I Vid. I Write. I Fangirl.

Sarah gave Alex a once-over, and – much unlike what she’d normally do – she blurted out what she was thinking.

“Are you alright?”

She couldn’t help it. Alex’s eyes were tinted pink, dark circles under them, and he just looked…well, he looked exhausted.

The thought passed that maybe he’d spent the past three weeks since their break-up crying over her, and she immediately felt guilty. But still, she knew it was best not to jump to conclusions.

“I’m fine,” he said.

Liar.

She knew him better than that, but anyone who looked at him could tell he wasn’t alright.

“Do you want to come in?” he asked, stepping back for her to walk through into his bedroom.

“Thanks,” she said, not sounding as chipper as she’d planned to be.

She spun around once inside and watched as he kept the door cracked and slid his hands into his pockets, completely not that invested in whatever she had to say.

“It’s good to see you, Alex,” she said.

His lips thinned, and she could see her sentiment wasn’t going to be returned. He looked at the floor for a moment before meeting her eyes.

“Why’d you come, Sarah?”

She blew her blonde bangs off her forehead.

“I was hoping we could talk.”

“Well, you’re here, and we’re talking, so what exactly is it you came to say?”

“Can I…?” She gestured to the made-up bed.

Alex sighed.

“Sure.”

She’d hoped the invitation would bring him sitting next to her on the bed, so she left plenty of space. A brush of the fingers, the shoulders or maybe hips or thighs. A shared look. It would make all of this so much easier, and she could see where his head was at. She could usually read him so well, but something about his demeanor, the look in his eyes, the resigned sighs, made her question everything.

Alex pulled out the chair from his desk and turned it around to face her before taking a seat.

Okay. So much for that.

“How’ve you been?” she asked.

“Sarah…”

“I mean, how was your trip a couple weeks back?” She tilted her head curiously, concerned.

“How did you know about that?”

He asked it so defensively, like it was a treasure he didn’t want to be sharing with her.

She licked her lips.

“I stopped by about a week and a half ago. Your dad said you’d gone on a camping trip with Poppy for the week.”

“Oh.”

“The Poppy I’ve yet to meet.”

He shrugged.

“I don’t know if you two would get along.”

She frowned.

“Why do you say that?”

“You’re so different.”

“But you like her.”

He stiffened, and she wondered if she’d latched onto something. After a beat though, he relaxed again.

“It took a while,” he admitted. “For me to like her.”

“I do seem to recall her asking if you were a serial killer that night of the trip home.”

“Yeah.”

“I guess she decided you weren’t.”

“Yeah.”

His lack of communication was infuriating, but she could see the wheels turning behind his eyes that weren’t looking directly at her.

“Alex, do you still love me?”

His eyes did lift to hers then, surprised. He was quiet for a long while, but she waited patiently.

“No,” he said, at last.

That stung more than she thought it would.

“You met someone?” she asked, tightly, her fingers clenching slightly on the blanket before she forced herself to relax.

“No,” he said.

Outrage simmered at the surface, threatening to break through. She envisioned herself standing up and pacing and ranting and yelling about how he could just stop loving her after only three weeks apart.

Then, that insecurity she’d felt building up over their last year together surfaced instead. She gave life to it. Let it blossom and bloom. Let it sneak past her lips.

“Poppy.”

She said the name so softly, so quietly, without hardly any emotion. Like it was the confirmation she didn’t want to know and yet needed to know in order to get up and leave.

“Sarah…”

He pinched the bridge of his nose.

“You two hooked up on your trip?”

He was silent, so she nodded, taking that for what it was.

“You couldn’t have sex with your girlfriend of several years, but a couple weeks free of me, and you gave into what has been building for the past year.”

She spat out the words, the irrational side of her winning out.

“It wasn’t like that,” he said, but she didn’t know whether to believe him.

“Oh, wasn’t it?”

She felt her anger building, but she ignored all the warning signs to calm down. She stood up and walked right past him before spinning back around.

“You know, I actually felt bad for breaking up with you? Like I was being too shallow for breaking up just because I was horny and you weren’t. But it turns out that wasn’t the case at all. You just weren’t horny for me!”

She saw his jaw clench and knew he maybe wanted to defend himself, but he didn’t. He just sat there, probably waiting for her to leave.

Her hand on the doorknob, about to storm out like she wanted to, she felt the fumes start to settle down.

“Aren’t you at least going to tell me if I’m right?”

