Something There

Chapter Sixty-Four

Chapter Sixty-Four:

"My whole family is acting super weird lately. I feel like they know something. I doubt Charlie would have told them about us, though. But then again, maybe I'm wrong. Wait . . . Do you think that they know about the night I snuck out with you? They must. I probably wasn't as conspicuous as I had thought. If any of the three of them had gone into my room to check on me after hearing any of the commotion, they would have seen that my bed is empty. God, I'm so stupid. Thanks for coming that night, though. It meant a lot," I say quickly, until Bryce suddenly cuts me off by pressing his mouth to mine.

My eyes fly open wide before I adjust, sinking into the kiss.

He's holding my face carefully, and I wrap my arms around the back of his neck, desperate to draw myself closer to his body, but that's when he breaks away from me.

"You're rambling, love. Take a deep breath," Bryce instructs, and I close my eyes, breathing in as he suggests.

He keeps his hands on my face, and when I finally open my eyes again, he's watching me intently.

"I'm sorry. I'm just stressed. I don't know what time decisions come out yet. I guess I'll have to just check my email obsessively all day," I tell
him quietly, and he just nods to me as he carefully brushes his thumb across my lips.

He doesn't say anything to me, and all I do is stare back, feelings my heart racing even faster.

"You always have so many cute nicknames for me. You don't even call me by my real name, ever. Does it bother you that I only just call you 'Bryce'?" I ask him, and his eyebrows furrow at me.

"You're trying to change the topic," he observes, but soon lets it go, sighing. "No. It doesn't bother me. I get that you're not comfortable calling me anything else."

Now it's my turn to make a confused face.

"It's not that I'm uncomfortable; it's just that I've never thought about it," I defend, and Bryce suddenly has a playful twinkle in his eyes.

"Sure. I definitely believe you, Blossom," he teases, before dropping his hands from my face and intertwining our fingers instead.

"Now, let's head to school. It's 9:19," he says to me, guiding me out of the kitchen.

I find myself biting my lip in anticipation until I say, "You should believe me, baby."

Bryce freezes in his tracks.

He seems to be thinking for a moment, until he lets out a long breath.

"Fuck," he mutters, before continuing to walk until we reach the front door.

I separate from him, slipping on a pair of knee-high boots and not bothering with a jacket. Bryce didn't bother taking his shoes off when I let him inside, assuming that there would be a quick turnaround.

But, since he arrived so early, we had some time to kill before we had to depart from school. We spent that time chatting without worrying about being overheard as my parents and Charlie had left for work and school already, and it really was a good start to the day.

I wish this was how I could spend every single morning of my life.

Seeing as it's finally April, the weather is beginning to warm up, even though I know that we're due for buckets and buckets of rain over the next few weeks.

I suppose that means no more walks in the park at three in the morning with Bryce, but I'm sure he'll think of some other way to steal as much of my time as possible.