Page 104 of Some Things Never Change

I looked over the curves of his handwriting, which was surprisingly in scribbles and even messy. He has always had neat handwriting, but I could sense his nervousness in the unkempt way he wrote his confession, even if it was years ago. This was clearly the first and only draft he had ever written with the many words he scratched out and omitted with his blue ballpoint pen.

I smiled. “You actually memorized all of this?”

He chuckled. “Yeah, but I chickened out each time I told myself I’d tell you.”

“Where would you have confessed? You mentioned you planned on confessing when we went to the movies alone on Saturdays, right?” I was curious.

“In the car, like this. The only time you and I were ever truly alone, shut away from the world, was in the car. It was as if it was only us and nothing else mattered. I’ve always wanted to confess to you after the movies, to be honest. I thought about getting you flowers and taking you out for a nice meal afterwards, but I was always too scared and nervous that I’d always chicken out. You were so clueless, too.

“I stole so many glances at you that I can still remember the way the pink lip gloss on your pretty lips twinkled in the sun.” His smile grew wider as he stared at my lips. “Then, I’d lie awake each night afterwards and wonder what flavor your lip gloss was. Cherry, strawberry, or bubble gum? This would happen whenever you and I were alone for movies on Saturdays. Again and again, like clockwork.”

My face immediately heated up. I never even knew the pink lip gloss I used to be obsessed with in high school was anything he would notice, let alone remember. “You remembered that?”

“Why wouldn’t I? You looked pretty with it on.” My cheeks burned, and he laughed. Andy's hand came up and traced the outline of my face, his fingers lingering on my lips. “So, what flavor was it? That lip gloss.”

“Guava.”

“Guava? There’s such a thing as guava-flavored lip gloss?” He looked shocked at how wrong he was.

I laughed. “Of course. If it’s a fruit, then there’s bound to be some artificial flavor of it in a lip gloss tube.”

“Seriously? I honestly thought it was maybe strawberry-flavored.” I watched Andy pull out the classic strawberry-flavored ChapStick from his pocket. “You were obsessed with this too, so I thought maybe the lip gloss you used was strawberry-flavored.”

I was shocked. As much as I was obsessed with pink lip gloss, I was also obsessed with the strawberry ChapStick. "I can't believe you remembered that, too."

"I remember everything about you. Every little detail." His voice was low and husky as he uncapped the lip balm and put it on.

Then he handed the lip balm tube to me. I accepted and put it on as well. The smell of it washed over me with waves of nostalgia and memories from high school. My mind lingered on the happy, even goofy, grin on a younger Andy’s lips whenever we saw each other between classes in the hallway. Just like the one he flashed across from me right now.

“You want to kiss me with this on our lips, don’t you?”

I handed the lip balm back to Andy and he capped it. He tossed it somewhere to the front seats and turned back to me.

“It’s what the teenagers in us deserve. Seventeen-year-old me has always wanted to kiss this fake strawberry flavor off your sixteen-year-old lips that summer, you know?”

I placed my hands over his chest as I leaned into him. I could feel his heart hammer strongly underneath my palm. Such a shy, big boy.

“Why are you still so shy? We’re already together!”

Andy’s cheeks flushed again for the nth time tonight. “I can’t help it! You always know how to make me blush.”

“Are you still going to get this shy when we get married, too?” I leaned a little closer but kept a few centimeters in the space between us. I stared directly into his eyes.

His entire face, along with the tips of his ears, turned bright red like he always did when I got the best of him. I could practically read his mind like an open book. Marriage, he thought.

“Yes.”

His lips closed the space and breathlessly met mine. This time, the kiss was slow and deep as the artificial strawberry flavor melded against our tongues. I melted against him, feeling his arms wrap around me and pull me into his lap. His hands roamed over my body, igniting a fire within me as he often did these past two months. We pulled away, gasping for air and I stared up at him in wonder.

“Are you happy you could finally confess to your seventeen-year-old’s heart’s content?”

“Actually, I think the seven-year-old me is the happiest.”

“Why do you say that?”

With red and kiss-swollen lips, Andy flashed me his handsome, megawatt grin as his iridescent hazel green eyes twinkled. “Because you smell and taste like strawberries.”

Epilogue

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