“It doesn’t matter anymore,” he said at last.

And she completely deflated, releasing her death grip on the doorknob to walk back over to him.

“Why not?”

He sighed and lifted his gaze to hers.

“Because I didn’t know I was in love with Poppy when you and I were together. I didn’t even know it at the beginning of the trip.”

Her lips parted.

“In love?”

“Yeah.”

“Is Poppy in love with you too?”

“I don’t know,” he said, glumly. “Maybe. Maybe not.”

She frowned.

“You don’t know?”

His jaw clenched.

“She wants to be just friends.”

That confession hit her hard, making her empathize with her ex for the first time.

“So, you’re not together.”

“No.”

He wrapped a hand around the back of his neck.

“But I don’t want to get back together with you, Sarah.”

“No, I can see that.” She nibbled on her bottom lip. “Can we be friends?”

He laughed, and she could see some of the stress seep out of him.

“You really want to be friends? Didn’t you come over here to try and convince me to get back together?”

“You figured that out, huh?”

“You made it pretty obvious.”

She let out a soft laugh.

“I guess I did. But really, Alex, I just miss you. And you and I have never really been just friends. Why don’t we try it on for size?”

He ran a hand over his face.

“Can I think about it?”

She smiled tremulously, hope blossoming.

“Sure.” She stood up again and presented her hand to him. “To maybe being friends?”

He stilled, and she could almost see an old memory going through his mind. Maybe something involving Poppy?

But in the end, he shook her hand.

“I’m home all summer,” she said. “You know where to find me.”

“Yeah.”

She let her hand drop and brushed past him on her way out the door and down the stairs and out onto the street.

It wasn’t the outcome she wanted, and a part of her was a little bitter that she’d been right on the money about his feelings for Poppy all along, even if he didn’t realize it till recently. But she’d been truthful when she said she missed him. If he’d let her be friends with him, she could handle that. She’d take that over nothing any day.

…

Two weeks later, and things were not going well for Poppy.

She’d spent the first week after coming home trying not to text or call Alex. She needed some space, she told herself. After a week or two, she could reach out and ask to hang out or chat about her move to New York and if her parents would be cool with it or threaten to disown her if she quit college before graduating.

But that’s not what happened.

By week three, Poppy was going out of her mind. She missed Alex. And not just their friendship but their messy situationship too. She started thinking what would be so bad at giving a real romantic relationship a shot? He trusted her enough to hand over his virginity. Why couldn’t she trust that he’d have her back even when she was crazy 24/7?

But three weeks was a long time. It was almost a month. What if he’d forgotten all about what happened between them? What if he wasn’t yearning for another kiss, another look, another fuck the same way she was? And the most daunting question of all: what if he and Sarah had gotten back together?

It wasn’t something she could exactly just ask over text or even a phone call. She’d lose her nerve and hang up or not send the message.

No, she needed to head over to his house and have an in-person conversation, starting with an apology because she’d crushed him so badly on vacation, enough to cause silent treatment on the way back and distance ever since then. And she couldn’t just assume he was still in love with her, if that’s what he even had been. Maybe it was just a crush. Maybe he wasn’t in as deep as she was.

He’d been so insistent that they give it a shot on their last day of vacation, but just a few days before that he was completely hung up on Sarah. What’s to say he wouldn’t have reached out to her and asked her to give them another chance now that the big elephant in the room was no longer in the room?

Her nerves were driving her crazy, but she knew they wouldn’t go away until she had the big conversation with him.

So, one day in late June, the sun starting to hit directly above her when she walked outside, she took the route to Alex’s house and braced herself for the conversation to end all conversations, but maybe start something new?

And that was when she saw them.

Alex and a blonde girl sitting on the front porch swing smiling and laughing.

Poppy had never actually met Sarah before, so she couldn’t be certain, especially not this distance, but really, who else could it be? She knew Sarah was blonde, knew she was petite like herself, and this girl certainly fit the description. And why else would Alex be with her if they weren’t back together? They couldn’t just be friends after years of dating and only a few weeks broken up. Could they?

It was too easy, too convenient, too good to be true.

Frozen to the sidewalk, Poppy hardly knew what to do. She needed to turn around and leave. She couldn’t stay here. Couldn’t keep watching this train wreck of her life unfolding before her eyes.

Of course Alex had gotten back together with his ex. Why wouldn’t he? His best friend had turned him down, and Sarah had reconsidered the break-up and was waiting in the wings for him.

