She hates feeling like this and after the kiss she barely feels better, just more sad. She should be happy, shouldn’t she? Their lips fit together like a puzzle piece, not forced in or anything like that but she’s still upset, angry. Her back is against the wall now, staring up at him as he asks the question but she isn’t sure how she should respond.
She knows she doesn’t because he could stand up for himself if he wanted to, he’s done it before- hadn’t he? She can’t remember, everything is a blur, her lips are still tingling. She licks her lips unable to break eye contact as she shakes her head.
“No, no I don’t.”
It’s the truth and she knows it, he probably does too.
“T-this is really hard for me,” she explains, words breaking apart in ways she didn’t feel it to be possible. “—do you understand that?”
“Thank you,” he mumbles somberly, something akin to a smile pulling at the corners of his mouth; it’s not quite a smile, though, with his eyebrows pulled in like he’s working to keep away a grin. It’s more content than that, mild.
“Yeah.” Fingers graze cheeks, push threads of hair from foreheads, and he thinks he could be happy here – even if it’s not going to last. He doesn’t trust Lani, not in that sense. She doesn’t stick around. Not a whole lot of people do.
“So, um … ” he begins hesitantly, his hands dropping to rest on her shoulders, “are you going to hang out here tonight? Or.”
