“I’m good at unlocking what people are trying to hide.” I smiled at her, stepping closer than the friend boundary probably permitted, but I couldn’t help it. She was the sun and I was helplessly sucked into her orbit.

“Nightlocker,” she said, my hacker name rolling off her tongue and rippling all the way down my spine. “Makes sense.”

“It’s easier with you,” I said, shifting so one arm leaned over her shoulder, the position in front of her blocking the neon sign from glaring in her eyes.

“How so?” She gazed up at me, never once retreating from my nearness, almost like she craved it as much as I did.

I shrugged. “There is something about you that…resonates in me?” I chuckled. “Now I sound pathetic.”

“No, you don’t.”

“I mean it, though,” I said. “I’ve never had a friend like you before. We… It’s like we’re…”

“The same?” she finished for me.

“Exactly. It makes it easier to understand you.”

“I get that,” she said. “But you have an unfair advantage.”

“What is that?”

“You don’t have anything to hide.” She sighed. “No walls that need breaking down.”

I stared into her eyes, the smile dropping off my face.

What did he do to you?

The words were there, but I couldn’t choke them out. She would tell me if she wanted me to know. The last thing I wanted to do was push her away, to break the bond we’d formed by stepping where I wasn’t wanted.

“You don’t have to hide from me, you know,” I finally managed to say.

Something swirled in her eyes, a churning sort of hope and want and…trust?

“I want to be the one you talk to,” I said. “Not just about coding or hacks or tech. I want us to be close. I crave this…” I motioned to the small space between us, noting how her chest rose and fell like it had when we’d first entered the arcade, but now for a totally different reason.

Being this close to her was the sweetest torture, so much it was intoxicating. Whirling in my brain like I’d had a few drinks.

“I do, too,” she whispered, her tongue darting out to wet her lips. “And it scares the hell out of me.”

“Don’t let it,” I said, reaching my free hand to smooth it over her cheek, down her neck. Chills erupted where my fingers trailed, but she never lost my gaze. Never pushed me away or drew me closer. Slowly, I lowered my head, inching closer to her lips, knowing the night wasn’t supposed to go this way but unable to stop it. The draw she had on me, the heat in my heart calling for more of her smiles, more of her sweet scent, more of her voice…it urged me forward.