He stands behind me; I’m not ashamed to say I’m waiting to be bent over. He doesn’t though, he just reaches for my shampoo and squirts some onto his hand, lathering it up between his palms.
I don’t need to be bent over. I can definitely come from him washing my hair for me.
“You are perfect,” I groan as his fingers massage my scalp. “Why haven’t you been washing my hair for me this entire time?”
He chuckles as he begins rinsing out the suds. “I promise I’ll do it any time you need when we’re home.”
Home. We still haven’t talked about what that looks like for us. I’ve been waiting for the opportunity to bring it up in a cool and casual way. A way that doesn’t apply any pressure, in case the sweet things he’s said to me have been in the moment. “Tell me a secret, Russ.”
“It’s a physical and emotional struggle to not stare at your ass all day.” I spin to look at him, his wet chest pressed against mine as he continues to wash my hair gently.
“A real secret.”
He pauses and thinks about it, his hand reaches to rub the back of his neck. I’m glad he’s nervous because so am I. “I think you know most of my secrets.”
“Can I ask you a question?” He nods and I clear my throat as my brain scrambles for the easy intro I’ve been looking for. “What happens when we go back to school? What are we?”
He cups my face and when I look up at him, he looks as nervous as I feel. “We’re whatever you want to be, Aurora. I’m a little worried I’m going to scare you away, but I think I’ve been pretty clear I don’t want to let you go.”
What I want is the next big question. As soon as I’m with him I forget everything I’ve ever said about other people’s baggage, relationship, men. But the thoughts still linger when I’m alone; I can’t help it. Emilia is right when she says the bar is so low for me that I’m impressed by mediocrity and I get attached easily to someone who gives me hit after hit of the things I crave like attention and validation.
Nothing about Russ is mediocre.
“I want to be together,” I say quietly, suddenly feeling ten times more exposed than I did when he stripped me of my clothes. “I’ve never been in a relationship before, but I want to see where this can go. I want to be your girlfriend.”
He bends to kiss me and, even under the hot spray of the shower, goosebumps spread over my entire body. “Good,” he murmurs against my lips. “Because I want to be your boyfriend.”
By the time we’re dried and climbing into bed, I’m exhausted. “Why don’t you sleep in here tonight?”
“I haven’t finished packing yet, sweetheart. I got distracted saying bye to the dogs.”
“But you’re great at folding shit. You’ll do it in no time.”
“Go to sleep, Ror,” he says softly. “I’ll go when you’ve fallen asleep.”
I tug him to lie down beside me over the covers and with the weight of his arm draped over me, I fall straight to sleep.
I’m so glad Russ convinced me to shower last night because Emilia and I both overslept this morning.
I don’t know what time she came to bed because I was already asleep, but apparently neither of us thought to check the other was setting an alarm.
I said my goodbyes to Jenna, even though it’s not really goodbye because she’s visiting us in September, and we’re now waiting with our bags for the guys. Xander is first to appear with his things and I’m feeling impatient. “Where’s Russ?”
Xander drops his bags by our feet. “You can’t even pretend to be excited to see me for two minutes, Roberts? Immediately hit me with the “where’s Russ?” I am underappreciated in this friendship.”
I throw my arms around him. “I miss you already, Xan.”
“That’s more like it. Your man was getting a shower when I left.”
Emilia and I need to leave to catch our flights. “I’ll go make him rush.”
I jog—something I strongly disagree with—down to his cabin, letting myself in. His things are all lined up neatly on his bed, his keys and cellphone on the top of his bag. I can still hear the shower running and as I’m about to go make him hurry up, his cellphone lights up with a call from an unknown number. The call ends after a couple of rings and I can see he has twenty missed calls from the past few minutes.
The phone lights up again in my hand, the same number as before. Clicking the accept call button, I lift it to my ear. “Hello?”