The Dating Game

THIRTY-SIX

His words take more than just a few seconds to fully register in my brain. My body refuses to move and I can't seem to rip my eyes away from his and I realize my hand has been glued to his this entire time.

He smiles at me warmly, with no hint of sarcasm or flirtation or arrogance or confidence—just Chase. He just grins at me, four inches from my face, not expecting me to smile back or thank him or even respond. He's smiling at me because he wants to smile at me; because I've made him happy; because I've made him better. Chase cares about me and there's no more denying that I care about him too.

With my hand still holding his, I smile back. "I know what you mean."

His eyes travel from my face to our connected hands and he bites his lip. His thumb caresses my hand and suddenly I'm much more aware of what it feels like inside of his. I glance down at them as well, surprised to see how well they actually fit with each other. When I look back up at him, he's already staring at me.

"You know how you were there for me when I was struggling?" I ask him softly, the words escaping my mouth as if they were poetry.

He nods, a natural smirk on his cheeks.

"I don't think anyone else could've helped me the way you did," I admit, not sure whether the person I'm admitting that to is him or myself. "And I'm here to help you too."

"You've done much more than help me, Michelle," he says almost as softly as I spoke, before his eyes flicker to my lips and back up to my eyes. "You've healed me."

It's like everything he says digs below my brain and seeps into my heart, making my chest ache with something completely different from pain. His smile is so bright on this dark rooftop and his lips are so close to mine that I can feel his breath on the tip of my nose. I realize I'm staring at his lips, not able to recall when I started looking, yet not daring to look away. His freckles are so soft on his cheeks and nose, but so clear when we're this close together. And then his eyes, so big and so comforting—if I look too deeply, I may never escape them.

And yet, every bone in my body is telling me I can't look away.

Instead, my free hand reaches for his face and my thumb grazes his cheek. He smiles at me and glances at my hand on his skin before looking back up at my eyes. I know what he's asking me without sharing a single word, and I know there's only one answer.

I allow myself to slowly lean closer to him, throwing out every thought that tells me this is a bad idea. Our eyes meet once more before they shut in unison, right as I plant my lips on his. His hand leaves mine and instead, he takes both of them and holds each one to the sides of my face, kissing me back gently. My hand slips from his cheek and holds the nape of his neck as I kiss him carelessly. Tonight, the game is simply an afterthought.

I know that when I feel my heart beat faster in my chest and when my palms start to sweat. My body melts into his for the first time and I don't want it to stop. I want this moment to last a lifetime—our lips connected as we enjoy each other's company, our hands on each other not out of lust, but out of longing. I didn't want to admit it to myself and put this feeling out into the universe, but at this point, I can't convince myself any longer.

I have real, undeniable feelings for Chase Matthews.

And when we pull away, opening our eyes to reveal each other, there's a moment when I think he might feel the same. When he looks at me with adoration and smiles at my eyes. When he leaves my face in his hands for just a moment longer, just to keep touching me. His expression is almost exactly the same as the one I saw earlier when he couldn't rip his eyes away from the sky. He looks at me as if I'm shining among the millions of lights in the sky.