Owning Our Part-2: What Do You Want?

Some questions are asked lightly. Others echo for years.

It started with a stare. Or maybe with the way I looked at him when I thought he wasn’t paying attention.

Gavin’s friend caught me first. He whispered something to Gavin, and suddenly they were both watching me. Not subtly. Not shyly. Instead staring expectantly. There was a kind of amused patience in their eyes, like they’d caught on to something I hadn’t quite admitted yet. I tried to keep talking to my friend Laura, tried to stay composed, but the more I ignored them, the more they stared.

It became a game I thoroughly enjoyed playing.

Later, I was outside on the deck, casually chatting with a group of guys. I hadn’t noticed the gender balance at first—but then, one by one, they started clearing out. Fast. Like someone had pulled the fire alarm just for them.

I turned to figure out what had spooked them.

Gavin.

He was sitting a few feet away, quiet and still, eyes fixed on me. Glaring.

I laughed—loud and full and honest. I couldn’t help it. He had initially looked angry. But that changed and he said, “There we go." Like he’d been waiting for that moment longer than either of us wanted to admit.

And then, with that same casual confidence that always put me on edge, he asked: “What do you want, Aurora?”

There was a beat.

I could have dodged it. Could have flirted back, made a joke, teased him the way he probably expected me to. I could have made it a moment of banter instead of something else.

But I didn’t.

“Love, I guess,” I said.

He scoffed. With a tinge of disgust. Or maybe surprised.

It was an honest answer. Just not the one he was expecting. Perhaps I should have been coy. Should have played a more traditional version of the game. But maybe he was looking for a distraction. A detour. Something casual and convenient. Even if there had been real moments between us in the past.

But that’s not me.

I hugged myself, rubbing my arms to shake off the coldness I felt inside. “Yeah, alright. I’m getting cold. Let’s go inside.”

As we walked in, I reached up, loosened my bun, let my hair down and shook my head. He watched me like he’d never seen anything quite like it.

I didn’t say a word. Just smiled, turned, and walked away.

Thinking to myself—

I’m not someone to be toyed with. And in the end, you might find I’m hard to forget.