I shift forward slightly, our noses bumping again. “I can’t seem to recall.”

He huffs a fond laugh, his breath cool against my face. “I have something that might help you remember.”

I expect him to kiss me, but he pulls back entirely, pulling something out of the slim black messenger bag at his side. It looks kind of like a portfolio, but when he hands it to me, I realize it’s a photo book, not unlike the one Rosie gave me for my birthday.

“For you,” he says, his cheeks flushed with color, a rare sight. One I treasure more than anything else. “Consider it my apology. I don’t have a Taylor Swift song to go with it, but...”

He pulls out his phone, tapping into a Spotify playlist titled M. Before I can comment on that, “Shine” by Years & Years shows up on his screen, a steady rhythmic beat playing quietly.

My brows furrow, and I flip the photo book open. The first picture I see is from the deli down the street. It’s the one Emmitt took with a disposable camera, focused on a sign in the back of the shop. But in the corner of the photo is a familiar figure, staring at a pack of Oreos with a thoughtful expression—me.

I flip to the next page, and it’s me sitting on the Staten Island Ferry, a small smile on my face. I flip to the next page, and it’s me leaning over a barricade at the SNL line, talking to the girls. I flip to the next page, and it’s me on a subway platform, laughing as the wind plays with my hair. With each page, another photo of me appears.

And in each photo, I’m presented in a different light—Emmitt has somehow captured all the sides of me I didn’t even know existed. I glow, and I burn, and I shine.

I look up at him, speechless.

Emmitt’s eyes are hopeful, even though he still looks nervous. “You see me. You see past the show I put on for everyone else. And I wanted you to know I see you, too.”

I laugh, the sound choked. “You see me.”

Only the truth, I said to him once upon a time. Real and honest, he said in return.

“I do. I love what I see,” he says quietly. “And I love you.”

I make an incoherent noise, barely breathing.

Emmitt chuckles and finally crosses the distance between us, his fingers slipping into my hair as he pulls me into an impassioned kiss.

Nothing has ever been easier than kissing him back, than melting in his arms. I haven’t felt his lips against mine in two weeks, and it almost feels like I can breathe again. I move closer, until our hearts beat as one.