Blind Ambition | ✓

38 | Teenage Fever Dreams

"Hey." Her breath danced against the back of my neck.

"Hi," I sighed out, reaching down for her hands and intertwining her fingers in mine. "Why am I little spoon?"

"Seems like you need it. To be the cuddled not the cuddler."

I chuckled. "So wise."

"I've been known to do that."

She pressed a gentle kiss into the crook of my neck, squeezing me a little tighter, and we let a comfortable, warm silence settle between us. If it wasn't for the sudden surge of noise downstairs, we could have fallen asleep.

"Kaia," a voice echoed up the stairs, which I could only assume was Kaia's mother. "Krista and I got pizza on the way home. Is your friend staying for dinner?"

I sputtered out a laugh, which earned me an elbow in the back as Kaia unwound herself from me.

"Yeah, set an extra place," she called back, and when I realized what that implicated, it shot me upright.

"What?" I hissed out. "No, no way. I'm not in any position to sit and have dinner with your mom."

Kaia hopped off her bed and smoothed out imaginary wrinkles in her little white t-shirt. "Consider this your asshole tax."

"Asshole tax?" I mouthed to myself as Kaia motioned for me to follow her out of her room.

I had never actually been anywhere else in Kaia's house other than her bedroom and the front hallway, but the rest of it felt just as comfortable and lived in as I had come to expect it to. A mud-speckled Nike bag and a pair of cleats were dropped by the front door, and a warm glow came from the stained-glass light fixtures hanging above the kitchen island that overlooked the den. Kaia's sister still donned a white and blue, grass-stained soccer jersey as she sat at a round, wooden table on the other side of the island, digging through a pizza box.

I trailed Kaia into the kitchen, where her mother had just finished laying a placemat down and setting a fourth place at their table. Her gaze snapped up to me and instantly studied me in my slept-in sweatpants and hoodie, undoubtedly expecting anyone other than me.

"This is Dallas," Kaia droned as she gestured lazily towards me. "That's mom, and that's my sister Krista."

I wiped my palms on my sweats and extended my hand out to her. "Nice to meet you Mrs. Greene."

"Oh please, Lorena is fine," she said as she shook my hand warmly.

There was no missing the glint of recognition in Kaia's mother's eyes when she introduced me. She let a little smirk work its way onto her face as I sat down across from her and shot a pointed look at Kaia.

"So this is the famous Dallas, huh?" she arched an eyebrow, and Kaia intercepted any reaction I could have mustered, reaching under the table and pinching my thigh. "Kaia talks about you all the time."

"Nothing endearing," Kaia added with an eye roll.

"Okay, he's way cuter than you said he was," Krista chirped, taking a chomp out of her cheese slice.

"Can you not?" she snapped at her sister, sending a venomous glare across the table.

That got a full-blown laugh out of me, and it made me realize how long it had been since I'd had a laugh like that - even if it was slightly at my own expense. It felt pretty damn good.

"I'm a little hurt," I shot Kaia a coy smirk. "You said I wasn't cute?"

Redness flared in Kaia's cheeks. "Well, not exactly-"