We lean into each other. Just like this morning.

“Hey!”

That’s not Wyatt’s voice.

And it’s not mine.

We both shoot our gazes toward the voice at the far end of the patio, all the way on the other side of the pool. The security guard shines a flashlight right in our faces.

“What are you kids doing?” he yells.

“We should run,” I whisper, taking my dripping feet out of the pool.

Wyatt turns to me quickly. “Huh?”

“Run!”

I grab my shoes, and I start running, almost slipping on the tile that surrounds the pool. I don’t know if Wyatt is actually behind me; I hope that they are. All I can hear is the security guard shouting, “Hey! Stop!” and the sound of Wyatt’s wet feet slapping the hotel floor.

“This way,” I say, taking a left around the corner of the hotel. We just have to get to the elevator before the security guard can catch us.

The sliding doors to the lobby open for us, and we race. I almost slip again in the lobby, my feet still pretty wet. Wyatt catches me, grabbing on to my free hand and pulling me forward, and we catch the elevator just as someone is walking out. We push through the closing doors, watching across the lobby as the security guard finally makes it inside, whipping his head around to see where we’ve gone.

The door closes, and we both finally relax against the wall of the elevator, staring at each other as we break out into laughter.

Wyatt doubles over and brushes their hair out of their face, still trying to catch their breath as the elevator lurches.

I don’t know exactly what we’re laughing at, but it feels like the right thing to do. It feels like the only thing to do as we ride to the top floor, the doors sliding open. I still wonder what’s going through their head as we make our way back to our room.

We almost kissed.

That almost fucking happened.

And it would have if we hadn’t been interrupted.

Are they glad we stopped?

They said they liked the first one.

I need to stop, I need to …

I need to pretend that this is Josh.

If I just pretend that Wyatt is Josh, if I just keep going with that same confidence I had when Josh and I were together, then I won’t feel as nervous. I’d say that I’ve never heard of a more flawed plan, but the situation I’ve spent the past week getting myself into takes that cake.