You, With a View

by Jessica Joyce

“This isn’t an episode of Scooby-Doo, Shepard. You were never my nemesis. You were my …” I hate how I hold my breath. “My motivation.”

“People rarely get it on the first try, Noelle,” Paul says quietly. His eyes slip past me to Theo. His arms are crossed over his chest, his eyes locked on his grandfather’s, searching. “There’s nothing wrong with that. It doesn’t make you less of a success story in the end.”

“I wouldn’t stop you if you kissed me right now.” I say it quietly in case he changes his mind, but his eyes darken, pupils dilating. He doesn’t move, though his mouth parts like he can already taste it. “Now you.” His breath dances over my lips. “If I kissed you right now, I wouldn’t stop.”

It takes him three times as long to admit to his own happiness because he never knew he was allowed to have it.