Chapter 15
1297 Words
After dinner, Landon took me down by the water.
The night air was cool enough to make me hug my arms around myself, and without a word, he slipped off his jacket and draped it over my shoulders.
I looked up at him.
“You’ll freeze.”
“I’ll survive.”
I smiled softly and pulled it tighter around me.
It smelled like him.
Which was deeply unhelpful.
We walked slowly along the edge of the bay, the city glowing around us in scattered reflections and distant sound.
For once, neither of us felt the need to fill every silence.
It was enough just to be there.
Together.
And maybe that should have scared me more than it did.
“Can I ask you something?” Landon said after a while.
I glanced over.
“You just did.”
He rolled his eyes.
“Smartass.”
“I prefer emotionally gifted.”
He laughed under his breath.
Then his expression softened again.
“Why law?”
The question caught me off guard.
I looked out over the water for a second before answering.
“Because I like being heard,” I said quietly.
He didn’t interrupt.
“I think…” I exhaled. “I think there are a lot of people in the world who don’t get listened to. Who don’t get defended. Who don’t
get someone in their corner.”
He watched me carefully.
“And I guess,” I added, “I always wanted to be that person.”
Something changed in his face then.
Not dramatically.
Just enough to matter.
Like maybe he understood more than he was saying.
“You will be,” he said.
I looked at him.
“What?”
“The person in someone’s corner,” he said. “You already are.”
My chest tightened.
Because I didn’t think he even realized how much that meant.
Or maybe he did.
Maybe that was the problem.
“And you?” I asked quietly. “Why music?”
He looked down at the pavement for a second.
Then up at the skyline.
“Because it’s the only time I feel like I’m saying what I actually mean.”
I swallowed.
“That sounds lonely.”
He looked over at me then.
And the look in his eyes nearly undid me.
“It is.”
And that—
That was the moment.
The one where I felt it.
Not just attraction.
Not just chemistry.
Not just some reckless little high school crush.
No.
This was the moment I knew.
Landon Baxter was going to matter to me.
In a way I might never recover from.
We stopped walking somewhere beneath a row of dim string lights near the water.
The city glowed behind him.
The breeze moved through his hair.
And his eyes—
Those impossible, devastating blue eyes—
were looking at me like he was trying to memorize something.
Or maybe trying not to.
“You’re cold,” he said softly.
“I’m okay.”
He stepped closer anyway.
And I let him.
Of course I did.
The space between us disappeared so slowly it almost hurt.
My pulse was in my throat.
My hands.
My lungs.
Everywhere.
I could hear my own heartbeat like a warning.
Landon looked down at me, and for the first time since I’d met him—
He looked nervous.
Actually nervous.
And for some reason, that made me brave.
So I smiled a little and whispered:
“What?”
His eyes flicked to my mouth.
Then back to my eyes.
And that was all the answer I needed.
The world around us blurred.
The city.
The water.
The lights.
The noise.
Everything disappeared until it was just him and me and the unbearable weight of what was about to happen.
He lifted one hand slowly, like he was giving me every chance to stop this.
His fingers brushed a loose strand of hair away from my face.
My breath caught.
And then—
He kissed me.
Softly.
Carefully.
Like he wasn’t trying to impress me.
Like he was trying to feel me.
And maybe that was worse.
Because the second his lips touched mine, something inside me gave way completely.
It wasn’t rushed.
Wasn’t dramatic.
Wasn’t like the movies where fireworks go off and orchestras swell and everything makes sense.
No.
It was quieter than that.
More dangerous.
Because it felt real.
Like slipping into something I had somehow always been falling toward.
My fingers found the front of his shirt without permission.
And when he kissed me again—just a little deeper this time, just enough to make my knees go weak—I knew with terrifying certainty:
I was in trouble.
Real trouble.
The kind of trouble that doesn’t ruin your life all at once.
The kind that becomes your life before you realize it.
When we finally pulled apart, I was still holding onto him.
Still standing too close.
Still breathing like I’d forgotten how.
Landon rested his forehead lightly against mine and laughed once under his breath.
Not because anything was funny.
More like he was just as wrecked as I was.
“Well,” he murmured.
I swallowed.
“Yeah.”
His thumb brushed once against the sleeve of his jacket still around my shoulders.
And when I looked up at him, he was smiling.
Not cocky.
Not smug.
Just… happy.
Like he couldn’t believe this had happened either.
And somehow that made it worse.
Or better.
I honestly couldn’t tell anymore.
He looked at me for one long second.
Then said softly:
“There’s no way I’m playing this cool.”
I laughed breathlessly.
“Good. Because I’m not either.”
And that—
That was it.
That was the beginning.
The real one.
Even if neither of us knew yet how badly beginnings like this could hurt.
When Landon pulled up outside my house later that night, neither of us moved to get out right away.
The engine hummed softly beneath us.
My house glowed warmly at the curb.
And suddenly, I didn’t want the night to end.
Which felt dangerous enough on its own.
Landon looked over at me.
Then smiled slightly.
“What?”
I looked down.
“Nothing.”
He didn’t buy it.
“You’re doing the thing again.”
“What thing?”
“The overthinking thing.”
I groaned.
“That obvious?”
“Painfully.”
I looked over at him then.
Really looked at him.
And for one second, I let myself wonder what this would become.
What he would become.
What we would become.
If we’d still feel like this a year from now.
Two years.
Five.
If there was any version of the future where this didn’t eventually hurt.
And maybe that should’ve been enough to scare me.
Maybe it should have made me run.
But instead—
I smiled.
A real one.
And opened the door.
“Goodnight, Landon.”
He caught my wrist gently before I could step out.
I turned back.
And before I could say anything—
He kissed me again.
Quick.
Soft.
Just enough to make my heart completely lose all structural integrity.
Then he pulled back, looking entirely too pleased with himself.
“Goodnight, Nessa.”
I stared at him.
Then narrowed my eyes.
“You are dangerous.”
He smiled.
“See you tomorrow, Grandma.”
I laughed all the way up the walkway.
And when I looked back once before going inside—
He was still there.
Watching me.
Like he already knew.
Like maybe some part of him had known from the beginning.
That this was going to be everything.
And one day—
It would break us both.
(Chapter Theme Song: You Are In Love by Taylor Swift)
- Writer
