First Crush, My Forever

Chapter 61

  We step into my room and close the door behind us. Dani's eyes sweep the space like she's sizing it up, maybe imagining it already halfway packed. I watch her, heart pounding a little.

  "You sure you want me poking around in all this?" she teases, hands on her hips. "Your secret stash of deep thoughts, blurry selfies and family pictures?"

  I chuckle, rubbing the back of my neck. "Hey, those are very important deep thoughts," I say, reaching for one of my battered leather journals and holding it up like it's treasure. "And the blurry selfies? Totally an artistic choice. Family pictures, well that's a given... you've met my family and I'm all about them."

  "Oh, right," Dani laughs, picking up one of my vintage cameras and turning it over in her hands. "And this? Is it going to be displayed in my house too?"

  "Obviously," I grin, leaning in just enough to feel the warmth of her. "You can't have me without my cameras. Comes with the package."

  "Package deal, huh?" Dani arches a brow. "Sounds like I'm getting a pretty good bargain."

  "You are," I say, voice low as I slide my hands around her waist, drawing her close. "And I plan on spoiling you."

  Dani's hands rest against my chest as her gaze drifts to a cluster of photos pinned to the wall. Snapshots of city streets, sunsets, candid shots of friends and family from trips and just around San Antonio. She tilts her head, eyes softening. "I love these," she murmurs. "That one's my favorite." She points to a black and white shot of me laughing into the camera.

  "You can have it," I say without missing a beat.

  Dani looks up at me, lips curved. "And you? What's your favorite?"

  "Of my photos?" I pretend to ponder, then brush my thumb along her cheek. "Anything with you in it."

  That makes Dani grin, a little shy, and my heart feels too big for my chest. "And where are those pictures?" She glances at one of my journals left open on the desk. "More secrets?"

  "More like terrible poetry," I admit with a smirk. "You can read them if you want, but I'm warning you, they might make you like me less. As for the pictures with you in them, they are on my phone but I want to change that. I want to take lots of pictures of you, with you and with KK."

  "Never," Dani says, tugging me toward the chair where my T-shirts are stacked. "Especially if you let me steal one of these too."

  "Steal?" I murmur against her lips. "Baby, I'll put them into your dresser myself."

  "Careful," she says, fingers skimming the back of my neck. "You keep this up and I'll never want to leave your side of the closet."

  "That was kind of my plan," I admit as I kiss her slowly. "You make everything better. Even packing up my sometimes messy room."

  Dani hums into my mouth, warm and sure. "And you make me want to hold onto every part of it."

  We kiss until the world outside feels distant and fuzzy, then Dani reaches past me for one of my caps on the dresser. "How do I look in this?" she asks, settling it on her head with a grin.

  "Like you just stole my heart," I say, stepping behind her and slipping my arms around her waist.

  Dani leans back into me and meets my gaze in the mirror across the room. "Good," she replies, voice soft and certain. "That's exactly what I did."

  I press my lips to her hair and close my eyes for a breath, feeling a warm ache in my chest that I never want to lose. When I straighten up, Dani's already scanning the shelves. "Okay," she says, rolling up the sleeves of my shirt. "Where do we start? Do we tackle clothes, cameras, or all those mysterious journals you've got stacked up?"

  "Hmm," I pretend to deliberate as I trail my fingers over a row of battered leather covers. "Journals last," I decide. "That's when we'll need to sit down and read some of the cringier entries together."

  She grins at me over her shoulder. "Cringier?"

  "Oh yeah," I laugh, pulling a face. "Teenage me thought I was deep. There's probably an embarrassing number of odes to my first camera or my favorite hiking trail in there."

  "I love that," Dani says, eyes bright. "It's sweet. Shows you had a lot to say even back then." She picks up a folded T-shirt and brings it to her nose with a playful sniff. "And these smell like you," she murmurs. "You sure you're okay with me moving some of them into my dresser?"

  "More than okay," I assure her. "I want you wrapped up in my stuff as much as I want my stuff wrapped up in you."

  That draws a flush to Dani's cheeks as she hands me the shirt. "That might be my favorite part of this," she admits softly. "That I can look around my house and see pieces of you everywhere. It feels like making a real home together."

  My heart does that ridiculous flipping thing again as I take the shirt from her and fold it, then kiss her temple. "That's exactly what this is," I say against her hair. "And I can't wait."

  Together we sort through my shirts and hoodies one by one, making a pile to take next door. Every so often Dani catches my eye and smiles like she's caught up in the same warm feeling. Occasionally I stop folding long enough to kiss her shoulder or to tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear. Every small touch feels easy, familiar, like it's meant to last.

  By the time we move on to the shelves, Dani reaches for my cameras one by one, brushing her hands over them like they're precious. "You have a real collection," she says. "Each one looks so different."

  "Each one has a story," I reply, reaching around her to lift a worn leather strap. "That one was my first 35mm," I say with a little smile. "My parents got it for me when I mentioned wanting to do photography as a hobby.

  "That's amazing," Dani murmurs, holding it carefully before passing it back. "You've built so much with these. You could literally be a professional photographer. You have an eye for detail."

  "And I want you to be part of whatever comes next," I tell her, my hands steady as I tuck the camera into a padded case. Dani leans up to kiss me like that's the most natural thing in the world.

  I glance around at the photos one more time, feeling a quiet pride I rarely put into words. "You know," I murmur, brushing my thumb across a picture of my moms laughing together at the park, "this room was my safe place for a long time. Every picture, every journal, even these old shirts, they all hold pieces of who I was."

  Dani reaches for my hand, squeezing it gently. "And who you are," she says, voice soft.

  That knot in my chest loosens. "That's the thing," I tell her honestly. "Packing this up doesn't feel sad like I thought it might. It feels like I finally have someone to share it all with."

  Dani leans into my side, and for a long breath we just stand there, quiet, hands clasped.

  Finally we move together around the room like that for a while, packing up small bits of my life. It feels good, like this is where all of it is supposed to go. By the time we stop to catch our breath, my heart is full and my hands are already reaching for hers, pulling her close because I just want to feel her there. The weight of it feels good, hopeful, like the best kind of change. It's us weaving together and feels like the start of forever.

  Luckily my moms had picked up packing boxes and sat in my room after we had told them I was going to move in with Dani. Once we have a few of those boxes packed, we tell my parents bye and head back across to Dani's house and sit the boxes by the stairs for now because KK was on her way home