It was only when he was a few steps away that Carmen looked up and saw him. Her eyes widened, a smile forming on her lips as she opened her mouth to speak. “Hey, we missed you at lu—”
Whatever she was about to say got cut off as Asa wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her flush against his body in a tight, bone-crushing embrace.
He couldn’t care about being gentle, not right now. The hug was sudden and rough and hard enough to knock the breath out of both of them, but all that mattered was that she was here.
Carmen was here, safe and sound, in his arms, and that was all that he needed to steady the insane thumpity-thump of his heart.
His other hand slipped into the long strands of her hair, his fingers running through the silky locks in a soothing manner.
She was here. She was here.
“You’re okay,” he breathed into her hair, his voice hoarse. “Estás bien, estás bien.”
Asa could hear her say something against his chest but her voice was muffled due to how tightly he was holding her to him.
He didn’t let her go for several more heartbeats, before he realised that he was probably cutting off her air supply. He loosened his hold on her, but not pulling away or removing his arm from around her small waist.
“You were saying something?” he murmured, looking down at her with such intensity in his eyes. His heart felt like it could explode from all the overwhelming emotions right then.
For a moment, it looked like he’d rendered Carmen speechless. Her head was slightly tipped back to look up at him, her chin was still grazing his chest, and her eyes were wide and bright, so many conflicting emotions flickering through them.
He didn’t think he’d ever found her more beautiful than he did in that very moment, in another one of their tiny infinites.
I love you.
“What was that for?” she asked him softly, her tone awestruck and…happy.
“I don’t know,” he mumbled, “I just—I just needed to—to—oh, I don’t know, Carmen.” He pressed his forehead against hers and let his eyes flutter shut. “I just don’t want to ever let go of you.”
“Asa?”
“Mm?”
“We’re standing near the lockers,” she told him. “People might stare at us.”
“I don’t care.” He shook his head against hers. “I don’t care about anything but you and you and only you right now.”
“Asa?” she called after another beat of silence had passed.
“Yeah?” His voice was only audible to her ears.
“One of these days you’re going to tell me you love me again,” she whispered, and he felt cold fingertips touch his jawline, leaving nothing but a burning sensation in its wake. “And I’m going to say it back.”
Asa’s eyes flew open, meeting a pair of silvery ones that reminded him time and time again of the calm before the storm. Right now, he felt it stir up a whirlwind of emotions in the pit of his stomach.
“You do that.” He smiled, his voice rough and thick with emotion. “And I’m going to kiss you ’till you forget how to breathe.”
45.
Sexy Is An Attitude
He didn’t know how it happened, but when the last bell for the day had rung, Asa found himself standing by the main doors of the school along with Wyatt, Carmen, Hayden, Willa, Joyce and Lyra.
It was the weirdest bunch. That, he had to admit. A group of completely mismatched people, and yet somehow, complemented each other perfectly.
“Hey, there.” Lyra grinned as her eyes fell on Carmen, before shooting Asa a discreet smirk to which he just rolled his eyes. “I’ve been dying to bug Asa about you, but now that you’re here, I might as well get to know you directly.”
“Hey back.” Carmen smiled, her voice strong and clear as always.
It never failed to amaze Asa how Carmen’s appearance was so deceiving. She looked like someone who was very withdrawn from society—but whenever she spoke, it was always with such confidence and pleasantness. He admired that about her, how she was bold in her own soft, gentle way.
“Tell me Asa’s bringing you along tonight,” Lyra gushed. “We could—”
“Wait wait,” Carmen interrupted, furrowing her brows. “What’s happening tonight?”
“Nothing,” Asa answered. “Just some party. That I haven’t even made up my mind about, by the way.” He directed the last part to Lyra.
“I’m going.” Willa shrugged. “Joyce is and there’s no way I’m letting her go by herself. Like, who even knew she’d like parties? All she does is blush every time someone speaks to her.”
“I’m standing right here.” Joyce huffed, eyes darting around the entire place while her cheeks reddened.
“I know, sweetheart.” Willa rolled her eyes. “Would you rather I say that behind your back?”
Asa smiled, shaking his head subtly. From the number of times he’d interacted with Willa, he’d come to realise she was quite protective of the ones she cared about. It made sense then that she would attend the party Joyce wanted to go to.
“I don’t need to talk to people in parties,” Joyce explained, uttering more than just the usual three or four words Asa was accustomed to hear from her. “Everyone’s too drunk to pay attention to me—or too busy dancing and having a good time themselves.”
“So, you like dancing?” Asa grinned, which seemed to cause Joyce’s eyes to widen and hesitate in her reply.
“Um…Yeah,” she muttered. “Both Carmen and I do, actually.”
Surprise flickered through Asa’s eyes, his lips twitching in amusement at the new piece of information. Carmen just kept surprising him.
“Hey, Asa!” Lyra called from his side, making him turn away from Joyce and
