I pull away from Six and sit back up against the wall. “Precisely twenty-four hours.”
An awkward silence follows, then of course Holder fills it. “Am I the only one who has a bad feeling about this?”
“I think it’s great,” Sky says. “I’ve never seen Six so . . . nice? Happy? Spoken for? It’s a good look for her.”
Six sits up and wraps her arms around my neck, then pulls me to the floor with her. “That’s because I’ve never met anyone as vulgar and inappropriate and horrible at first kisses as Daniel.” She pulls my mouth to hers and kisses me while she laughs at herself.
This is a first. A kiss and a laugh at the same time? I think I might be in heaven.
“Six has a bedroom too, you know,” Holder says.
Six stops laughing. And she stops kissing me.
Holder is about to be put on my shit list.
“Six doesn’t allow penises in her bedroom,” I reply to him while still staring down at her.
Six moves her mouth to my ear. “As long as you don’t expect me to stroke his ego tonight, I kind of want to kiss you on my bed.”
I didn’t know people could move as fast as I’m moving right now. This has to be some sort of record, because my hands are under her back and knees and I’m scooping her up in my arms before her sentence even completely registers. She throws her arms around my neck and squeals as I head straight for Sky’s window. I put her down gently, but then practically shove her outside. I begin to follow right behind her without even telling Sky or Holder goodbye.
“They are so strange together,” I hear Sky say right before I’m out the window.
“Yeah,” Holder says in agreement. “But also oddly . . . right.”
I pause.
Did Holder just compliment my relationship with Six? I don’t know why I always want his approval so much, but hearing him say that fills me with this weird sense of pride. I turn around and take a step back to the window and lean inside. “I heard that.”
He looks at the window and sees me leaning inside, so he rolls his eyes. “Go away,” he says with a laugh.
“No. We’re having a moment.”
He cocks an eyebrow, but doesn’t respond.
“You’re my best friend, Holder.”
Sky shakes her head and laughs, but Holder is still looking at me like I’ve lost my mind.
“For real,” I say. “You’re my best friend and I love you. I’m not ashamed to admit that I love a guy. I love you, Holder. Daniel Wesley loves Dean Holder. Always and forever.”
“Daniel, go make out with your girlfriend,” he says, waving me off.
I shake my head. “Not until you tell me you love me, too.”
His head falls back against Sky’s headboard. “I fucking love you, now GO AWAY!”
I grin. “I love you more.”
He picks up a pillow and tosses it at the window. “Get the hell out of here, dipshit. ”
I laugh and back away from the window.
“You two are so strange together,” Sky says to him.
I pull the window shut, then turn around to face Six. She’s already in her bedroom, leaning out her window with her chin in her hands. She’s grinning.
“Daniel and Holder, sittin’ in a tree,” she says in a singsong voice.
I walk toward her and improvise the next line of the song. “But then Daniel climbs down,” I finish the rest of the sentence in a hurry, “and goes to Six’s window and climbs inside her bedroom and throws her on the bed and kisses her until he can’t take any more and has to go home and stroke his ego.”
She’s laughing and backing into her bedroom to make room for me to climb inside.
Once I’m inside, I look around and observe her room. I finally understand what she meant when she said my bedroom was more than just a room. This is like a secret glimpse into who Six really is. I feel like I could study this room and everything in it and find out everything I ever need to know about her.
Unfortunately, she’s standing at the foot of her bed and she looks a little bit nervous and way more beautiful than I deserve, and I can’t take my eyes off of her long enough to even study her bedroom.
I can’t help but smile at her. I can already tell this is about to be the best anniversary I’ve ever had. The lights are off, so the mood is already perfect for making out. It’s quiet, though. So quiet I can hear her breaths increase with each deliberately slow step I take toward her.
Shit. Maybe those are my breaths. I can’t tell, because every inch closer I get requires an extra intake of air.
When I reach her, she’s looking up at me with an odd mixture of peaceful anticipation. I want to push her onto the bed right now and climb on top of her and kiss the hell out of her.