More Than Meets the Eye - Page 122

“Lika a date?”

Sami’s cheeks turned red, his gaze lowered.No way.Baz tilted his chin up.

“Don’t go shy on me now, hayati.”That would be a shame since bold and confident were such an intoxicating color on him.

A soft smile spread on Sami’s face.“Yes.A date.The thing two people do when they like spending time with each other.I want to do that.With you.”

Pink, fuzzy clouds raised Baz’s heart to the sky.

“So you like spending time with me, huh?”

“I love it.”Sami’s fingers dug into his shoulders.He shifted to his tiptoes.

“That’s pretty embarrassing for you to admit.”

“Yeah,” Sami chuckled.Baz barely had time to enjoy the sound before Sami claimed his lips again, but that was okay.He hoped to make him laugh every day from now.

“I love it too,” Baz mumbled against his lips, keeping their foreheads close.“Especially when you’re wearing my clothes.”

“I lied to you.I had no intention of returning this shirt.”

“I wouldn’t have taken it back, anyway.”

“Good.”

“Good.”

They met halfway in another kiss.He brushed his lips over Sami’s knuckles too, pressed them on top of his heart.All his.

Sami guided him toward his full-sized bed tucked into the corner of the room, smaller than Baz was used to, but he didn’t want space between him and Sami anyway.Not tonight.

The bump in the mattress pressed perfectly into his back.The scruffy, washed-out sheets reminded him of the ones he had in the home he had built with Eevee and Joel.

He welcomed Sami into his arms, clothed for once.The dark curls tickled his chin.He couldn’t resist twirling one around his finger.

Sami’s room was no less crowded than the living room; remnants of different projects were scattered around.A half-finished jigsaw puzzle took up most of the already overflowing desk, boxes claiming to contain power tools stacked on top of each other next to a wooden structure Baz couldn’t begin to guess what it was supposed to be.Books were everywhere but on the shelf, many upside down and opened in the middle.A metal map of Palestine hung above his bed, an orange jewel in its heart.

Baz took it all in while listening to the rumbles of Sami’s low voice recounting the details of his life Baz had so craved to hear.Everything, from growing up in a small town outside of San Diego to the story of how he met Naija.

Both psychology freshmen at USC, their roommates had started hooking up.Since he and Naija had bonded over their shared hatred for LA (“Have you been?It’s awful!The traffic, the air pollution, the people… Give me three feet of snow over that any day.”), the solution was for Naija to switch places with Sami’s actual roommate.

“And you got away with that?”Baz asked.Colleges were awfully heteronormative about their room arrangements.

“Yes.The whole four years.”Sami grinned, rightfully proud.“We’re actually invited to their wedding next year, so it worked out for them.And after all that time, I didn’t want to live without Naija anymore, so when she got into Northwestern for her postgrad, I applied to UChicago Law and followed her here.She’s my favorite person on the whole planet.”

Baz was surprised that no part of him got jealous hearing that.How could he?The few months they had shared couldn’t compare to years of loyal friendship.

“I’m happy you have her.”

“Me too,” Sami hummed.“You never told me about any of your friends.”

“You met everyone who is important in my life.”

Sami sat up.“Really?”

Incredible how a single word could be loaded with so much judgment.Baz didn’t have time to mingle with strangers who didn’t bulldoze into his life like Sami had.Well, that, and…

“I’ve never been great at friendships.They always seemed happy to be rid of me after a few weeks.”