I release my grip on the railing and walk ahead, not daring to see his face. “Can you tell me those, please?”
“Sure.” He walks beside me, his presence overwhelming. “I like that you’re modest about eating etiquette. You place your hand over your mouth whenever you talk with your mouth full, or even when you laugh.” He breathes a laugh. “There was that time I made you eat like a slob when we were eating popcorn.”
“I remember,” I say.
“I like it when that side comes out in you. This daring, playful side I’ve only seen a few times. When we watched a movie, we played in the indoor playground, and I heard about it from Aaron when you playedDungeons and Dragons.”
I twitch a smile.
“I like how we enjoy the same type of music. I like…uh—and this is long, something I have noticed before we began talking—but in art, whenever you drew, you did this thing with your nose, scrunching it up when you were concentrating. It’s cute.”
“I do that?” I touch my nose. “Is it obvious?”
“Painstaking,” he agrees with a chuckle. “I also like how you care for your family—not like you should care in the circumstances you’re under, but you care enough to save money for bills, which is admirable.”
I bite my lower lip and avert my gaze.
“There was one time in the car. I let it slide, but I wish I hadn’t after knowing that it would be hard for me to make you laugh like that again. And when you snorted, it sent me—I also love when you laugh.” His eyes crinkle as his smile softens. “I like that I can make you laugh.”
“That’s six,” I say.
“The seventh is how stubborn you can be when it comes to people doing things for you. I like that you aren’t stubborn when I do things for you. However, at the start, when you handed me the money after I bought McDonald’s—and I still have that money in the car—the way you looked and pleaded made me realise you don’t enjoy owing people, and I respect and like that about you.”
He reaches out, and I flinch until I realise he’s grabbing a flower overhead of us, plucking it from the vine. “I don’t like it when you do that,” he admits as he hands me the flower. “Iunderstand why you flinch, but it hurts a little knowing that you think I’m capable of hurting you.”
“I know,” I murmur. “So, what’s eight?”
“When you shut me down or put me in my place, I guess. You tell me when I’m embarrassing you or being too much, and you don’t hide the things I do that make you uncomfortable. You tell it to my face. It’s refreshing.”
“Nine?”
“You are the first woman who hasn’t objectified me,” he states with a firm nod. “Or boy…There’s this one guy in sports who enjoys slapping my arse whenever I enter the locker room.”
“Is it uncomfortable?”
“A little,” he answers with a shrug. “I’m extending number nine because I like how you don’t think it’s cute that I’ve been objectified.”
“You didn’t either…with Andy. So, why would I?”
“Yeah…” Conner’s eyes narrow. “Andy…”
Clearing my throat, I say, “What’s the lucky last reason that you like me?”
“You’re the first person outside my family that I feel comfortable being myself around. At school, I have two groups of friends. You met Aaron, Finch, and Troy. They see an inkling of why I am when we playDungeons and Dragons.The others I hang with are just for show. I’m only there because they consider me anace.” He rolls his eyes at the sentiment before saying, “But that’s not you.”
He smiles, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. “I never expressed my taste in music to them because it’s different from what they listen to, which would be okay if they didn’t talk shit about the music I like. I used to sing at school until everyone fawned over it. Every lunch, they would ask if I could sing for them. It became a chore. Everything became a chore, and I wasn’t having funanymore.” His hands tighten, and his jaw clenches. “I was there for their entertainment. I was never there for me…”
Conner looks down at me and smiles. “With you, I’m revitalised. I can eat how I like without you chastising me and saying it’s gross. You understand my art without gushing over it, and you don’t objectify me. I can sing in the car with you and listen to the songs we like.”
I take hold of his hand as we walk.
“You make me feel like me,” he says, his hand squeezing mine with reassurance. “It’s why I fell for you so quickly, Noya.”
“I’m happy you can,” I say, and I squeeze back.
“Now,” he says, arching his brow. “I’m curious about the ten things you like about me, Noya.”
“Oh…do I have to say them now?”