Curvy Girls Can’t Date Soldiers by Kelsie Stelting

Sixty-One

Nadira

I squintedat the brightness of his screen, at the words I read there.

This star belongs to Apollo Banks and Nadira Harris. It’s official name is:

Nadira.

There were signatures at the bottom and a website to look up for more information. But I couldn’t help staring at the name.

He’d put me in the sky, right next to the moon.

“Look at the stars,” he said softly. “They don’t worry about which one is brighter. All they do is shine.”

No one had ever gotten me a gift like this—something so thoughtful and meaningful. “Apollo,” I breathed. Moisture pooled in my eyes and slid down my cheeks, but instead of the devastated tears I’d been shedding the last several weeks, these were tears of joy.

He brushed away a tear. “You, Nadira, are just like that star. You’ve always been shining, and now, in case you ever doubt yourself, you can see it in the sky.”

Overwhelmed with emotion, I pressed my tear-soaked lips to his. “I love it.” But those words weren’t enough. “It might be crazy to say, but I love you.” I did. Apollo was right. Something about the two of us felt right in a way I’d never felt before. Like we were the answer to an equation that always existed but had only just been discovered.

The grin that grew on his face was genuine, just like everything about him. “I love you, too, baby.”

Blanketed by the stars and warm under our covers, I closed the small distance between us and pressed my lips to his. His breath spread across my cheeks, enveloping me in him and him in me.

His tongue teased the edges of my lips and tangled with mine, sending shivers down my spine and heat pooling in my stomach. When his lips broke from mine, they found a new home on my cheeks, the sensitive shell of my ear, my neck, my collarbone.

Our bodies moved under the blankets, gripping, holding, pulling, trying harder and harder to get closer than we already were.

My breath came in pants, blending with the husky moans coming from deep in his throat.

I felt him through his pants, pressing into my waist, awakening sensations I didn’t know I could feel, and I realized I wanted it all with Apollo. Cuddling on the couch for movies. Talking on the phone and sending goodnight texts. The physical things that made my stomach swoop and my heart beat faster.

Apollo was mine, and in that moment, and every moment after, I was his.