Love me if you dare
Zara tilted her head up to look at him, something fierce and overwhelmed rising in her chest, and this time, with no crowd of students to interrupt them, no fear of watching eyes strong enough to stop what had been building for weeks, she closed the last small distance between them and kissed him.
It wasn't dramatic or rushed. It was slow, and careful, and impossibly tender — his hand coming up to cradle her jaw like she was something precious, hers fisting gently in the front of his hoodie like she needed something solid to hold onto. When they finally broke apart, both of them a little breathless, Zara felt something settle inside her chest that hadn't settled in two long, exhausting years