His cheeks grew red as he looked away, biting his lip.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I grew angry. “That’s ten years, Sam!”
He flinched at my outburst.
“We wasted ten years!” I got up from the bed feeling irrationally angry.
“Jude.”
“I can’t believe this,” I said, pacing in front of the bed. “Ten fucking years.”
“Jude.”
“You didn’t say anything, but you never showed anything and so I didn’t see it,” I said quickly. “Gosh, this is what I get for being scared, but you, you always go for what you want. Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Jude.”
“God, I can’t fucking believe this and it took fucking Forest for?—”
Soft lips stopped my rant, and Sam deepened the kiss immediately, wrapping his arms around me, pulling me flush against him.
“Yeah, I waited ten years to be able to do that,” he said against my lips.
“But why? You're always a go-getter,” I said, kissing him softly. “Why didn’t you say anything sooner?”
Sam appeared uncomfortable and looked away as his cheeks grew red.
“I overheard you talking to Gracie one day when she asked you about a football player,” he said, pulling away, but I kept holding onto him. “You said you didn’t date dumb jocks and you didn’t have patience for them.”
“Sam,” I said, hugging him tighter. “You were never in that category."
“Well, I was a dumb jock who barely passed his classes, and you had to tutor me a few times,” he said sadly.
“I only said that because she kept pestering me about him and his friend who was on the baseball team and—” I sighed. “I didn’t know what else to say.”
“Fucking hell,” Sam chuckled. “Are you serious?”
“You remember Darren? The wide receiver?" I asked.
“Oh god,” he grimaced. “He was such a douche, I would have said the same thing. He tried kissing me once and I swear it was more saliva than anything.”
“That’s gross, he looked like a bad kisser,” I said, shivering. “Gracie said he had a huge crush on me and I had gotten bad vibes from him, so I said the first thing that came to mind.”
Sam shook his head. “Are you saying we pined for each other for years because I heard you say something that was not true?”
“Yeah, I guess so,” I chuckled.
“Why didn’t you ever say anything?” He kissed my forehead.
“I convince myself if you had feelings for me, you would have said something,” I murmured. “You were always a go-getter and if you wanted me, you would have told me.”
Sam sighed. “You’re right, I was going to ask you out until I overheard that conversation. I was confused for months because I thought you were flirting with me.”
“I was. It was so disappointing when you took Shelby to homecoming instead of asking me.” I pursed my lips, remembering how crushed I was to see her on his arm.
“She hounded me for weeks until I said yes,” he said solemnly, pushing us to the bed so I could lay down. “I was about to ask you when she asked me, and I said yes because I didn't want to embarrass myself. I think a rejection from you would have crushed me.”
He got into bed along with me, pulling me closer. How many times had I dreamt of us doing this? I nuzzled my face against his bare chest, taking a deep breath of him.
