Always, Arlo [Published]

Chapter 20

A Toast.

"Looks like I won huh? I managed to keep you here with me too." He tells me and I shake my head with a scoff leaving my lips. I push his arm playfully disregarding his statement, "That's not fair, you caught me off guard. I didn't know you where going to do that.." I get shy thinking about what we had just done. I never expected Arlo to kiss me, but in the moment of high tension and our bodies basically begging for it to happen, I shouldn't have expected anything less. A smug smirk plays on his lips as he analyzes my body language, almost as if he can feel the strong fluttering sensation in my stomach.

"Everyone must be gathering up now, let's go before they start wondering where we are." He tells me as he reaches out for my hand, intertwining his fingers with mine. He guides me as I follow behind him, away from the beautiful rooftop and its scenery. I stare at our hands locked together and my heart begins to pick up pace. I never experienced feelings like this over merely simple interactions such as holding hands, but Arlo somehow makes me feel things I never have before. Every interaction with him leaves me in shambles and I just can't figure out why.

Once we reach the staircase I look up towards him, the dim light shining over his smudged red tinted lips. I hitch a breath when I realize it'll be very obvious what we had just done in our disappearance.

"Arlo, your lips." I point out and he pauses, gliding his thumb across his lips and looking at the tint of red rubbing off. He tilts his head slightly before looking down at me with mischief in his eyes. "What? You don't want the others to know what you did to me?" He says with a playful tone, a grin wide on his lips. My heart basically jumps out of my body with the way he's gazing at me and the way he's talking to me. His voice is a little lower and huskier as he speaks and my stomach clenches in response.

"I never said that," I say quietly as my voice is ringing with nervousness as his eyes become more intense in our locked eye contact. He's obviously teasing me, knowing it'll probably make me flustered and of course he's right. The slim stairway feels like its suffocating me with heat. It's only Arlo and I here and our bodies are awfully close in distance. His hand is still intertwined in mine and his thumb is rubbing the back of hand softly. Despite me trying to fight the irresistible feeling of arousal, I come to no avail. He goes to talk again but I cut him off this time, "You must want to go out there looking like a mess because you want Aaron to see." I comment smugly, trying to match his to his level.

I try to walk away from him sassily, but his grasp on my hand tightens, jerking me back slightly. When we lock eyes he shakes his head, he doesn't want to leave from this position just yet and quite frankly I don't either. His eyes shift from my eyes to my lips and I already know what he's instigating. My body twitches with the need to touch him again but when I remember what time it is I forcibly regain my composure. I roll my eyes at him in a joking manner, before dragging him along with me until we're in the vacant hallway of the club again.