"Wait," I pulled away, my red cheeks representative of the flaming love I felt for him, "did you just give away the ending to Firekeeper's Daughter?" His earlier effort at distracting me finally caught up.

"Were you going to read that one?" He laughed.

I nodded, letting him pull me onto his lap, my legs wrapping around his waist as we engulfed each other. I was already used to him spoiling endings and plot twists after so many years of friendship.

He pecked the corner of my mouth, clarifying. "Did it work? Are you distracted?"

"Yeah," I dropped my arms, leaning away from him, "but we should stop. It's great for the moment but I can't ask you to kiss me forever." I chuckled.

His hands wrapped around my waist, curling up my back to pull me close to him again. "Are you challenging me? Because there's a backlog of kisses I owe you." He countered.

"A backlog?" I questioned, laughing and then shaking my head as I dug in on my objection. "Regardless, we shouldn't because we already know how this—"

He cut me off before I could finish my sentence, pressing his mouth to mine again. "That one was for you to shut up." He said, moving a hand to the back of my neck, securing me against him. "Just let me distract you for now and we'll deal with whatever happens later." He negotiated.

I couldn't argue with him, giving myself permission to have this moment, at least until I could grow around the pain and panic.

His kiss changed as he put his hands on either side of my face, holding me still while he pressed the lightest peck to my lips, pulling away almost as soon as we touched. "That one is for the first time I wanted to kiss you. At the sixth grade dance when I found you hiding because Suzy Walker poured punch down the front of your dress." He explained.

I laughed at the old memory, his lips sealed back over mine before I finished. "And the first time we went to the movies by ourselves, when we got told we were too young to see Dead Silence so we saw Juno instead."

He kissed me to make up for eight years, small pecks for the days he recalled being struck by his love, and more intense locks for the first time I found out my crush didn't reciprocate my feelings and the time he placed in a tennis tournament. I giggled, reminding him that he placed third out of the three competing players.

He'd been going on for so long that we'd moved positions. I laid back in bed while he sat up on his elbow, tracing back in time. The reason for his most passionate kiss surprised me, his tongue pushing past my lips as he leaned over me.

"For the day you met Jimin. I knew what he would be to you that night when we watched him dancing through his window. I just wanted to kiss you, so you would know what we have." He disclosed.

I barely spoke, content with letting him continue kissing me and moving through his backlog of moments. "And the day that we fought in Mrs. Crawford's classroom, when you told me that you liked him."

"On that New Year's Eve, when he barely kissed you the way he should have, for every time you got an acceptance letter to university, and when I first saw you through your window before prom." He kissed me between every named moment.

He gave me a long peck, capturing my bottom lip between his as he pulled away. "And when we danced together at prom." My phone vibrated, a goofy photo of my dad showing on my screen.

"Dad, are you okay?" I answered.

I could hear him setting his keys on the table in the background. "I just got home and brought dinner. Are you next door?" He asked. I looked at the time on Hobi's alarm clock, realizing that it'd slipped away from us.

"Yeah, I'll be home in a minute." I replied, hanging up and kissing Hobi' s cheek. "Thank you for today." Now I was completely flooded, not with grief but with love for him. My brow pulled together as I walked across the yard to my house, unable to fathom how I would be able to love anyone other than or after him.

It'd only been a month since losing my mom and my dad looked like he'd aged ten years. He picked at the pasta dish he brought home from the restaurant, one I knew he would have devoured quicker than both of us if she were here.

He was apparently thinking through all of the organizational tasks my mom typically took care of, pointing toward the calendar stuck to the refrigerator with his fork. "We need to keep up with that. Make sure you put your move in date for school on there so I'll remember to get coverage at the restaurant."

"I'm not going to school, dad." I responded. He immediately started shaking his head. "I called the week after she died to delay my admission. I'm not leaving you." I kept my voice stern, a trait I was happy to have picked up from her.

"You can't stay here for me. I'll call them—" He started but I cut him off.

I pulled my chair by him, sitting so that we were directly across from each other. "I'm staying. I'll help you run the restaurant for a while and start school next year. I need to make sure you're okay and I need you to let me help you." I held on to his hand, rubbing the back with my thumb the way he always did for me when I was little.

He nodded, looking at the ground as a tear slipped down his cheek, my knuckle brushing it away and noticing the fine lines under my finger. He kissed the back of my hand, letting out a sigh before turning back to his food, no distraction or comfort that could soothe his mourning.

There were only a few weeks left of summer, Hobi spending every second he could distracting me with kisses and making me keep my word of learning to swing dance. Sometimes he was so gentle with me, in others a little more demanding as he taught, laughing when I started calling him Johnny Castle. We spent the next week acting out the scene from Dirty Dancing with "Love is Strange."

"Sel, wake up!" He tapped loudly on my window one morning, too early for either of us to be up. I rolled over slowly, rubbing at my eyes as he urged me to get out of bed. "Come out, I've got news!" His chipper tone sounded from outside.

I slipped into a pair of shoes, grabbing hold of the hand he offered to help me through the window, my eyes still heavy as I leaned against the side of the house.

He kissed me with a smile plastered on his lips. "I just got a call back from this dance company I auditioned for. They invited me to go on tour to dance backup for this big K-pop group." Joy radiated from his body as he picked me up, spinning around a few times with excitement.

"That's amazing Hobe." I giggled as he put me down. "So no more New York City for you either. When does it start?" I smiled, pride rushing through me.

As if he were just processing what it meant for us, he uttered. "I leave in two weeks."
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Author's Note: I can't believe I left this chapter off with a conversational little cliff hanger, but I'm trying something new tonight. Just wanted to pop in and say thank you to everyone who's reading and voting on this book. Whether you're a silent or vocal reader I appreciate you so much! <33