Alex and Sarah even sounded better together as names. Alex and Poppy? What the hell was that?

The more she watched, the more upset she got. Of course she’d never end up with someone as good as Alex. Of course she’d had one chance and completely blown it.

Of course. Of course. Of course!

Her eyes started to fill with tears, and she started to sniffle, to heave.

God damn it, why couldn’t she just pick up her feet and walk away?

And then the unthinkable happened.

Alex looked away from the pretty girl beside him and saw her, Poppy, across the street. A sobbing mess.

She saw his mouth move and his brows furrow.

Was he saying her name? Did he think she was a hallucination? Why wasn’t he running towards her, consoling her, telling her it wasn’t what she thought?

Because it was exactly what she thought.

How could she have been such a fool?

“Po-”

She heard him start to call out her name, with more certainty this time, and with…longing? No, that couldn’t be. It would be too easy.

She couldn’t face him now though. That would be unbearable. Especially with Sarah or whoever it was tailing behind him.

And she couldn’t run. Ugh. Despite hating the act, she knew he’d outrun her and catch up to her in a heartbeat with his love of running for at least as long as she’d known him. He was experienced. She had nothing on that.

So, when a large truck started driving past his house, Poppy thought quickly and hid behind the nearest tree. It was easy enough with her slim body and the thickness of the trunk.

After the truck had passed, she heard him call her name a few more times, but it was always faint and far away, proving he hadn’t tried to pursue her but maybe thought he hadn’t really seen her at all.

“Alex, come on, let’s go inside. There’s no one there,” she heard Sarah – or whoever it was – say.

“I just thought…” he said, sadly, but he didn’t finish, and a short time later Poppy heard the front door open and close.

She burst into heavy sobs. When she was sure it’d been long enough and that he really wasn’t coming after her, and when her sobs had calmed down a bit, she stepped back onto the sidewalk and went home.

The second she walked in the door, her mother, sitting on the living room couch, looked up and then stood up slowly, concern clear on her face.

“Poppy, where have you been? What’s the matter? Are you okay?”

Poppy braced herself and spit out one of two truths.

“I’m not going back to Boston College. I’m moving to New York.”

Wanda Wright’s lips parted in shock, but she didn’t move or speak fast enough for her daughter, who hightailed it up the stairs and slammed her bedroom door shut.

Once inside, Poppy collapsed on her bed and buried her face in her pillow.

The tension was as thick as the summer air hovering around them as they made their way back to the bus stop, and eventually, the airport.

They’d sat together on the bus and kept to their seats on the airplane too, which surprised her, given how Alex wouldn’t even talk to her except when absolutely necessary – do you know when the bus is supposed to arrive? Can I see the plane tickets? Etc. etc. Not even the handful of empty spots on the bus and the airplane made him budge.

Poppy knew the sudden distance between them was her fault. She knew she could undo it with one conversation. All she would have to do was take back what she’d said at the campsite. And the truth of it was, she wanted to so badly. Not just to get rid of the tension now residing between them but because Alex had been right.

She did have feelings for him. She was going to miss kissing him. And doing everything else they’d been doing.

She could get used to fucking Alex multiple times a day, get used to that look in his eye right before he kissed her, get used to the genuine compliments and the softness of his kisses and the way he held her, the vulnerability he’d admitted he showed to only her.

But it would only be a matter of time before everything odd about her would get on his nerves. Her outrageous outfits, her side quests, her favoring the saxophone in every song ever. Then there was her risk-taking, how loud she got for absolutely no reason at all, how antsy she got if she stayed in one place too long.

Their opposite traits would clash, and they’d burn up. He’d be the one to break up with her, and he’d feel really bad about it, give her those sad, puppy dog eyes of his, but in the end, he wouldn’t be able to take everything about her that was so different from him, that was so out of control.

He needed someone who was like him in every way. Someone like Sarah. And now that he definitely knew what he was doing in the bedroom, he could fill in the blonde, and they could get back together.

It would be like that one day of bliss between them that had changed everything hadn’t happened at all.

Her breath caught in her throat as she stared out the window in the back of the Uber while her imagination sped through that scenario. Envisioning how fast Alex would move on, and how she would stay heartbroken forever.

The car came to a stop, but Poppy didn’t move. She didn’t feel as tears tracked down her face or Alex calling her name. Not until she felt his fingers cover hers on the seat between them.

