It Starts with Us by Colleen Hoover

Chapter Fourteen
Lily
I’ve been out of the dating loop for a while, so if hug is code for something
else, I have no idea.
Surely a hug still just means a hug.
I can barely work social media, much less keep up with slang. I swear, I’m
the most out-of-touch millennial I know. It’s as if I skipped right over Gen X
and into Boomer territory. I’m a Boomer millennial. A boollennial. Hell, my
mother is a Boomer and probably knows more about these things than I do.
She’s the one with a new boyfriend. I should call her and ask for pointers.
I brush my teeth, just in case a hug is a kiss. And then I change clothes
twice, until I end up back in the pajamas I had on when I FaceTimed him.
I’m trying way too hard to look like I’m not trying too hard. Sometimes being
a woman is so dumb.
I’m pacing my apartment, anxious for his knock. I don’t know why I’m so
nervous; I just spent three hours with him.
Well, one and a half if I don’t count the nap I took in the middle of our
date.
Several dozen paces later, there’s a light tap on my apartment door. I
know it’s Atlas, but I glance through the peephole anyway.
He even looks good all distorted through a peephole. I smile when I
noticed he changed, too. Just his jacket, but still. He was wearing a thick
black coat when we went out earlier, but now he’s wearing a simple gray
hoodie.
Dear God. I like it so much.
I open the door, and Atlas leaves zero seconds between our first moment
of eye contact and when his arms sweep me in for a hug.
He holds me so tight, it makes me want to ask him what was so bad about
the last hour, but I don’t. I just quietly hug him back. I settle my cheek
against his shoulder and revel in the comfort of him.