Page 174 of All at Once

“What?” I say, more puzzled than the first time.

She points over my shoulder as I turn around, not even considering to think the unimaginable.

Instead, my heart just jumps out of my chest.

It’s only been three weeks since I saw Luca, I remind myself. Three weekstoolong.

My hands start to shake. My palms feel sweaty. The sound of my heartbeat most likely resembles that of fireworks. And most of all, the butterflies immediately reenter my veins as I get up from my seat and push myself toward him, still not believing my eyes.

With every foot I walk closer to him, I blink a few times to make sure he’s really here.No, he really is.

He looks so good. With the blue in his eyes shining just as bright in the California sunshine.

Jumping into Luca’s arms like I haven’t seen him in years, I ask, “What are you doing here?” The shock in my voice cannot be contained.

Too focused on my unexpected adrenaline rush, I now clock his softly flushed cheeks, freshly cut hair, and a smile that’s timid but also filled with longing. His lashes almost flutter when he reaches for his jean pocket. “I forgot to give you this,” he replies before taking out a bracelet.

When his incomparable touch reaches my palm, a ripple of shivers dances over my skin along with the sound of his charismatic voice in person again.

“You flew all the way here just to give me a friendship bracelet?” I tease.

Smirking down at the string of lemon drop yellow beads now in my grip, his lips curve to the side as he requests, “Read what it says.”

I read out loud, almost gasping, “‘All at once’—”

“—‘you stole my heart,’” he completes. “I’d like to have it back, actually.” I still can’t say anything, as he continues, “It was originally supposed to say ‘you're my Invisible String,’ but then I thought, maybe we maxed out on the Taylor references for the month.”

My composure finally returns just to add, “Never.”

Reminded of the night when Luca first played Taylor’s “Invisible String” for me on the beach, I feel myself start to get choked up, realizing how intertwined our lives have been all this time.

“I missed you,” he confesses, while tucking a strand of my hair behind my ear. I lean into his touch, almost trembling at how much I’ve missed it. His eyes fix on mine. “And I wanted you to know that Imeantwhat I said. I want to make this work.”

Still too shocked to process any of this, I ironically remember one of the first things that Luca said to me, now taking the chance to tease him back at how full circle this all feels.

“Wait, let me see if I understand…,” I say with my best, cockiest voice. “You traveled toanother countryonanother continentfor someone youjustrecently met?”

He bites down on his bottom lip even though his smile is practically beaming through his cheeks. “Fuck. You’ve reallyrubbed off on me, haven’t you?” I nudge him gently as he tilts his head a bit smugly. “Yeah, I guess I did. And honestly?I’d do it againif that meant I could see you.”

“Oh you’re good.” I shake my head, while he scoffs. As the magnitude of his gesture sinks in, my arms wrap around his neck, my heart fluttering at the feeling of his warm skin beneath my cold fingers, counting the seconds until our lips meet again. “I can’t believe you came here. And if I didn’t make it clear yet, I’m so in love with you.”

“God, I love hearing you say that.” Luca smirks as he leans in temptingly closer. “And I guess I feel the same way since I’m here…”

Both grinning and pulling the other in, he teases my mouth with his as the vibration from our smiles gently parts our lips open. When his lips slightly tug down on my bottom lip, mine immediately curve at the feeling I’ve dreamed about on a constant loop the past few weeks. The one that nodaydream I’ve had before could ever,everlive up to.

I guess there really can be a love story waiting for you the way you’ve been waiting for it, except even better than you could have imagined.

It’s then when it hits me.

That Luca didn’t owe it to me to come here. But hestilldid it.

Even in my wildest fantasies, I could have never imagined this: finally having my first kiss, a boyfriend, and still to my surprise doing plentymorethan holding hands with a guy.

In a way, it all comes down to the fear of change.

I used to blame fear on pretty much anything. It was an easy excuse to make. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a perfectly valid reaction to things, and I will be the first to admit that I still have plenty of it. But in retrospect, I used my fear quite a few times to hide behindand frankly, it made me complacent. I wish I had faced them sooner even though I have been working on them for years.

Even more so, I’m convinced now that the best is yet to come no matter how much you fear you might have missed out on.

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