Walking out into the warm Los Angeles evening, it was hard to reconcile the fact that there were Christmas decorations strung up around the neighborhood.
I was still used to cold, sometimes snowy winters despite the fact that I'd had a home here for nearly ten years. To see the sun shining, to only need a light jacket every time I went outside, even so close to Christmas, it was still a little disheartening. It never quite felt like the holiday season.
Julian and I had been working today, and finished earlier than planned. The recording for the album was done, now it was just a matter of picking twelve to fourteen songs out of the dozens and dozens we'd written and recorded. It should've been relatively easy, but there were too many I held close to my heart. Too many that were full of emotion, ranging from the sadness and pain of heartbreak to the joy and excitement of falling in love (again). I'd been through so much these last several months that I didn't know which way I wanted to take the album. Didn't know whether I wanted it to be a clear breakup album, a clear falling in love album, or an even mix of the two. And there were so many songs to choose from, narrowing them down would be difficult even with a clear concept in mind.
So I left Julian's house with all of them on my laptop, ready to listen to them in my spare time and hopefully determine which I'd like to be on the album, which I'd like to give to other artists, and which I'd like to put on the back-burner.
I was supposed to meet Jeff and Glenne for dinner at hers a bit later, and checked my phone once I was in my car to see whether either of them had texted to firm up a time. It was already nearly five. But I only had two messages. The first was from Mum.
There are only ten more shopping days and I still have no clue what to get you. Please help out your poor Mum.
I shook my head, smiled, and quickly typed out a message, eager to get to the other one waiting for me. The only thing I could use is a new set of under shirts. Other than that, I don't want anything.
I knew I was setting myself up for a well-meaning scolding, and I knew how she hated to have very few things for me on Christmas. But it didn't feel right—asking her for things. I had more than I could ever want. And she understood when I explained it to her, but she still seemed to feel it was her responsibility to get for me on Christmas. So, at least I'd thrown her a bone.
And my heart picked up it's pace, a smile formed on my lips, when I read the other message waiting for me: No word in the English language rhymes with month.
I pictured her then, wherever she'd been when she'd sent this twenty minutes ago—maybe at school, maybe on the train home, maybe in her bedroom—and imagined her drinking her Snapple and trying to prove this fact wrong. Trying out every consonant in front of the rest of the word and hoping that one of them was indeed a word in the English language. And I grinned.
I couldn't think of any either.
Lunch is close, but doesn't quite rhyme does it? I sent back.
And I started the drive over to Glenne's with a smile on my face, excited to think that in just a couple more weeks, I'd be able to smile with her.
I didn't regret it—saying that I wanted to see her. I was more and more excited with every day that passed, actually. It was something I was more than looking forward to. Sometimes when we were talking over the phone, it felt like I couldn't wait any longer. But I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't nervous, too. Just the thought of being in the same room with her again, after all we'd been through, and all we were working toward, sent a small thrill through me, and I wasn't sure if that thrill was entirely excited or entirely nervous.
If this was going to go the way we both wanted it to, there was still a lot of work to be done. And my fears weren't entirely at ease. I was trying to be realistic about the fact that there was still the possibility that things wouldn't work out. Mum had said so, too. She had been encouraging, of course, and had taken the news of all that Madelyn had been through with compassion and understanding. But she made sure to warn me before I left, too.
"Harry," she had said as I headed out to my car, ready to head back to London before going straight to Heathrow.
I had turned around, met her eye.
Mum walked out into the brisk morning air in nothing but her robe and pajamas. She looked up at me when she was only a few feet away.
"Just..." she lifted a hand, touched my cheek. "Be careful, okay? I know you love her, and you're excited to see her, but... take it slow. Don't rush into anything just because, alright?"
I nodded. I had already considered and re-considered everything, and had come to the same conclusion—that I needed to take things slowly—despite the fact that Mum and I had agreed that I should go for it.
"I will, Mum," I had said, and smirked. "Not looking to get my heart broken again if I can help it."
