Ever so slowly, he approached me, eyes looking me up and down. When he came to a stop about a metre away, he whispered, "Olivia."

For a few moments, I forgot the speech I had prepared for when I saw him again, instead just staring at him, lost in him, content that he was in front of me once more.

All the while, his gaze searched me, as if trying to determine something... as if trying to figure out how he should approach me.

Cluing on to his train of thought, I quickly put him at ease, stating, "I didn't drink it."

That was all it took. Closing the distance between us, he took hurried steps forward, immediately wrapping me in his arms as he smooshed me against his chest.

At once, my heart exploded, that lasso squeezing tightly against my heart as I melted against him, arms wind around him in response.

And as I breathed him in, I realised it was my first chance to actually know what he smelled like; his shirt had notes of fresh laundry, and his skin a gentle dance of musk and cedar, homely against my cheek.

Standing there, wrapped in his embrace for a moment longer, feeling his body heat echo through me, I began to hate all those who told stories of them being cold. In this moment, Ben was nothing but warm.

But, all too soon, he pulled away, placing that distance between us once more as a slight tinge of redness graced his cheeks. Gaze looking everywhere but me, he mumbled, "Sorry... I don't know why I did that."

The lasso went limp around my heart again as my thoughts raced ahead, questioning the truth of his feelings... Did he like me? Or did he just miss his friend?

"My phone broke," I started, eyes surveying his body language.

But there was no need to be sceptical. Because he sighed in relief immediately, taking another hopeful step closer. "You weren't avoiding me?"

"Of course not."

He took another step. "You're not scared of me?"

I faltered. "I'm very scared," I started, causing him to pause, eyes hurt. "But not because of what you are," I admitted.

He slowly tilted his head in confusion.

With Lukas's words ringing in my ears, I took a deep breath and pulled deep within me for a thread of courage before I said, "You being a..." I glanced around and whispered the next word, "vampire... doesn't scare me."

"Then?"

I looked at my shoes, twisting one foot on the ground as I mumbled, "How you make me feel is the scariest part."

But he didn't say anything back. The silence continued to echoed around us in loud burts, and I became growingly aware of the wind in the trees, the laughter and chatter of passers-by, and the traffic moving on the street behind me.

And once the noiselessness became too deafening, I finally braved a glance upwards at him. An ever so slight, proud smirk was on his face.

Yet as our eyes met, he slowly closed the remaining distance until he was towering over me. His hand found mine, giving it a gentle squeeze.

I gave him a small shy smile, which he returned with a large warm smile. Then his free hand came up, brushing a lock of hair behind my ear.

"You're freezing," he finally said after almost nothing and everything had been exchanged in our stares. "We should get you inside."

"That would be lovely."

"Where do you want to go?"

I shrugged, but quickly thought, As long as it's with you, I don't care.

"Where were you heading before I got here?"

Ah... the loaded question that could reveal too much... I sighed. "I was trying to find your house," I gave him, knowing there was no point hiding the truth. He'd get it out of me eventually. "But I couldn't remember where it was."

Though rather than looking at me in confusion, potentially tearing my heart in two, he simply grinned as he glanced around. "I mean, you got the right district."

Flames immediately licked my face, so I ducked my head, resting it on his shoulder. When he didn't flinch or push me away, my stomach somersaulted in delight. So after the chagrin passed, I pulled back, glancing up at him through my lashes. He had nothing but tenderness lacing his stare.

"Come on. Let's go back to mine," he eventually said before gently tugging on my hand.

But after we took a few steps, he noticed me wincing.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"My toes are numb," I reluctantly replied.

His eyes trailed me up and down before fixating on my— "Your lips are a little blue, too," he said. Before I could get too excited about his attention to my mouth, he let go of my hand and began shrugging off his jacket.

"Keep that on!" I snapped.

His eyebrows furrowed but he ignored my demand, draping his jacket over my shoulders and picking up my hand in his once more. "I'll live. Going to take a lot more than the cold to take me down."

I rolled my eyes at him, but he just squeezed my hand before lacing his fingers through mine.

Though the comfort of silence didn't last as long as I hoped, when he asked, "How long were you looking for me?"

I shook my head.

"Tell me."

"No," I mumbled, tucking my chin as though I had any chance hiding my flushing face.

"Why? Is it embarrassing?"

I simply nodded.

But he insisted. "How long?"

Groaning, I finally caved. "About an hour until Lukas found me. Then we sat there for probably half an hour."

A slight crease appeared between his eyes but it was gone before I could read too much into it, replaced with a big smile.

"What?"

"I'm honoured that you'd look for me for that long. It makes me really happy..."

I bit my lip and looked down, secretly also relieved that he took joy in my efforts.

"Why did it take you a week though?" he asked, worry marring his tone.

"My phone broke as I was texting you on Tuesday morning. And then when I got a new phone that evening, I found out I hadn't saved your number to my SIM. And then I tried to see if somewhere could repair it..." I shook my head. "It was too messed up."

"What did you do to it? Try to throw it like a boomerang?" His smug smirk screamed that he was very proud of his joke.

So I deadpanned at him. "Ha. So funny. I dropped it and then a bus ran over it."

"Ouch. Poor phone. But you got a new one?"

I nodded.

Coming to a stop, he held his free hand out to me. "Phone please."

Unlacing my fingers, I fished through my bag before handing it over to him. His thumb moved over the screen at lightning speed before giving me my phone back.

"Now you have it again, and saved to your SIM."

Unable to stifle the smile, I took his hand once more and continued walking by his side, being careful this time to glance around, noting the street names and landmarks.

But my efforts didn't go unnoticed. Ben breathed a chuckle before manoeuvring his free hand to wedge out his phone from his pocket. Once more, his fingers flew across the screen before he slipped it away.

And, before I could ask, my phone let out a gentle 'ping'.

Reaching for my device again, I quickly glanced at the screen, only to realise he had texted me. So, swiping the notification panel down, the smile instantly grew as I saw teh address in my text messages. "Thank you," I whispered, before turning to beam up at his beautiful blue and porcelain face.

"You never need to thank me, Olivia."

Then he dropped my hand, not leaving me untouched for long though as his free arm wound around my shoulder, pulling me closer. And I leaned into him, enjoying his closeness. Enjoying being immersed in him.

While Ben still hadn't cleared the air with me regarding his feelings, in that moment I knew this was enough for now. His warmth and hold was enough to keep me going for today.