Ever So Slightly

‘Hannah?’ says Will, as I feel the car pull up. I lift my head and open eyes to see the dark sky stare back at me through the Delorean’s windscreen.

As the doors hiss upwards, I climb out, bracing myself against the cold as I make a quick run for the hotel entrance and the warmth it would give. I push through and wait inside for Gabe and William, but after they don’t appear for a good few minutes, I walk back to the doors and peer out.

Gabe and Will appear to be having a heated discussion.

I dodge away from the doors again as Gabe climbs back into the car, and William turns to face the hotel, calming himself. I begin to walk slowly towards the elevator and press the button, climbing in as the door slides across. As it closes, I can just see Will pushing his way through the hotel’s double doors - and I realise, I can’t remember what floor his room is on.

I slap my head with my hand.

Fool.

A few moments later the door slides open again revealing William, who looks from me, to the lift, and back to me again, puzzled.

‘I forgot the floor we’re on,’ I mumble, and he laughs, stepping in and pressing the 3 button.

‘Goofball.’

I push him playfully as the elevator begins to move, and a few seconds later, we step out onto the third floor.

Entering his room, Will flicks on the lights and peels off his jacket as I sit myself on the kitchen counter. I swing my legs distractedly as he potters around, putting away clothes and binning Oreo boxes - if he’d wanted a tidy house guest then he ought to have left me at Marks. He walks back towards the kitchen with an empty pint glass and sets it by the sink, coming over to me and groaning softly, laying his head in my lap.

‘Tired?’ I ask wryly.

‘Not so much,’ he replies.

‘Then what’s up?’

He lifts his head to face me. It’s a testament to my shortness, that whilst I am sat on the worktop and he is standing, we are pretty much the same height.

‘Nothing,’ he smiles. We’re silent for a moment, and he looks down. ‘But I’d like it a lot if you didn’t go home tomorrow,’ he murmurs.

And suddenly I have butterflies.

‘Me too,’ I whisper back.

He meets my eyes seriously. ‘So you’ll stay for a bit?’

‘Yeah,’ I smile.

And it’s like I feel something between us shift - I don’t know what we were before, and I don’t know what we are now, but I’m sure it’s something more.

I’m willing it to be something more.

His eyes are still fixed upon mine, as he raises his hand to my face and places it on my jaw. I can feel my skin tingle under his, and the butterflies are multiplying, spreading through my legs and feet, my arms and my chest.

Painfully slowly, he drags his thumb across my mouth, before meeting it with his own and pressing a warm kiss to my lips.

I blink in surprise, eyes wide but body fizzing as he brings his other hand to the back of my head and gently opens his mouth. I finally come to my senses enough to realise - he’s kissing me, he’s finally kissing me.

Not ‘William Beckett’s kissing me’, not ‘THE William Beckett’, but William, Will - my Will.

Or could I not say that yet?

The voice in my head is still demanding, what is he? What are we to each other? But I push it back, opening my mouth in welcome - in a ‘finally, finally you’re here.’

He slides his hands back to the sides of my face as he pulls away, lips pouted and eyes opening slowly to meet mine. I pull a shy sort of half smile, which he returns, before pecking my lips again, just once more.

He slips his fingers in between mine and pulls me gently, and as I hop off the counter, he guides me to back towards his eggshell bedroom.