Mum had smiled, too. "Good."
But no matter what I planned for, no matter how I thought I'd prepared myself, butterflies still filled my stomach when she texted, or called, or even when I merely thought about her. And I knew that regardless of my intentions, I'd have my work cut out for me when I was finally stood right in front of her.
It took every bit of self-restraint I had not to check my phone again until I'd pulled up in front of Glenne's house. I already knew that Jeff would be there—he'd told me earlier that the two of them were going shopping and just spending the day at hers, taking it easy until it was time to make dinner. They wouldn't mind me showing up early, especially since we hadn't agreed on a time. But I spent another minute in my car anyway, smiling as I thought about how to respond to her text:
I had the same thought. 'Munch' sort of works, too, but only because it rhymes with "lunch."
My smile turned into a smirk. We've been bested by a Snapple fact, Mads. How will you ever go on, Professor? ;)
I was still smiling when I got out of my car and headed up to Glenne's front door, realizing that Mads was no longer five hours behind me, but three hours ahead, and at eight o'clock her time, she was more than likely at home. She was probably in her room. Maybe texting me from bed...
"Who's there?" a panicked voice said when I opened the front door. It shook me right out of my thoughts.
"Sorry, it's just me," I said in response to Glenne, realizing that I probably should've texted she or Jeff to let them know I was on the way.
There was a strange hush then, the slam of cabinets, and the rattle of a pan, like something had fallen and spun around on the tiled floor of the kitchen. I felt my alarm form on my face and burn in my chest before hurrying toward the noise.
I found Glenne alone in the kitchen crouched down to pick up the lid of a pot.
"Are you alright?" I asked hurrying over to help her stand. "Sorry if I scared you."
She laughed it off as we both straightened, but it was still a sort of panicked sound. "I'm fine, I'm fine. Just... frazzled, I guess." She was almost panting, and looked at me with furrowed brows. "I thought you wouldn't be here until seven?"
I stood back, shoved my hands into my pockets and felt my brows knit together. "No one told me a time, so when I finished up work with Julian, I figured I'd just head over."
Glenne's eyes went wide, and her voice took on a harsh quality when she asked, "Jeff didn't tell you?"
That gave me pause. I didn't want to get him in trouble. But I also knew that Glenne would see right through it if I lied. "I, uh... I guess he forgot."
She blew out a frustrated breath and put her hands on her hips. "Of course he did."
"Where is he anyway?" I asked, glancing around the kitchen, only just now realizing there was nothing on the stove to suggest she was cooking dinner.
Glenne sighed again. "He went to his Mom's." Glenne set the lid down on the counter next to the stove. "She needed help putting up a shelf, or something like that."
I watched her open the fridge and smirked. "And she called Jeff to help her?"
Glenne shrugged, but it got her to smile. She unscrewed the cap of a water bottle. "Should be interesting."
I waited for her to say more—some sarcastic comment that would make both of us laugh—but she stayed quiet. Instead, she glanced around the kitchen with worried eyes. Bit her lip as she looked down the hallway I'd just come through, tapped her fingers against the counter and blew out another breath.
"You alright?" I asked, getting the sense that she definitely wasn't.
"Fine, why?" she said too quickly, too cheerfully. She smiled when she met my eye again, but didn't hold the gaze.
I waited a beat, watched as she continued to glance around the kitchen like she was looking for something.
"You seem... distracted," I said. "And you haven't started anything for dinner."
"Well, I would have if I knew you were coming early," she exclaimed, and her voice was too high-pitched, her eyes too wide, her smile too big. I felt my brows furrow as she went on, " I mean," she lifted a hand, let it fall again on the counter, "you could've called to say you were coming! You could've texted. You could've asked if now would be a good time."
I glanced surreptitiously around the kitchen as she continued, knowing something was off from the strange way she was acting and wondering what the hell it could be. Glenne always had it under control, even when everyone else had nothing in control—she was the reliable one. The one everyone could count on to keep her wits about her.
