The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy Chapter 102

Luca’s lips just barely, barely brush mine before I gasp and shove him away.

“Luca!” I shout, stumbling backwards a few steps and staring up at him with wide eyes.

“Oh my god, Ari!” he shouts, digging his hands into his hair and turning from me in frustration, clenching his jaw. “What – are you – seriously!? What are we even here for if we’re not going to –“

“Luca!” I shout again, stomping my foot and going completely rigid with my own anger. “You are not being fair – you told me to come here tonight for a conversation, and then you try to –“ I hesitate now, stumbling over my words in my embarrassment, “what, make out with me!?”

Luca laughs an ironic little laugh and turns back at me, glaring. “Well, isn’t that the point, Ari? What do you want from me? Why are you pulling me into a secret dream if not to –“

“I don’t know!” I half shout, half moan, my arms stiff at my side as I turn my head up to the sky and press my eyes shut, overwhelmed and frustrated. “We just – we are not on the same terms here! And I don’t want to do anything with you unless –“

And then I halt my words, my cheeks blushing scarlet as I realize that I just admitted that I would want to kiss him if the terms are right.

When I tentatively open my eyes, I see that Luca picked up on it too. He’s smirking a little now, still frustrated but pleased – I think – to discover that he wasn’t wrong about this thing that’s between us. That it is not at all one-sided.

“Fine,” he snaps, taking another step closer to me. “Let’s have this conversation then. Why won’t you let me kiss you?”

I blink in shock at the bluntness of his words, but the way his smirk deepens makes me realize that he did it on purpose – that he’s trying to unnerve me, probably because he’s pissed.

I just narrow my eyes, pissed in turn that he’s deliberately not playing fair.

“Because, Luca,” I reply, a bit through my teeth. “I don’t know your motives for wanting to kiss me.”

“Do I need motives?”

“A little!” I say, taking a step back as he takes one forward. Elsewhere in the dream, my wolf gives a few happy yips of excitement, but I just scowl at her, annoyed. “I mean, I don’t want you to kiss me, Luca, if you’re just trying to…figure out your sexuality or something! I am…I am a whole person…”

He stops when I say this, turning his head to study me, suddenly more curious than he was before.

I lift my chin, continuing. “And I don’t want to be kissed as an experiment. I want to be…” I bite my lip now.

“Tell me,” he says, his voice soft.

I take a deep breath, not really knowing even what I mean. “I want…” I say softly, speaking the words as my mind finds them, “you to kiss me…because you want to kiss me. Not just some…shrimp you find yourself weirdly attracted to.”

“Ari,” Luca murmurs, still looking at me curiously, his expression and his stance somehow softer now. “What makes you think that I felt otherwise?”

“Well, I don’t know!” I burst out, throwing my hands to the side. “Are you – are you gay, Luca!? Do you like boys!?”

He laughs, shaking his head at me and slipping his hands into the pockets of his sweatpants. “Haven’t I already told you the answer to that, several dreams ago? I didn’t think I was attracted to guys, but then I met you, and everything got tossed up into the air –“

“Well,” I interrupt, staring at him, baffled. “Doesn’t that…does that bother you?”

“No,” he says instantly, narrowing his eyes at me a little. “Does it…bother you?”

“No,” I reply, but I turn my head at him, considering. “Wouldn’t it like…affect you, though?”

“What?”

“I mean, you’re a celebrity, Luca!” I gesture towards him like it’s obvious. “I know that we live in a pretty progressive country and time, but it will affect your status in the world if people find out that you’re at Alpha Academy making out with a little shrimpy boy.”