nothing, come and sit down, I want to talk to you.”
The second he takes the cushion next to mine, I grab his hand and entwine my fingers with his .
“Am I jumping to conclusions here, or does you telling Scout about us mean you want us to be together?”
He bites his lip and smiles down at our hands. “You’re not jumping to conclusions.”
I lean over and kiss him, relief flooding through me. These past few days have been hell. Luckily, I’ve had things to distract me, but seeing Elliot without touching him after knowing what it’s like to be with him has been impossible.
I pull away before we can get carried away. We need to talk.
“How does this work?” I ask.
“I guess we … date?”
My whole body sings but he’s still talking. “It’ll be easier once we’re back at school. We’ll all be in our senior year and caught up on studying, and you’ll have hockey. But we’ll make time for each other.”
“Maybe when Scout gets used to us being together, we can all hang out?”
“Yeah, that’d be good.”
I can’t help myself—I kiss him again. He laughs, pulling away with a blush.
“Can’t believe you just blurted that you love me to my mom.”
He covers his face with a groan. “I don’t know why I did that. But you said it first.”
“Yeah, I did.”
He lowers his hands, looking up at me through those pretty lashes. “I do love you.”
“I love you, too.”
“You’re sure?” He frowns.
Fuck, if I have to spend the rest of my life proving this to him, then I will.
“Yes. Certain. One hundred percent. ”
He smiles. “Okay.”
“Come here, I wanna kiss you now.”
He climbs into my lap, letting me take his face in my hands and kiss him deeply, drinking him in.
He moans and starts rocking against me, our tongues entangled, heat pooling in my groin.
“Urgh, are you serious?”
Elliot pulls back with a gasp, climbing off my lap when he sees Scout standing there with an empty glass. Her lip is curled in disgust.
“That couch is gonna need fucking fumigating.”
I can’t stop myself—I burst out laughing.
“Not funny, dick ,” she says, walking away toward the kitchen.
Elliot makes a cringing face. I grab him quick and kiss him before she comes back.
“Go to bed,” I say. “I’ll see you tomorrow. And the day after, and the day after that.”