Page 23 of Yours, Finally

I peeked through my fingers. "How long have you suspected?"

"Since the time I met everyone at the lake house. The way you look at each other sometimes…"

I groaned. "That was more than a year ago!"

"It's okay. I didn't know what to make of it. You spend more time barely acknowledging each other than like you want to jump each other, and I think he dated someone earlier last year? And you dated even more."

"I don't think we have much of a future together." I shrugged and sipped from my coffee. "He's below me in the company hierarchy—"

"But that's changing in like, a month!"

"— and he feels it's a risk to be together, because of how my family might react to us being romantically involved… and how they could react if we break up."

"Oh." Lina rested on the back of her chair, and studied me with pursed lips. "As in, Gabe's reaction? Or your parents'?"

"Everyone's, I guess."

"It doesn't make sense. I don't think anyone would shun him if you two broke up. Sure, it would be awkward for a while…"

"Yeah, and that alone could make us awkward and kill the chemistry between us. Even just by being watched like that at the start. It could doom us before we give it a fair try, and we'd last as long as any of my previous attempts." I flicked my nail on the paper sleeve around my cup. "Worst of all, I don't think he trusts himself enough to not fuck it up, and that's the risk he doesn't want to take. And I'm not going to beg him to give us a chance. That's not what love's supposed to be. None of that is."

Lina's eyes narrowed. "You sound quite certain of this. Like maybe… he told you this?"

"Is that really the important part?" I tried.

She didn't let it go. She walked her fingers on the table, like her hand approaching me was Lina reaching conclusions.

"Something happened, didn't it? Now that's something I didn't expect!"

"It was just a kiss! And he regretted it right away. It happened right before I became VP, too, so we hadthatgoing for us," I added for the sake of sarcasm.

"Was the kiss good?"

"I— Was the— What?"

It had made me aware of every inch of my skin, and his cologne had enveloped me with his arms around me and his jacket keeping me warm. The kiss had marked a before and after and, to my chagrin, I couldn't stop comparing every kiss after to the way Jake's lips had made me feel.

She smirked. "I'm going to take that as a yes."

I gazed out the window again; the evening had almost turned to night. The amount of people had started to lessen, as everyone made it to their destination. I nodded.

Lina put a hand on my forearm. "Did you regret the kiss?"

Her voice had been soft, and all I could do in response was lower my eyes to my coffee and shake my head.

Lina and I had both left our phones between us on the table, and the devices lit up with an incoming text at the same time.

Jake: would you go to karaoke with me next Friday?

"That was Jake," Lina said. "You too?"

I quickly checked; he had sent the message to Lina, Gabe, and I.

I nodded. "With the anniversary party, the transition, the karaoke… we're going to be spending a lot of time together. What am I supposed to do? Technically, after Jake becomes VP, all bets are off. Except the one we'd have to make for how it would end."

"Everyone makes that bet when they start a relationship, Vi. If you really want to give it a try, I'm sure there's a way to make it happen."

"If he still feels the same." I sighed. "We'll see. Maybe I'll be the one taking a risk again."