But now... it was like she was looking for her scattered wits in the far reaches of the room.
"And I can't believe Jeff didn't tell you to come at seven! I mean really, I gave him one freakin' job today, and he doesn't even manage to do something as simple as text you to tell you to come at seven. I should know better by now. I should—"
That's when I saw it. When I glanced at Glenne as she continued on her rant, and then back at it where it sat at the far end of the counter, my heart absolutely pounding.
"I mean, what do I even keep him around for at this point? I love him... but Jesus, he's a real idiot sometimes."
I was nearing it by the moment, and my breath caught in my throat as I stared at it, as all my focus zoomed in on it like a camera getting ready to take a snapshot.
And then, I picked it up.
"Glenne?" I said, feeling the shape of it in my palm.
"He's really lucky I love him so damn much. I honestly don't know how he functions day to day without me. He can barely function with me for God's sake, and—"
"Glenne," I said more forcefully. And she looked up.
"What?" she asked, even as her eyes moved to my hand and widened.
I could barely breathe. Her reaction said more than anything she could've said with words.
My pounding heart in my throat, I held up my hand and asked, "Since when do you drink Snapple?"
The bottle was half empty and still relatively cold. The label was ripped at the top, but there, clear as day, was the flavor: Raspberry Tea.
"I—I—"
I raised my eyebrows, waiting for Glenne's excuse, but at the same time, wondering where she was—where my girl was.
"I just had a taste for it today, I guess," Glenne said quickly, laughing unconvincingly and walking toward me with her hand held out for the bottle. "Saw it at the store when we went earlier and grabbed it on a whim."
I held it away from her when she reached for it, and met her eye, couldn't help my smile because I knew. I just knew that she was here somewhere. I wondered how I hadn't sensed her as soon as I walked in the door. Now, she was all I could sense, all I could feel.
"Really?" I asked, a patient smirk still on my lips even though I felt all but patient. "So you won't mind if I just..." I unscrewed the cap, "read the Snapple fact, then?"
Glenne grabbed for the bottle cap, but I closed my fist around it, tried to move it away from her.
But a voice stopped us both.
Her voice.
"Well... this definitely didn't go according to plan."
I stopped moving. Searched the room for the source of the sound, and found her standing by the now-open pantry doors, an uncertain smile on her face.
My whole body tightened, froze, the only thing that continued moving was my heart as it thumped, my lungs as quick breaths slipped in and out of them—all I could do was stare. Into those blue eyes that were here in front of me now for the first time in nearly four months.
And she stared right back, her smile growing by the moment.
Glenne stopped trying to grab the bottle cap from me and her whole body deflated. She closed her eyes before turning around.
"I'm sorry," Glenne said to her, "Lesson learned: Don't trust Jeff with matters of this kind of importance."
Madelyn laughed a little bit, but behind her smile, looked nervous. Disappointed. Afraid for something as she met my eye again, as she curled her hair behind her ear, as her chest broke out in red blotches over the top of her black shirt.
And that's when I realized that she was nervous for my reaction.
"What, um... you... were you..." My thoughts were evading me, racing through my mind so fast, I couldn't reach out and grab onto any of them. "Were you hiding in the pantry?"
The hush when I'd walked into the house, the sound of doors closing, the clash of a pot lid on the floor... it was all making more sense, and I couldn't help but picture the two women panicking at the sound of my voice, and rushing around each other to hide Mads before I had a chance to see her.
I was smiling.
Madelyn's eyes went sideways then, but she was smiling too, and color bloomed on her cheeks as well as her chest. "Uh... yeah, I - I was."
Glenne sighed then, "The whole point of you coming over for dinner tonight was so that Maddie could surprise you. Her flight only got in an hour ago, so Jeff and I picked her up, and we were supposed to get ready for seven, surprise you, then go out to eat together. But clearly," Glenne lifted a hand, let it fall to her side, "the surprise was ruined thanks to my space cadet of a boyfriend." She looked at Maddie then. "At least we remembered to get him to carry your things upstairs before he left."
