Page 104 of Yours, For Good

Eva approached us with a welcoming smile on your face. "I'm excited to finally meet you."

"Wow, you're cool!" Nora exclaimed. "I love your hair."

Eva chuckled, and ran her fingertips along the shaved side of her head. Her big curls fell around the other side of her face.

"From what I've heard," she said, "you're very cool, too. You'll fit right in."

Nora laughed. "I'm standing here wet from the lake, with a towel around my shoulders, and you call me cool?"

"You should have seen Javier talk about you." Eva smirked in my direction. "It left us no doubt there's something special about you. It was clear he's… taken."

Nora gazed at me again, as if to gauge my reaction.

I shrugged, the same small smile tilting my lips. "It's true."

I was thoroughly taken. I may not have known what being in love was like, but with this feeling in my chest, I knew I had to be close.

"I knew this," Nora said. "But hearing it from your friends feels different, somehow."

"We love him." Max gazed at me with affection. "We're going to help him plead his case. Respectfully, of course. Within measure."

I returned the look, hoping my feelings showed as clear in my eyes. He reassured me with a nod.

Eva glanced at her husband with humor in her eyes. "He means, we'll make sure you feel welcome and not at all overwhelmed."

"That's basically what I said!" Max argued.

Nora laughed, and we escaped to the room to change for the rest of the evening.

That Saturday, I woke up next to Nora for the fourth time. A rare, unfettered smile took over my lips; so far, the weekend was a success. The evening before, my friends had seemed as enthralled by Nora as I was, and laughter and conversation had lasted well into the night.

Even better, Nora's eyes sparkled as they used to. She matched Max and Vi's playfulness, Jake and Eva's sensitivity, and dazzled Gabe and Lina with her business plan.

The feeling in my chest that morning? Pride. Unearned, for sure; Nora was the one who deserved all the praise. All I had done was notice how wonderful she was, and the rest had been inevitable.

Gabe's parents weren't at the lake house this weekend. On times like this when we stayed up late, we didn't bother with breakfast. We set up a grazing station in the kitchen, where people could eat as much as they pleased during the day, in wait for the main meal at dinnertime. That way, everyone could sleep in if they liked, and not affect anyone.

I shared that with Nora and let her go into the shower first; I hadn't had a chance to write in my journal the night before, and I wanted to catch up. I sat on the bed and filled a few pages with ink, glasses on.

It was the first thing Nora noticed when she came into the room.

"Fuck, you look hot," she said.

I snapped my eyes up to her. "I could say the same thing."

She wore a graphic shirt knotted at her waist, and the same skirt from the time she vented all the frustrations she had with me and my decisions. She had also pulled half her hair into a high bun, allowing her face to stand out, and inviting me to pepper kisses all over.

A flirty smile slanted her mouth. She climbed on the bed and crawled to me.

I gulped. The only thing hotter than that moment, was when I was inside her.

She pressed her lips against mine in a teasing, slow manner. "I'm not saying that only because of the gray sweatpants, which— don't get me wrong. I very much enjoy that. But your glasses? They make me weak, Javier Pendleton."

"You haven't eaten. That might be low blood sugar…"

I had no idea where those words had come from; Nora's proximity had flipped a few switches in my brain, and the connection between reason and mouth had malfunctioned.

But she laughed. "No, it is you. You're sexy, Javier. I've always known that, even when I didn't want to admit it."