Whit eyes him and then sighs, “Doubtful.”
“Ah,” Caleb says, nuzzling into his neck. “You’re such a grump today.”
“I’m not a grump.”
“You so are, but I’ll make it up to you later, yeah?”
Whit closes his eyes and sighs, pushing Caleb away from him gently, and then stroking his hand across Caleb’s cheek.
“Fine.”
Caleb beams at him.
“Alright, let’s go, you guys. No more making out. Makes me feel like a fifth wheel,” Luke says, handing us each of our tickets and making our way through the noisy crowd. Sem tucks me into his side as he elbows people out of the way. When we finally make our way up a thousand stairs to the nosebleed seats, I glance down at the dirt arena in front of us and take it all in.
“So…let me get this right. We just sit here while big trucks drive around and smoosh things?” I ask, and Luke laughs.
“Yeah, tiny. That’s basically it.”
“And that’s fun?”
“It’s so fucking fun,” Luke replies, and Sem tugs me down into a folding seat next to him. Sem barely fits into his. His hips touch both sides of the armrests.
“Here,” Sem says and hands me a pair of noise-cancelling headphones.
I hold them up and look over at him. “What are these for?”
“You’ll need ’em.”
I glance over at Luke, who has a pair in his lap while he pulls a bag of food out from nowhere. Whit’s fussing with Caleb, trying to put the headphones on his head, but Caleb’s thwarting him by nipping at his fingers.
Those two are too cute, I think, as a sudden roar makes me jump in my seat. Sem grabs the headphones and stuffs them over my ears. Okay, now I know why I need them. The thunderous rumble of the trucks filing out into the dirt arena is so loud it rattles the stadium. If I didn’t have these things on, my ears would probably be bleeding. Tinnitus is no joke.
I glance over at Sem, who is watching me, waiting for my reaction, so I just offer him a small smile as music starts playing in the background. Okay, not going to lie. This is kind of pumping me up. I turn toward the arena once more and watch as the crowd goes wild. A movement to my right diverts my eyes, and I see Luke and Caleb cupping their hands over their mouths and shouting. Both of them stand up suddenly, pumping their fists in the air. Next to them, Whit has his eyes closed as he sighs heavily.
One enormous red monster truck revs its engine and spins around and around in the arena, kicking up dirt, and I can’t tear my eyes away. Sem reaches over and cups my hand in his and I can’t help myself. I lean up and press my lips gently against his. For everyone to see.
* * *
“That was amazing,” I say, bouncing on my feet, reaching out, and grabbing onto Sem’s hand. His fingers flex against mine, as he tugs me a little closer. He held my hand the entire time we sat there watching the trucks do tricks down below. And once, he even leaned over and pressed a kiss to my temple.
He seemed completely unconcerned with what anyone thought about us being together, so I told myself to just let it go. I was going to enjoy my night with him.
Would this be considered a date?
Were we dating now?
“Who knew that watching monster trucks crush cars could be so exhilarating? And that one purple truck that flipped over and broke apart…I was really rooting for her.”
“I’m glad you liked it,” Sem smiles as we make our way down the stairs to the large lobby. Whit and Caleb trail behind us, Caleb’s head on Whit’s shoulder.
“Fuck, I’m starving,” Luke says, rushing up to us, rubbing at his stomach. “We grabbing food or what?”
“Didn’t you just eat the entire time we were there?” I ask, and Luke shrugs.
“I could always eat. I’m a growing boy.”
Sem looks over at me, and I nod. “Okay, yeah, I guess we could grab a bite.”