"I'm, uh, still pretty surprised," I said, and felt myself smiling. I couldn't quite remember, but I didn't think I'd stopped since the moment I'd seen her. And I was still holding the Snapple bottle. I set it down as I looked into Madelyn's eyes again. "So... you're staying here?"
She looked at Glenne. "Well, Glenne was nice enough to offer her guest room, and I'll only be here for the weekend cause I've still got finals to proctor and papers to grade, but, uh..." she shrugged, smiled again, "I took her up on it, yeah."
I nodded, tried to shake the niggling feeling that she should've been staying with me. This was better. I'd wanted to take things slowly, and though she'd shown up unexpectedly, I was unbelievably happy to see her. But having her stay in my home probably wasn't a good idea. Not yet. And it would've been harder to accept that if she was planning to stay in a hotel again. But she was staying at Glenne's, and there was no good reason to offer her a place at mine. Not when it would only tempt us both, and force us to confront a situation we shouldn't have to confront yet.
Even if I desperately wanted to.
She was wearing yoga pants for Christ's sake. And a baggy t-shirt that was almost hanging off one shoulder, revealing too much skin at her throat. Her hair was up in a pony-tail that left the shorter, looser strands hanging down around her neck and ears, the ends touching all the places I wanted to kiss her. She was definitely dressed for a seven hour flight, but Jesus, she was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen.
And my body—my heart, my lungs, my arms, my legs, fucking everything—was reacting to her.
"I'll, uh... I'll leave you two alone for a couple minutes. Gotta change anyway," Glenne said then, perhaps sensing there was a thick, hot tension in the room now that definitely hadn't been there only two minutes before. And she smiled at me before hurrying from the kitchen, her bare feet practically soundless on the wood floors.
And then we were alone. Alone with that tension that had so rapidly built between us. We were standing at opposite ends of the room, staring at each other, smiling at each other, and we'd almost reached a point where I couldn't take the distance any longer—I wasn't sure how I'd lasted as long as I had without touching her—when she broke the silence.
"Is this okay?" she asked, suddenly looking very apprehensive. And she didn't give me a chance to answer before the rambling began. "It seemed like a really good idea a week ago when we were planning it. And even when I got on the plane. But then, the closer I got, the more I realized that... this might be too much too soon, and I don't want you to feel like you owe me anything, or that I expect anything, or that I think this is any more than a friend visiting a friend. And if you want me to leave, I'll leave. But..."
She looked up at me. I'd been drawing nearer and nearer to her as she babbled.
"But I—" she paused, swallowed as she looked into my eyes, "When you said that you wanted to see me, I just..." I was close enough to touch her but didn't. "I just had to see you," she said on a weak breath, and her mouth was ajar as she breathed, as her eyes moved away from mine, and down to my throat before scanning their way back up to meet my gaze once more.
It felt like it had that first time—to be standing right in front of her after so long of just hearing her voice on the other end of the line.
Thrilling. Exhilarating. Like I'd been asleep for a long while, and had just woken up completely refreshed.
I smiled when she was looking at me again, and didn't waste another second before leaning down, and wrapping her up in a hug.
She released a quick, surprised breath as my arms slid around her, as they tightened around her waist. And as her arms tightened around me in return, I felt the most exquisite relief, an undiluted happiness I hadn't known in ages.
I couldn't think straight. Not knowing that she was here, that she had come to surprise me, that I was holding her in my arms. She smelled like Mads despite being on a plane for seven hours—like her coconut shampoo and coffee. She felt like Mads, too. Warm and soft and strong and so good, I never wanted to let go.
But I did. Because I needed to look into her eyes again, too.
She was smiling, and slightly teary-eyed when I pulled back, but I kept my hands on her arms.
"Sorry," she said with a laugh, and her hands wrapped around my forearms, almost as if she needed to hold onto something. She sniffled and shook her head before meeting my eye again. "Stupid emotions."
