“I can and I'll prove it to you.” Kade's self-assured words made me smile.

I missed witnessing his confidence in action. It was never boring with him, the no-nonsense attitude so refreshing. His lips slid to my ear.

“I was patient and gave you plenty of space to figure it all out on your own, Ev, but it's clearly not working. We'll try it my way now.”

“Kade, you have to accept I can't change who I am—”

“Do you trust me?” he asked a question to which he already knew the answer. I nodded. “We will go home now, we are going to enjoy ourselves from here on, and before New Year comes, we’ll be talking about moving in together.” He loosened his hold and winked, smug.

I couldn't help but laugh.

“The only reason I would move in with you is to avoid the dorm, but I'm not that desperate yet.” Well, almost. My neighbors on the left side were loud, and paper-thin walls didn't help the matter.

“And here I thought you'd jump at the offer to have me as your willing drawing model anytime of the day …” Kade dangled the carrot, going straight for the kill.

“Hmmm, when you put it that way …” My fingers twitched at his back, already agreeing to the idea.

Having my muse at my disposal sounded like paradise, but Kade didn't have a spare bedroom, and there was no way I’d sleep on that little couch of his. What if we moved to a two-bedroom condo? He did mention moving in together. It would be fun to live as flat mates …

But surely moving in would only confuse him, so no.

“Get a room, guys.” I recognized Patrick's amused voice, and we broke our embrace to greet my brown-haired friend. Kade's hand snuck around my waist, keeping me close. “So, you've finally turned Evan?” Patrick waggled his eyebrows at Kade.

“No need to, but I am having a hard time opening his eyes. I've decided to use a more direct approach this time.” Kade looked at me, a content smile on his face, followed by an innocent peck to my temple.

I raised my eyebrows at his open display of affection.

“Well, you know us artists. We see what we wanna see.” Patrick shrugged. “And the more girls for me, the better. Speaking of which …” Patrick gestured towards the bar. “Becca was asking if you're coming back. Can I take over and console her?”

“I was—”

“We’re leaving, the crowd is yours,” Kade replied firmly, his hand resting tighter on my hip.

I would have contradicted, but my starved fingers were too busy tracing his spine, begging for more time. My beloved muse versus some woman that would never become more than a one-night stand? The winner was clear.

“Sweet. See ya!” Patrick took off after the sexy brunette.

Thanks for nothing, you treacherous ass, I sent daggers at my retreating friend’s back.

“Dude, that was totally not cool,” I grouched artificially, poking one finger at Kade's solid chest. “Becca was so my type, and you killed my chances.”

“I have no doubt you'll survive.” The bastard smiled charmingly. “Correct me if I'm wrong, but a certain someone should be twitching and itching to draw me. Shall we go?”

Of course I wanted to, but the rational side of me hesitated.

One: The Kade book was at my place.

Two: Going to his place would definitely send the wrong message to Kade.

Three: Going to his place meant having that dreadful talk about things we shouldn’t be doing, which I didn’t want to have.

Four …

“I know I posed it as a question, but it wasn't. I'm not opposed to using bodily force if that's what it'll take.” Kade urged me with his hand around my waist, and I finally budged, albeit slowly.

“I remember a certain someone telling me those karate moves were for self-defense only. Just so you know, bruises don't suit me. At all,” I grumbled under my breath, trudging towards the door.

“Don't worry, it won't come to that.” Kade chuckled.

“Because you'd butcher me and hide my corpse in some dingy basement if I did resist you?” I joked as we passed the doors.

“It's way simpler than that. I'll remind you how much you like not only to draw me but watch movies and play Xbox together. That should be enough for you to come of your own free will. If not that, then this will do.” His hand proceeded to direct me towards the door.

“Kade, I hate to disappoint you—”

“Enough of that,” Kade interrupted me gently. “Now, do you want to get your special book and a change of clothes, or do we head for my place straight away?”

Huh, so I was allowed to make at least some decisions.

We did make a detour: my dorm first, then we stopped to rent three old movies—Tremors, Silence of the Lambs, and Goodfellas, and we finally grabbed Taiwanese takeout on the way.

I tensed up when we reached his home. I didn't expect him to jump me, of course, but I did wait for the evil discussion where he'd try to talk me into something we shouldn't do.

Would we end up fighting? Would our friendship end tonight?

As we finished our dinner and Kade started heating up popcorn, he still hadn't brought up the uncomfortable topic. To be fair, there was a lot to catch-up on; we hadn't seen each other for a long time, and texting didn’t count. We discussed our vacation plans for the remaining year, and I realized mine would change now that my muse was back in my life. 

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