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After the long hike, almost everybody was dragged to, when we got back to the hotel, the first thing I did was shower and then while Adam showered, I ordered us lunch with room service.

After eating, I did some writing and at some point fell asleep because now I'm waking up to severe poking. I groaned softly, forcing my eyes open and he finally stopped poking at my arm.

"Finally, you're awake," he sighed.

"What? I'm tired, let me sleep."

"You've slept the whole day, Ms. Emilia."

I rubbed my eyes with the heels of my palms. "What time is it?"

"It's almost eight."

My eyes snapped wide open as I faced him.

He nodded, watching me in amusement. "And I'm waking you up because your sister just called. She said to start getting ready."

"Get ready? Where are we going?"

He paused. "To the club."

"Oh, yeah," I sighed softly. "I forgot we were doing that today."

He stayed in his spot on the bed, fidgeting my hands and playing with my fingers. "She said it's walking distance and we leave at nine. We're free to eat before we leave if we want, 'cause there's no real dinner at the club."

I rolled onto my side, facing him completely. "Why do you sound so mopey?"

"Do we have to go?" he huffed.

I watched him for a moment before saying, "No... but we should. Why don't you want to go?"

"Because it proves to be catastrophically difficult to get you alone whenever we're outside our hotel room."

"You have me alone in our hotel room every day. What do you want to do?"

He lifted a brow slightly. "Are you sure you want me to answer that honestly?"

I chuckled, rolling my eyes. "Let's go, come on," I sang. "We can go and we'll leave and come back earlier than the others."

He sighed in defeat. "All right. We come back within an hour. Deal or no deal?" He stuck a hand out.

"Deal." I shook it.

Taking a hold of my hand, he reached over and put his other arm around my waist, pulling me over to his side of the bed. He moved up, placing his knees on the bed on either side of me and hovering on top of me, pinning my wrists down to the bed. I watched him, fighting hard to keep the smile off my lips. His eyes scanned my face, lingering on my lips for a heartbeat too long. "It doesn't bother you, does it?" he asked, bringing his eyes back to mine.

"What?" I asked softly.

"What we're doing. You're comfortable? You want this too, right?" I tried reading his face, his expression. "It doesn't feel weird to you, right? Or forced at all? It doesn't—"

"It doesn't, Adam," I reassured. "It feels natural. I think you're forgetting I had a huge crush on you for most of my life," I chuckled softly.

He paused for a moment. "When you liked me..."

"Hmm. There was a lot I wanted to tell you. And a lot I wanted to do with you. But I couldn't do it all."

"We can do it all now," he replied.

I cracked a smile.

"What's first on that list, hmm? Tell me. And if it's not a kiss, I'll lose my mind."

"The first thing on my list right now," I laughed, "is to get ready for tonight."

He rolled his eyes. "Let's skip it."

"And do what instead?"

"Kiss."

"Try no."

"How about I just kiss you?"

"How about you try again," I teased.

"How about you be good and give me what I want?"

I paused, blinking, butterflies swarming in my stomach. The word 'okay' was sitting at the tip of my tongue. I've almost never seen Adam like that. I've had first-hand experience with all his playful flirting and teasing. When he kissed me at the age of fourteen, he wasn't like this and neither were we. We were different. We were younger, it was more innocent. When I had sex with him, it still wasn't really anything lustful. It more so just happened and it was good, I mean, it was great. But it didn't mean anything, we couldn't let it mean anything.

"You're different now," I said quietly. "Between the last time, I saw you and now. You're different."

"Maybe I really changed. Or maybe we changed. But I'm not just your best friend anymore, Rubes. I can't be."

I nodded softly. "Then don't."

His eyes dropped back down to my lips and my breath got caught in my lungs. He swallowed, maybe nervously, and slowly let go of one of my wrists, bringing his hand to tuck my hair behind my ear as he started leaning in. Before he could lift his eyes to mine, and I knew he would, I closed mine.

My heart was pounding so hard, I thought he could feel it. If not that, he could definitely hear it. My hands formed tight fists while I waited, anticipating the feeling of his lips finally against mine.

Finally.