“What?” Poppy asked, looking down at their hands and completely missing Alex’s shocked expression when he saw her face.

His fingers left hers just as fast.

Poppy looked past Alex’s face to see that they were in front of her house.

“Oh.”

She opened her door, hardly aware that Alex had gotten out too or that the trunk had popped for her to get her luggage out. She circled ‘round the car though and got one of her things. She wanted to get both, wanted to prove she could do it all by herself and not need him so much.

But he got her bigger suitcase before she could stop him. On a faint sigh, she started walking towards the house, then opened the door that was rarely locked and walked inside.

“Hello,” she called out in a weak voice, but no one came out to greet them. “I saw a car, so they must be in the back.”

Alex set down her suitcase and walked over to her, wiping the tears from her face.

“I’m sorry, Poppy,” he said, his voice filled with regret. “I shouldn’t have given you the silent treatment on the way back. We won’t see each other for a year, and I…” He sighed. “I shouldn’t have let my bitterness over your decision control how I treated you.”

Poppy shrugged as a new tear traveled down her face, her bottom lip trembling. She didn’t meet his eyes.

“Don’t worry about it, Alex.”

Her bag slipped from her shoulder and plopped loudly on the floor.

“Is someone there?” a loud voice sounded from the back of the house.

“Oh, god. My mother.”

Poppy quickly wiped away the tears flooding her face now.

“I can’t let her see me like thi-”

“Here.”

And he quickly enveloped her in his arms, rubbing her back and tucking his face into her shoulder.

Poppy sniffled and gripped his back like a lifeline.

The approaching footsteps came to a stop when they reached the living room. Poppy felt her mom watching their emotional goodbye and felt the need to detach from Alex.

“Oh, honey,” Wanda said, as they finally separated. “You two can see each other soon. And hey, maybe Alex can even stay for lunch.”

“No, that’s-”

“I really should be going. My dad and brother are expecting me,” Poppy heard him say, crushing and relieving her at the same time.

“Oh, that’s a shame. Well, do come by sometime soon, Alex. You know we always love having you.”

“I will.”

Poppy looked up and saw his face, saw the thin, polite smile, and knew that he wouldn’t be stopping by.

“I’ll walk you out,” she said, and to her great relief, he didn’t say no.

“Good to see you again, Mrs. Wright,” he directed the goodbye over Poppy’s head, and Poppy felt dread fill her.

It was her turn next.

She swallowed hard and licked her lips, walking out the door as her mother returned Alex’s sentiment, adding that he should call her by her first name, as she always did.

The door shut behind them as they stood on the porch, their hands so close together at first that they almost touched.

“It was a good trip, Alex,” she said, bravely, shooting him her most valiant attempt at a smile.

He wiped away another of her tears.

“Yeah, it was.”

The urge to kiss him was almost overwhelming, but she knew it would only complicate things more than they already were, so with a strength she didn’t really feel, she tucked the urge away and hugged him instead. A tight, desperate hug that he returned gently, pressing a soft kiss to the top of her head.

“It’ll be okay, Poppy. We’ll be fine. I’ll text you. Maybe I’ll even come visit you in New York.”

She laughed through a sniffle and extracted herself from him.

“Yeah. Maybe.”

He smiled tentatively, running his hand down her arm.

“Goodbye, Poppy.”

Her hazel eyes flicked up to his blue ones, the goodbye shaking her to her core, because it felt so final.

She swallowed hard.

“Goodbye, Alex.”

And then he wasn’t beside her anymore. He was crossing the street and getting back in the car and being driven across town to his house. And she had this cold, nasty feeling inside her that she wasn’t going to see him again.

…

A week later, and Alex was still moping over Poppy.

Worse than that, they hadn’t talked at all, not even texted, since late that first evening they’d gotten back to Linfield.

When he first got home, David had practically pounced on him as soon as he walked in the door. His dad had given him a curt hello with a nod of his head, which was about as good as it was going to get with him. Surprisingly, it didn’t really bother him this time, because his head was so full of Poppy and how things had gone wrong and how he hadn’t really been able to fix it that his family’s reaction to him returning home just didn’t affect him one way or another.

David had wanted to know all about his vacation. Alex tried to make the first half of the vacation sound really detailed and interesting so he wouldn’t figure out there were some things he was leaving out. The skinny-dipping for one, the sex with Poppy for another.

He got lucky, and David was none the wiser that there were things he was leaving out.

