Miles looks at me with warm eyes, twirling the leaf between his pointer finger and thumb idly. “What a shame. But you believe in Nessie?”?
“I’m a believe-it-when-I-see-it type of person. I saw Nessie. I don’t necessarily believe she’s a sea monster, but something is out there.”?
“So I’m assuming, after that speech, you aren’t in a relationship?”?
I shake my head.?
“Were you the one left pining or the one contorting?”?
I laugh. “I’m that transparent, huh?”??
Miles shrugs and lets his little leaf fall to the ground. “Shot in the dark.”?
“I was both, turns out.”?
“Ah, a classic overachiever.”?
I’m about to retort when a ripple breaks the surface of the water. Miles jumps up and runs to the edge of the loch. I follow, adrenaline pumping through me. Could it be Nessie? I’ve come here almost weekly since that day when I first saw her and never spotted a hint of her again.?
As I get closer, I see it clearly.
Miles is still watching intensely as the creature dips below the surface. We both stand silent for a minute, and I’m just about to explain, when Miles lets out a massive whoop of pure joy. He turns to me like we’re at a football game about to high-five after a hat trick, but instead of holding up his hand, he picks me square up off the ground and spins me around.
The world whirls by in streaks of blue, gray, and golden yellow. The only thing that is steady is the massive smile on Miles’s face.
He puts me down and leans in close. I mirror him, and before I fully register the implications of any of this, I put my mouth on his.
His lips are pillows, and I sink into them like a sleep-deprived maniac. I can’t get enough. He tastes of coffee and something a little sweet, almost like he had cinnamon toast for lunch. I open my mouth, needing to decipher the taste, needing more. He opens his mouth to let me in, and a moan erupts from somewhere deep in my belly. It’s an animal noise, and it startles me so much I pull away.
I put my hand to my mouth as if I could shield the kiss there forever, as if the mist is threatening to snatch it back into the ether.
Miles turns toward the loch, and says, “I can’t believe it. We saw Nessie.”
“Miles…” I almost don’t want to burst his bubble, but my mouth keeps going. Apparently, it has a mind of its own today. “It was a seal.”
“A seal? No. It’s a lake. It can’t be a seal.”
“They hang out in the loch a fair bit. They come in from the river.”?
As if on cue, the seal pops his little head up, closer this time, and swims around. We watch for a while as it glides effortlessly through the water, then dips down and disappears below the surface.
MILES
“Aseal.” My shoulders sag, and while I’m disappointed, my heart refuses to sink.
We kissed. Skye kissed me. Her lips are incredible. It was like the whole world fell away. Nessie could’ve been staring right at us from the water, and I wouldn’t have cared. And that noise she made. I wanted to lay her down right there on the bed of fallen leaves, but then she pulled away.
I want to reach for her again, but I’ve made promises that I won’t date Skye. Although, I never said anything about kissing.
The little seal swims around the loch. Drops start to appear on the water, and I can feel a few on my face—small at first and then larger and faster until we are in a full-on downpour. Skye squeals and runs under the tree, putting her sweater above her head. I join her, my clothes absorbing the drops. Why hadn’t I brought a jacket?
“We should go. We’ll be soaked,” she yells over the lashing rain.
Her face looks so beautiful. A small water droplet runs down her cheek to her lips. I reach out and trace its path with my finger, then pull her toward me. She places her hands on my chest.
“Miles, we were just caught up in the moment.”
I inhale deeply, smelling the lavender scent of her hair. “I don’t want the moment to end.”
