Maybe this was the only chance I’d have to feeling anything like that fairy tale love I’d once dreamed about.
It just didn’t seem fair to Matt to let him go in with hopes that we could have some epic romance when that might not be in our cards.
“What if I can’t… What if it doesn’t work out?”
“Then we call it off. But think of what we could be missing if we don’t try.”
“What if you hate me after?”
He scoffed. Matt actually scoffed at me. “I didn’t hate you when we broke up before, and that’s not going to happen this time.”
“You say that now,” I grumbled, echoes of my ex-boyfriend’s angry words ricocheting through my head. It was easy for Matt to say he wouldn’t hate me when it was all hypothetical, but he might feel different when the hypothetical became reality.
“Not every love lasts forever,” he said simply. “It doesn’t mean it’s not worth it in the end.” He scooted over until his knee was pressed against mine, the gap fully closed. Electricity sparked at the place our bodies met. “I’m not letting a maybe scare me off from something I want.SomeoneI want.”
“And you want me?”
Instead of answering, he pressed his lips to mine. The kiss was gentle, filled with promise and beginnings and acceptance.
It reminded me of another kiss, back at this same beach. That one had been more tentative. He’d been hesitant when he’d closed that distance between us for the first time, and he’d taken me by surprise. I’d spent a good part of that summer thinking about what it’d be like to kiss him. I’d even imagined a perfect way for it to happen, for me to find the courage. In the end, he’d found it first.
It had been our first kiss, and when we’d pulled away, I asked him to be my boyfriend.
It seemed poetic that we restarted our relationship in the same place, years later. When I pulled away from the kiss, I knew hewas right. It was a risk, but if he was willing to take it, then I had to be too. “Will you be my boyfriend?”
His smile was brighter than the sun shining overhead, but his answer was so simple that it was beautiful. The most beautiful word I’d ever heard.
“Yes.”
7
Matt
I have news.
Seb
Did the ducks start talking back?
Matt
No.
Holden
Is it sexy news?
Eli
From Matt?
Matt
Rude!
Holden
I threw a pillow at him.
