Yeah. My best friend was stunning. And I was in serious trouble.
“I’m good,” I muttered. Theo smiled in relief and leaned back on his hands, looking out over the small clearing of land that bled into the treeline.
“Dude, can you believe it? First year of high school down, only three to go.”
“Yeah. It’s kind of crazy.”
“For sure,” he smirked, but it faded fast. “I saw McKenna give you her number before we left school yesterday. What did she want?”
“Oh, uh, just wanted me to text her to hang out this summer.”
“Hmm. Cool,” Theo said in a clipped tone. There was something off about the way he said it and it made me worried that I upset him.
“I don’t want to though,” I rushed to explain. “Hang out with her, I mean.”
His lips twitched a bit, but his eyebrows were still scrunched together. “For real? You don’t like her or something?”
I shook my head because I couldn’t force myself to tell him why. Not yet. He seemed to relax then and I realized it was now or never.
“I-I learned something f-for you. To play. I-if that’s okay,” I stammered. Ugh, I was such an idiot.
“Why are you nervous, weirdo? You know I love anything you play for me,” he beamed, his smile setting off flutters in my chest. I breathed out anxiously before settling my guitar on my lap. Here went nothing.
I started playing, ignoring how Theo’s body stiffened in my periphery. He’d listened to the Keane song so many times that I was scared he’d get sick of it before I could learn it for him. Last weekend, when we were sleeping out here in Neverland and it was playing softly on his camping speaker, he told me what this song meant to him and I knew. I knew it would be how I finally told him.
“I love this song so much. Whoever my Person is, this will be our song. I want it to belong to us.”
My voice was soft, but steady as I lost myself in the melody. Every chord strummed was a confession about how I felt, about what he truly meant to me. Each note was a commitment to him. I was claiming this for us.
This was my love note.
I wasn’t sure when I’d closed my eyes, but I slowly opened them as the last note faded. Theo was silent and still. I wasn’t brave enough to look at him. All my courage was gone, poured into the music.
He grabbed my hand off my guitar, squeezing it and running his thumb over my skin until I finally turned to him. We stared at each other and I was scared to breathe.
I wasn’t prepared for it when he grabbed my face and brought me close to him. Close enough to feel the warm puffs of his breath on my lips. I wanted him to kiss me so badly. I’d wanted it for over a year. I had avoided every girl who ever showed interest in me this year because I never wanted them. Only him. It’s always been him.
“Dawson?”
“Yeah?”
“I love you.”
Then his lips were on mine. Soft, but intense. Shy, but confident. It was everything and nothing like I imagined it would be. Theo was kissing me and my heart felt like it was going to explode right out of my chest. He pulled back and I couldn’t hold it in anymore.
“I love you too.”
And then he kissed me again.
Chapter 14
Dawson
Ilet out another frustrated growl as my phone vibrated for the twentieth time in the last minute, but I couldn’t freaking find it. I was tossing pillows off the couch and shaking out blankets, trying to follow the incessant buzzing like a homing beacon.
“Hey buttface. Catch!”
I turned a second too late and my phone slammed right into my sternum. “What the hell, Dani?” I groused, rubbing at the area.