I chuckled, too. Laughing felt like the only release for all that I was feeling. I lifted a hand, almost didn't touch her cheek, but did. She looked at me.
"You're here," I said. Because that wasn't already obvious. Her skin was ridiculously soft.
Her eyes were still watery even though she was smiling, and one hand came up and covered mine, held it to her cheek.
"I couldn't wait," she whispered. And before I could let myself get too excited about that—about knowing that she was as desperate to see me as I was to see her after so much time spent doubting it—she said, "Besides... you're not the only one who's allowed the pleasure of surprises."
I smiled down at her as she grinned up at me, sure that she was referring to all the times I'd flown to New York to surprise her while we were together. And how she'd had a love/hate relationship with those surprises as well.
I didn't have a love/hate relationship with this at all. I knew what it was to want to see someone so badly, you felt like you couldn't wait any longer. I knew how important it felt to make sure that everything went off without a hitch, just the way you imagined it. I knew what it felt like to hope that the other person would want to see you, too, that they'd be happy you'd shown up at their door. I knew what it meant that she'd done this for me.
And I loved every bit of it.
"Although," she said and looked down a little, "things definitely could've gone a bit more smoothly, but—"
"No," I said quickly, letting my hand fall and latch onto hers. "This was perfect." I smirked at her. "Especially the bit where you ended up hiding in the pantry."
Mads squeezed her eyes shut. "We panicked!" she defended.
Her cheeks were red again, and my heart was pounding. "Just curious... what would you have done if I'd just sat down, didn't notice the Snapple bottle, and offered to help Glenne with dinner, and—"
She whacked my arm lightly, causing me to laugh. "Alright, alright. Clearly, we could've thought everything through a little more."
The thought of her hiding out in the pantry for longer than the few minutes she was actually in there had both of us chuckling, and Madelyn rolling her eyes at herself. Her embarrassment was so appealing to me, I ran a knuckle quickly over her flushed cheek.
"I'm really glad you didn't," I said with a laugh, still giddy at the sight of her, giddy to be touching her.
Mads blushed once more. "I'm glad you're happy about it," she mumbled, then met my eye again, "Despite all the ways it went wrong."
I looked into her eyes for a few more moments, wondering how I'd gone as long as I had not looking into them. Wondering how I'd survived three years away from her. Wondering how I'd made it four months after that, and smiled.
"You're only here for the weekend then?" I asked, already hating the thought of her leaving.
"Till Sunday," she said. "Classes finished up yesterday, and I'm not giving final exams for my own classes, just final papers, but I'm assigned to proctor a few exams next week."
I nodded, not really okay with the thought of her only having thirty-six hours to spend with me, but grateful to her for choosing to come all this way for those thirty-six hours all the same. Grateful and surprised, and so in love with her, I didn't think I'd be able to hold myself back from revealing how much for long.
She glanced down at our joined hands between us then. "And, uh... I - I wasn't sure you'd be okay with this anyway, so I didn't want to assume anything and stay too long."
I felt my brow furrow as I tried to process that. "What do you mean?"
Mads looked uncertain again. "Well, it's like I said." She paused, looked at me like she was waiting for me to understand as well.
She continued when I raised my brows. "I wasn't sure how you'd feel. I know you said you wanted to see me, and obviously, I wanted to see you too, but... but I didn't want to push anything, you know?"
Slow. I'd wanted to take things slow. And it took her saying that to remind me of it.
I was in dangerous territory. As much as I loved that she was here, and loved that I could see her and talk to her and touch her, I still needed to be careful. And clearly, any thoughts of taking precautions with her had flown right out the window as soon as I had laid eyes on her.
There was a large part of me that wanted to throw all caution to the wind and kiss her, right here, right now. And I probably would've ended up doing exactly that if she hadn't pulled me right back down to earth. That's how in love with her I was.
