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I clio of his hand I faced hio to sleep But to my shock, he released my hand and then reached up to touch my face

“I don’t want you to give them up for me,” he whispered

“That’s one choice that isn’t yours to ed in the last eight years, Aleks You can’t just come back from that… none of us can”

He closed his eyes and was quiet for so long I was sure he’d fallen asleep

“James?”

“Yeah?”

“Are you ever going to kiss me?”

Myabout that?

Clearly, he had

“Do you want me to kiss you, Aleks?”

Aleks let out a soft sigh His fingers were still onwith the hairs of my beard

“I don’t know No one’s ever done it before What if I don’t like it?”

“Then I won’t ever do it again”

He opened his eyes and stared into mine “Would you still be my friend even if you couldn’t kiss me?”

This time it was my turn to touch his face “Yes”

“Good,” he said He was about to close his eyes when I tipped his face up just a bit He sucked in a breath and I kneas because he thought I was going to kiss hiht had crossed my mind, but I kneasn’t ready

“Aleks,” I whispered I could tell he was on the verge of drifting off

“Yeah?”

“I’ to make sure you like it, okay?”

A little s it “Okay, James, I believe you”

It was my turn to sainst me I wrapped my arms around him