I wasn't at all expecting that and I smiled, bright and surprised, a flush racing across my cheeks. Some of the girls at school told me I was cute sometimes, but they all knew about Eddie, so it felt harmless, like they didn't actually mean it because they knew I would never do anything. But Eddie said it, said I was pretty, and I knew he meant it, even if I didn't think I was. It didn't matter what I thought of myself, because Eddie thought it and I believed him.

"You are," I answered, one of my hands on the side of Eddie's neck, my thumb stroking across his skin. "Sometimes I pretend to do homework and I just look at you instead." I felt like I wasn't saying it properly, like that didn't encompass how much I loved to look at him, how I wanted to press my lips against each and every last freckle across the bridge of his nose.

I rested my forehead against Eddie's, still grinning rather helplessly, and I found I felt better than I had in the rec room. So much better.

"I love you, Eddie," I said. I wanted to say it all the time, but it was difficult when we didn't often get to be alone. I had to say it now, while I had the chance. While we weren't being watched, while our friends weren't around to tease us if they heard it. Right now it was just me and him.