Outside, the late afternoon sun had dipped lower in the sky, painting the plaza in golden hues. Cassandra balanced two gelato cones - pistachio for herself, dark chocolate for Jayden - while animatedly recounting a story about her first disastrous karaoke experience.
"And then the entire machine... oh!"
Her heel caught on an uneven paver. Time seemed to slow as the gelato cones tumbled through the air. Jayden's arm shot out instinctively, one hand catching Cassandra around the waist while the other somehow managed to snatch both cones mid-fall.
They froze there, pressed together in the middle of the busy walkway. Jayden could feel the rapid flutter of Cassandra's pulse beneath his fingertips where they splayed across her back. Her lips were parted in surprise, close enough that he could see the faint freckles dusting the bridge of her nose that only appeared in summer.