After a while, Alex went up to his bedroom and promptly passed out. When he woke up, he half-expected Poppy to be beside him the way she’d been beside him in the tents every time he woke up during that last day of their trip. But of course, she wasn’t. His bed was hardly big enough for two people anyway, but that was beside the point.

He went downstairs, grabbed an apple and sat on the porch, thankful that no one else was out there to distract him from what he’d set out to do. As soon as he finished the fruit, he tossed the core into the grass and wiped his mouth, preparing for a run.

It was almost dark out, evening quickly approaching, and somehow, he found himself in front of Poppy’s house halfway through the run, not quite sure how he’d gotten there. He imagined himself throwing pebbles at her window that was currently lit up behind blinds and waiting for her to open it, to lean out, to look surprised or relieved or happy to see him. It would unveil like some rom-com or maybe something close to Romeo and Juliet’s balcony scene, and everything would be okay again. Maybe better than okay. Because maybe Poppy would have changed her mind.

But he shook his head, too scared of another round of rejection and certain that’s what would happen if he followed through with his romantic notions. He turned around and went home and showered and skipped dinner and collapsed on his bed.

Then he remembered how Poppy had been crying in his arms, and he reached for his phone and texted her, taking far too long to think of what to say before finally hitting send.

Hey, you ok?

It took her an hour for her to respond. He’d spent the time scrolling aimlessly, looking for things that might make her laugh if she was still sad. But every five minutes, he’d go back to their text message, checking to see if she’d responded and he just hadn’t been notified. She hadn’t.

Not for a full hour.

And then –

I’m ok

He frowned, sensing there had to be more to it than that. Then he saw her typing and waited impatiently for what she’d say.

Thx, Alex

Impulsively, he sent a smiley face. She didn’t respond to that, and he didn’t say anything else. Not that night, not the next day, not for a whole week.

He was scared if one of them didn’t say something soon, they wouldn’t say anything ever again. He’d saved a collection of memes that had made him think of her and wondered if she’d done the same. It hardly mattered, since neither of them sent any.

He started running two-to-three times a day just to get her out of his head. He kept ending up at her house, cycling scenarios through his head of how to fix all of this and run off with her into the sunset, but he never followed through, and so, today for the first time, he went a different route for both his runs. No point in going somewhere he wanted to be only to not go inside.

The next day, he was laying in bed in the late afternoon when his phone started to vibrate on his bedside table.

He scrambled so quickly to grab it in case it was a phone call that he nearly fell off the bed.

“Hello? Poppy?”

“Uh, no. It’s Sarah.”

Sarah.

The disappointment spreading through him was inevitable. He licked his lips and ran his other hand through his hair.

“Oh. Sarah, hi.”

He heard the relief in her voice when she continued to talk. Probably because he hadn’t sounded bitter, only surprised. He might’ve sounded bitter a week and a half ago, but not now. Now she wasn’t even a second thought. His brain was only Poppy-Poppy-Poppy.

“Hey,” she said, warmly. “Do you mind if I come up?”

His eyebrows narrowed, and he frowned.

“Come up?”

“Yeah. Look out your window.”

He froze for a beat too long, then stood up and peeked through the blinds on his window where he saw Sarah waving, still holding his phone to his ear. Immediately, he saw Poppy where Sarah was, coming to win him back, and his heart did a flip. That was, until he blinked and saw it was still Sarah.

He swallowed.

“Yeah, you can come up.”

She smiled.

“Be right there.”

He looked around his room. It was pretty tidy, despite all his moping for the past week and lack of regard for his usual need for order. He grabbed his laundry hamper and stuffed it in his closet, then waited for the sound of her footsteps on the stairs to announce her presence.

The knock on his door made him realize he hadn’t been listening close enough.

“Alex? It’s me.”

He licked his lips and swallowed, then opened the door.

“Shit, I’m still in love with you, Nance!”

Nancy froze, her fingers barely touching her sweater draped over a chair on the other side of Steve’s bedroom. After a beat, she pulled the fabric from the wood and slid the fuzzy cardigan through her arms, buttoning up to hide the tiny white bra underneath.

“Did you hear what I said?”

He didn’t sound mad. Irritated, maybe, and Nancy wasn’t sure if that was worse. Still, it was something she could work with.

She pursed her lips and turned to face him.

“I heard you.”

“Well?”

He gestured wildly with his arms, then let them fall against his jeans. She was grateful he was wearing those. If he was still only in his boxers, she might not be strong enough to turn him down again.