His lips brushed against mine softly before I heard him chuckle and then press a kiss to my cheek instead, teasing me.

My eyes snapped open while I sighed in frustration, watching as he smirked and then sat up, sliding off of me before moving back to his side of the bed. I glared at him.

"Get ready. You're the one who wants to go," he shrugged, almost grinning widely. I hit his arm and then got out of bed to freshen up and get ready. Since Adam was changing in the room, I took my dress with me.

It wasn't too formal or too casual. The dress was a simple satin slip dress that reached near my midthigh, blood-red in its color. After freshening up, I put on a little bit of makeup and then pulled my hair up into a high bun, a loose curl framing each side of my face. I put on perfume and then caught myself checking myself out more than I normally would. I glanced at the back of my dress and then stopped myself.

It's Adam. There was no one else in this world that could make me feel as safe and calm as Adam. He's the one person I always felt safe to be myself around. Even when I liked him and had a giant crush on him, the thought of changing myself for him never once crossed my mind.

Adam had a fair share of girls asking him out and swarming around him while we grew up. Outgoing, flirty, and cool girls, the ones who knew how to get a guy. As far as I knew Adam, he never had a serious relationship with any girl. But despite all that, the thought still lingered in my head; I always thought we still had a chance somewhere down the line without either one of us having to change ourselves.

Adam saw me for me. He always saw me for who I was and he never failed to make me feel like that was enough, like everything I was, everything I am, is good enough and always will be. He made me feel... loved. And that has nothing to do with whether he loves me or not. He can make me feel loved without loving me and that's not any less.

I thought back to the night of the engagement party and then further back to my conversation with Remy years ago that she brought up again that night. I knew I liked him when he made me nervous and my heart would beat faster whenever I saw him. But I knew I loved him because I felt calmer with him than without him. And right now? I felt calmer with him than without him.

I released a breath, telling myself, "Stop it." I had to stop overthinking things and jumping ahead. Right now, what counts is tonight.

I opened the door and walked out, grabbing black heels from the floor before going and sitting at the foot of the bed beside him where he was putting his shoes on. I set my heels on the ground and turned to him.

He glanced at me, smiling. "Hey."

"Hi," I grinned back.

He chuckled and then stood up, adjusting a rolled-up sleeve from the white button-up he wore with plain black pants. The first two buttons on his shirt were open and with the sleeves rolled to his elbows, he looked really good. "Do you want help?" he asked, pointing to my heels.

"Oh, no. That's okay," I chuckled, taking one to slip on but before I could, he snatched it out of my hand and got to one knee.

"Here," he mumbled, holding it for me.

"You don't have to do that, Adam," I mumbled, slipping it on and reaching down to close the strap but he was already working on it.

"It's not a big deal," he shrugged before putting the other one on for me. "Ready?" I nodded, staring at him as he grabbed his phone, wallet, and the room key. He held out a hand for me. "Let's go then."

I took it.

Adam knew the way to the bar, so once we got downstairs and out of the hotel, he led the way, and eventually, we made it to the bar and were let in. Once we made it inside, we started looking for the others and eventually spotted them occupying one big booth at the end.

Before walking all the way over, Adam pulled me to a halt. I stared at him, waiting to hear him out. He glanced at our locked hands. "You want to let go? If you don't want them to know or see yet, that's okay. But you've got to let me know."

I frowned a bit, holding onto his hand tighter. "I'm all good," I replied.

He smiled, pulling me in a bit closer and then walking us over. A bunch of 'hey's' and 'you're here' came our way before we found two seats and ordered drinks.

Remy exchanged seats with Toby, now sitting beside me, and shot me a look before glancing at Adam. She raised her brows questioningly. I gave her a small shrug while Adam and Aspen started talking. "What is going on?" she whispered in my ear.

I shrugged, leaning in to talk to her over the loud music. "I don't know. But I like it."

She grinned, nudging my shoulder before sliding over a shot to me from the recently delivered tray. "Drink up, little sis."

I scoffed, taking a glass and clinking it with hers before downing the vodka. I cringed a bit at the alcohol.

Tonight should be fun, I don't want anything to go wrong.

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