Chapter 84: US AGAINST THE WORLD
ARIANA
We do not talk about the kiss the next morning. Not because we are pretending it didn't happen, but because the search for Marcus swallows every available hour, and by the time there is room to breathe again, three days have passed and Liam has simply started reaching for my hand in rooms without asking permission, and I have simply started letting him.
It becomes official somewhere in that quiet accumulation of small gestures rather than through any single dramatic conversation. He makes coffee for two without being asked, the way he always has, except now I drink it sitting beside him instead of at the opposite end of the counter. He finds reasons to be in whatever room I am in, except now I stop pretending I mind. Aria notices before anyone says anything out loud, catching my eye across the kitchen table one morning with the specific small smile of a twin who has been waiting for this for longer than I realized.
