Page 66 of The Fate Of Us

“Sure,”I muttered, kicking my feet and letting the water splash some feeling backinto my body.

He allowed himself to back away from my gaze, only for a second, like he was hypinghimself up in a way I couldn’t see, not when his face didn’t give anything away about what was about to leave his lips.

“I think I've…"His eyes fell to the waves, as though he were counting the bubbles that had simmered to the surface, anything to distract him from how nervous he's become."Addy I've…"Something must have been wrong. Nate never stumbled over his words with me. He said I made him confident, like he didn't know what it was to be anxious.Panic began to bubble in my stomach, the endless possibilities of what was making him gnaw on his bottom lip piling up in my brain.

His eyes finally landed on me, holding my stare as several shaky breaths left his mouth."Okay, I… I need to tell you—"

"Nate, what' wrong—"

"I think I've fallen in love with you.”

In that moment, I suddenly knew what he meant when he said it felt like his heart wasabout to beat out of his chest.

“No, actually, I think, in some ways, I’ve always loved you.”He whispered, and likemy heart thought he was talking to it, it's beats slowed.“I don’t know why I waited until now to tell you, but, it just felt right.”

He ditched my gaze for a second, exploring his surroundings with his eyes. I did thesame, taking in the pearly white bubbles that had been left behind by the waves, the eroded panels of the pier that creaked in the gentle breeze, and the way the sun kissed us like we were the only people it had to shine on today.

I felt the power of his stare back on me, burning me more than the sun.“I just thoughtyou should know.”A layer of pain coated his voice, one that I wanted to claw at, making sure it never graced his words again.

“Are you telling me this for some elaborate plan, so it makes it easier for you to askme to prom?”I asked with a laugh, not knowing where to look or what to do with my hands, scared of doing anything that would make my matching feelings for him blush across my face in the most embarrassing way, before something tugged at the corner of his mouth.

“I’m telling you because I don’t think I can keep it to myself any longer.”My eyessnapped to his.“I’m telling you because I think I’ve loved you from the moment I met you, and keeping that part of me hidden is too painful to hide anymore.”

I shook my head slightly.“Nate,”

“I’m telling you, Addy, because not telling you has been killing me. But I was scaredI misread everything, that we were just friends, and I didn’t want to say anything that would make you leave—”

I lunged for him, his mouth, claiming his cheek with my hand and kissing him like I’dwanted to for a while. There was no hesitation. None from me. And surprisingly, none from Nate either. Instead, he dropped my hand and held my face like I was holding his, like he wanted to protect me in the same way he told me I’d protected him. His heart. His mind.

Our feet tangled in the water, the ripples merging in the space between us, as ourbodies gave in to that pull that had tethered us together for years. We lessened the pressure on that invisible string, allowing our hearts to mould like they’d always meant to, as our lips caressed each other, so brutally slow that I thought I’d pull away to ask if we could do this all day.

But I stayed put, basking in the way his hands had fallen from my face and were nowgripping my bare waist, his thumbs just above the lines of my bikini.

I don’t think I’d felt Nate more relaxed than he was now, never as confident, either. Iused the grip I had on him to edge us closer, my neck tilting to the shades of blue that draped over us, deepening what I already knew would be the kiss I’d think back to on a sad day. The rainy days. The days when I’d wish he was next to me.

After a few seconds, I felt him start to pull away, his eyes not leaving mine for asecond. For a moment, I recognised the worry that glided across them, the ghost of anxiety that hovered over them. I watched his mouth part, knowing the stream of words that was about to fall out of them.“Addy, I—”

“I love you, too.”

Peaceful. That was how he looked, as each word slipped into his mind, the easyrealisation that I loved the boy who’d been my safe space and had taught me to laugh away the tears, too, clouding his face.

I knew it. Had known it. Perhaps it was the growing up I had to do before I admittedit, making sure I wasn’t confusing the feeling for something platonic that I wanted to paint a shade of love.

But I wasn’t. Somehow, I think I’d always known his name was etched on my heart inthe right way, the way all true loves are.

Chapter twenty

Adaline

Idecidedtogoto the premiere, in the end. It seemed like the more productive option,anyway.

The alternative would be sitting at home and writing, and while that sounds like theideal night in, I had been wedged between two stubborn pieces of writer’s block for days.

The words weren’t coming to me like they usually would. Most days I open my laptop, and the dam would be lifted on the steady stream of words as they trickled from my fingers and into the other world I was crafting.

But for some reason, that river had dried up—a continuous drought with no sign ofliterary rainfall.

So a night walking along a bright red carpet, trying not to be blinded by the sporadiccamera flashes, and painting on a smile would have to do.

---