Ray's POV
—
"AVA WAKE UP."
"Mmmh?" Ava turned, bleary-eyed, clearly regretting every decision that led to rooming with me.
I turned on the lights like an exorcism.
She blinked. "Is the dorm on fire?"
"No." I threw myself onto her bed like a 2000s Disney princess. "Worse."
She sat up. "Worse than fire?"
"I've named our kids."
"…Okay."
"Our children, Ava. Sebastian and mine. They have names. They go to a private preschool in Switzerland and wear tiny plaid scarves. His name is Oliver, and hers is Esmé, and we have a third one named Apollo who bites people but is secretly a genius."
Ava just stared at me.
I clutched my chest. "I'm in love. I'm in love, Ava."
"You fall in love every week—"
"Not like this!" I wailed. "This is real. This is Greek tragedy meets fairy tale. This is serendipity! This is chaos theory meets romance!"
"What happened this time?"
I sat up, eyes wide. "Okay so I was running to them, like usual, because I'm dramatic and I live for the entrance. But I tripped—hard. Like knees to concrete, tears in eyes, pure gravity violation. And guess who caught me?"
"Sebastian Ashford."
"Sebastian Ashford. Ice Lord. England's Favorite Disappointment. He caught me. And then—Ava, brace yourself—I didn't get off."
"You what?"
"I just… wrapped myself around him like a little backpack. Arms around the neck. Legs around the waist. Face like two inches from his. I was like, 'Thank you!' and started yapping, and he didn't drop me. He didn't drop me."
Ava squinted. "And then?"
"He walked. With me. Still on him. Into the building. Like it was normal. Like he carries me all the time. Like I'm his weighted emotional support ray."
I got up and started pacing. "And the girls were watching. All of them. The ones who were saying I was too much? That I trip on air? That I probably slept with that hot professor for grades? They watched me be carried by him. Carried like a queen. No, a menace. His menace."
Ava just blinked.
"Oh, and I brought him coffee again. Marshmallow fluff, whipped cream, both syrups. And he drank it. I don't think his taste buds survived, but he drank it."
"Ray."
"And when I called him Seb—he flinched. Like physically. Like no one ever calls him that. But he didn't correct me. That's love, right?"
"…That's emotional terrorism, probably."
"I'm going to start planning our wedding. Something small. Amalfi Coast. Austin will be best man. You'll cry in pink tulle. Sebastian will say something like 'I hate everyone but her,' and I'll sob. He'll probably glare during the vows and I'll find it so romantic."
Ava opened her mouth.
"I've already picked the color palette: cream, dusty rose, and trauma. It reflects our dynamic."
"Ray."
"We'll live in a glass house with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. He'll do serious things in a black robe and I'll accidentally walk in wearing a glitter robe and slippers with bunny ears."
"You are unwell."
"I'm in love."