But I had to protect myself. I had to guard my heart a little more carefully this time around. And I hated that I had to do it. Mads seemed to hate it, too. If she was thinking this much about everything she said and did where I was concerned, she was considering my feelings, she was considering where my head was at, and as grateful as I was to her for showing up here today and making me the happiest I'd been in a long time, was as grateful as I was that she wasn't willing to push me further than I was ready to go.
Even if my body seemed to be telling me that I was ready for a lot when it came to her.
Mentally, I knew I wasn't.
"Thank you," I said, giving her hand a squeeze. "For coming here, for surprising me—even though you think it didn't work, it definitely did." We both smiled a little, and I couldn't help myself, I lifted a hand again, tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "I'm really happy to see you."
Mads only stared at me for a moment, a small smile on her lips, but she wrinkled her nose, and that smile grew, making my heart thump unevenly when she said, "The feeling is totally mutual."
We grinned at each other for another few moments that felt too brief when a voice called into the kitchen.
"Is it safe yet?"
Glenne.
I shook my head as Mads giggled and called back, "It's been safe."
"Well, how was I supposed to know that?" Glenne asked, her voice getting louder as she approached. "You're welcome, by the way. For giving you privacy even though I don't remember receiving a thank you."
She was smirking as she entered the room, and stared at the two of us standing beside each other before her eyes traveled down to our hands still joined between us.
I wasn't letting go.
And neither, it seemed, was Mads.
"Thank you," I said emphatically. "And thank you for arranging all of this together," I looked at Mads too. "Best failed surprise ever."
Glenne groaned. "Speaking of which, Jeff will be here in two minutes." She looked at me. "And since you're already here, Maddie, you may as well get changed. We'll head out early."
"Yeah, okay," Mads said, and glanced around as if she needed to grab something before heading upstairs, but her eyes only found mine again. She smiled, squeezed my hand. "I'll be quick."
It was hard letting go. Even though I knew she'd be right back, it felt wrong. Even more wrong than it used to. Because now there was a fear that didn't used to be there in the mix of my emotions surrounding her—and in many ways, it was my worst fear: that she wouldn't come back.
But I did it. I faced it and let go of her hand, watched as she left the room, and smiled back when she turned around to flash me hers before heading up the stairs.
This time was different, I reminded myself. This time, we were older, we'd had the time apart, and we'd both experienced more of the world—more of its heartaches and more of its trials. And if she had the same fears concerning us, the same anxieties about being with me, the past few months wouldn't have happened, and she certainly wouldn't have shown up here the way she had.
This time was different.
"So," Glenne said, tugging me out from the constant race of my thoughts. She grinned as she sat at the counter, waiting for me to say something. "Are you happy?" she asked when I didn't offer anything.
I blew out a breath, leaned down with my elbows on the counter, and smiled at my friend. "Indescribably."
Glenne looked at me with such affection then, I felt overwhelmed with gratitude for her.
"Thank you," I said. "For arranging all this with her, for letting her stay here with you, it... it means a lot to me."
And it did. I still had my fears about Mads and I being together, but I didn't have the same fears I had three years ago. I was no longer afraid of what bringing her around my friends might do, or what it might cause her to feel. Because even at our worst point—even when things didn't look like they were ever going to be okay between us—they'd accepted her. They were kind, and patient, and considerate of her and of me. They stood back and let us figure it out ourselves without judgment, and without inserting themselves into the situation. And I'd never be able to repay them for that.
"Anytime," Glenne said with a soft smile and a shake of her head. "That's what friends are for, right?"
"Yo," a voice called, and the front door closing broke through the little bubble of happiness that Glenne and I had been in.
Glenne sat back with a roll of her eyes and crossed her arms as Jeff walked into the kitchen. He stopped dead when he saw me, his eyes going wide.
"Dude," Jeff said, looking between me and Glenne and then sweeping his eyes across the expanse of the kitchen. "What are you doing here so soon?" he asked, clearly nervous despite his smile. "I thought you weren't coming until seven."
I smirked as Glenne said, her voice cold, "Well, he would have if someone had told him to be here at seven."