“What do you want me to say?”

“Well, saying it back would be nice,” he admitted aloud.

Her eyebrows shot up, and a scoff slipped out, to which she got a watery gaze in return.

“Sorry.”

She sighed.

“Look, Steve, I never promised anything when we started doing this. You have Kristen, I have my job across the country. We’ve done this exactly six times in the last six months. Waiting till Robin and Jonathan leave, and it’s just us, and then we pretend it didn’t happen for the next 29 days.”

“Maybe I don’t want to forget it anymore. Ever.”

“And what? We start ‘going steady’? Steve, this isn’t high school.”

“I know that. Do you think I forgot what happened in high school?”

She pursed her lips.

“You sure you don’t need a reminder?”

His eyes narrowed.

“I don’t want to live in the past.”

She stiffened.

“And is that what you think I’m doing? Shagging my ex-boyfriend twelve times a year to relive my youth?”

“Oh, now we’re at twelve. Yeah, that’s promising.”

She didn’t know when it happened, but he’d slowly come closer to her. They weren’t exactly having the friendliest conversation, and they were now both fully dressed, but something about him being in close proximity reminded her of what they’d just finished doing not long ago.

And then his hands were cupping her face and his lips were pressed against hers, and her arms somehow found their way wrapping around his back as he deepened the kiss more with each passing second.

“Wait, Steve,” she tried between kisses.

He kissed the corners of her lips, but didn’t seal them the way he had before, so she could still talk.

“What?”

And she heard the smile in his voice, and it made her smile too. Made her giddy. Made her want to forget the argument.

“We can’t just- We’re running in circles.”

“Well, why don’t we sit down then, so we don’t get dizzy?” he suggested.

She laughed.

“Steeeeve,” she whined.

Then, he did kiss her again.

And she let him. She gave in. She felt his fingers on the buttons of her sweater and then on her bare shoulders as the garment fell to the floor. She lifted his shirt up over his head and tossed it behind her with a smile as they walked back to the bed.

His jeans and her skirt were off by the time they sat down. Nancy went willingly when he pulled her onto his lap and kissed her some more, pulling her back with him as he scooted back to the head of the bed.

“It feels like we just did this,” he said, pointing out the irony.

She laughed again, the little angel on her shoulder glaring at her with a certainty that told her she could stop this. That she should stop this. They’d never done it two times in a row.

But that was before her brain short-circuited at the sound of Steve opening the top drawer of his bedside table to grab another condom, and she felt his boxers disappearing beneath her legs.

He flipped her suddenly, fitted the condom to his cock, and let him peel her panties off her long, slim legs, faintly smelling them before tossing them over his shoulder.

“Steve,” she deadpanned.

“What? You smell good. I want to remember it.”

She shook her head, then lifted her arms to him, and he came down to her.

“N-No,” she stammered, unexpectedly nervous. “Lift me up.”

“Uh…okay. Like this?” he asked, though he was more than experienced and definitely had to know the position she was going for, hovering in mid-air with him entering just beneath her.

She licked her lips.

“Mhmm.”

He released one of her legs to guide his cock into her entrance – wet, hot and ready for him – before lifting her leg back up into the crook of his elbow.

“Jesus, Nancy.”

And as much as she wanted to try the freeing position for more than three seconds, Nancy didn’t complain when after a few quick thrusts, Steve collapsed and released her to prop himself up and fuck into her over and over and over.

Nancy slid her hands up his chest and encircled his neck, her dainty legs hooking over his hips as he continued to drill in her, uncontrollably, like he was afraid she’d disappear if he slowed down.

“Hey, it’s okay. I’m here.”

And he slowed ever so slightly. Because there was something in her eyes that said she wouldn’t vanish. Not here, not when they were like this. Not when she was looking at him like this, and not when she was kissing and touching him and returning each thrust for thrust, bucking against his body as intently as he was hers.

“Steve!”

She clawed at his back as she came, and the sound of his name in pure ecstasy from her lips as he came too was euphoria at its finest.

“I love you, Nance,” he whispered, tucking his face into her neck as he collapsed.

She sighed, but she didn’t argue his point again.

I love you, too, she thought.

The confession was safe enough in her head. As long as it didn’t do something crazy like reach her heart and slip past her lips when she last expected it.

So, instead, she said, “Okay, Steve,” and patted his back seconds before he dozed off in her arms, half-on her and half-off.