Deep Surrendering: Episode Eleven by Chelsea M. Cameron Page B

couldn’t stop thinking happy thoughts.
    Fin texted me that morning and I nearly broke my jaw from smiling.
    Just wanted to check and see how my girlfriend is doing this morning.
    I was so eager to answer him, I nearly sent a message back with an embarrassing autocorrect.
    She’s doing very well. And how is my boyfriend this morning?
    I felt like I was sixteen and passing notes in class. I looked up to see if anyone was watching me, but of course no one was. You always think that people are watching you and concerned with what you’re doing, but it’s almost never the case.
    He is missing his girlfriend.
    Ditto. I was about to write something else when I realized if I didn’t get going, I’d be late for my next class. I rushed and got the last available seat. Thankfully, I remembered to turn my phone off so I wasn’t one of those people whose phone rang during class and disrupted everything. That had never happened to me and I wanted to keep it that way.
    It wasn’t easy to focus, but I did my very best. I couldn’t fall apart now that Fin was back. If anything, I should be less distracted because I wasn’t always wondering where he was and if he was okay. I knew where he was. He was home and he was safe and it was going to stay that way for the foreseeable future. It was nice. More than nice. It was the best.
    In addition to the messages from Fin, I got one from Chase. I felt horrible, because I’d almost forgotten about him, what with all the Fin stuff going on. It was a simple message, asking me if I wanted to study and get coffee. I chewed on my lip, not sure what to do. If Chase were a girl, Fin wouldn’t care if I had coffee with her and studied. But Chase was a guy and he was a guy that might have become someone if Fin wasn’t around.
    In the end, I decided to send him message back saying that I couldn’t tonight, but maybe some other time. That would give me a few days to decide what to do.
    Fin and I messaged back and forth all day and I couldn’t wait until I could see him. We were planning on having our first dinner out and I was a little nervous, which was silly. After I got home from school, I spent forever getting ready, making sure I had every hair in place. I chose a purple dress that I’d bought on a whim when I was missing Fin. It was absolutely perfect for tonight.
    I left my hair down, which meant he would hopefully run his fingers through it, and kept my makeup light. Still, I checked myself a million times in the mirror before Fin buzzed and I let him up.
    When I opened the door, I was presented with a bouquet of lilacs. Of course. I inhaled their fragrance and then pushed them out of the way so I could see Fin’s face.
    “I knew my boyfriend was back there somewhere,” I said and he smiled so big it made my heart swell.
    “Hello, girlfriend,” he said. “Are you ready for our date?”
    I leaned forward and meant to give him a quick kiss, but it turned into something more and I had to put both hands on his chest and push myself away from him so I wouldn’t try to cram my tongue down his throat.
    Both of us were a little breathless.
    “We should probably not let ourselves do that again,” he said, licking his lips. “Although, I definitely didn’t get enough.” Me neither.
    I had to stop staring at his lips. I definitely needed to stop staring at them, because when I stared at them, I wanted to kiss them. So I looked up at his eyes and that was even worse.
    Fin cleared his throat and that snapped me out of my lust haze.
    “Shall we?” he presented me with his arm.
    “Just a minute. I’m going to put these in some water.” It was just like the first time we’d gone out. Well, I hadn’t been his girlfriend at the time. Now I was. My boyfriend brought me flowers.
    I filled one of the vases he’d gotten me and then got my coat. It was a little chilly tonight.
    I took Fin’s arm and we rode the elevator down to the first floor. Carl was waiting by the open car door. I wanted