Jeff looked at her, then at me again, then back at his girlfriend as understanding came over his face with something like a wince. "Oh. That was my job, wasn't it?"
Glenne only rolled her eyes again.
"So, do you—" he broke off when he met my eye, then looked at Glenne once more, "Does he..."
"He knows," Glenne said, sounding bored now. "Maddie couldn't very well hide in the pantry for long."
Jeff's face broke out in a huge grin. "She hid in the pantry?"
"Are we still talking about that?" an amused voice asked, and I turned to find my girl smiling at me from the doorway.
The breath was practically knocked out of me. There she stood in dark blue jeans and a gray sweater that looked so soft, I was tempted to reach out and touch the material. It was simple, but she looked stunning. She was wearing heeled boots, so her legs looked long and strong. Her hair was down, and her soft dark brown waves gleamed under the kitchen lights. She was wearing a dangly pair of earrings that picked up the sparkle in her eyes. And when she came closer, took my outstretched hand, I noticed that a ring of dark makeup circled her eyes, too, making the blue of them look even bluer.
I smiled down at her, and she smiled back at me, and everything inside me was fluttering as I felt the steady pressure in her fingers. The tremulous connection from when we'd first met, the one we'd built upon so long ago, quivered there where we touched each other despite the amount of time we'd spent apart.
"Alright," Glenne said, standing up and looking only at Mads and I when she asked, "Ready to go everyone?"
"Wait," Jeff said, watching as she walked past him and headed toward the front door. He followed her and called as he went, "We're leaving now?"
I chuckled a little as he disappeared, and looked over at the woman standing beside me.
She was already looking at me, and blushed when I met her eye.
I wanted to make her blush even more. "You look beautiful."
And my heart lurched when her cheeks flamed again, but she smiled boldly up at me. "So do you."
I grinned, even as my heart thumped powerfully in my chest, even as my stomach seemed to zip around inside me, unsure which way was up. My eyes traveled down to her lips, which had a soft shade of pink lipstick on them now, and looked soft and inviting and I was very nearly kissing her when her voice broke through the haze of want.
"You ready?" Mads asked me after releasing a soft sigh. And I had to wonder if that sigh was a result of the same need I was feeling. From the way her lips had parted, and the way her eyes had gone sort of unfocused, I was sure it was.
So it took me a moment to process her question. And with her hand squeezing mine, her blue eyes locked on me, I wasn't entirely sure what it was she was asking me if I was ready for.
But that was okay. Because whatever it was, my answer in that moment was a resounding, unqualified, "Yes."
___
Author's Note:
AHHHHHHHHHHHHH. <-- me coming up with the idea for this chapter, me writing this chapter, me editing this chapter, me rereading this chapter, me writing this note thinking about YOU GUYS reading this chapter, me probably for the rest of time thinking about this chapter.
I just love it so much I could cry :) I hope you guys do, too. So PLEASE let me know what you think! Vote, comment, message me, tweet me - you know the deal. As usual, I'm SO EXCITED.
ALSO, we're super close to 50K reads here, and 190K reads on OOTO, BUT even cooler, OOTO now has over 10,000 votes! Which is just extremely cool bc that's truly all down to you guys, so here we go, once more, THANK YOU! For everything! I know at this point your more than likely tired of reading it, but I still mean it so sincerely!
And in other news, my story Somewhere in the Middle is now COMPLETED on Radish with 51 chapters :) I've posted up to Ch. 30 here, so if you'd like to check it out, I'd be forever grateful to you. I'm planning to post the rest of the chapters here once I'm a few chapters into the SEQUEL, which will also be posted on Radish, but I'll be putting it up here as well as I get further into it. And if you do check SITM out, please let me know what you think! I'd love to hear your thoughts :)
So, that's it for today, my loves! Hope you're all doing well, wherever you are in the world. Thank you, as always, for your incredible support and all the love you've shown me. Sending it right back your way times 1000! Until next week. xx