Page 92 of Poetry of Flowers

I always knew it would be you.

ChapterTwenty-Nine

MATILDA

Most people believe in love at first sight, but sometimes it takes years of knowing a person, and you slowly fall for them without noticing.

I was that person.

Kayden had been in my life since forever, and I loved him as my best friend ever since. Since the age of seven, in my life, my thoughts have been blinded by sadness and grief. The butterflies I felt were anxiety, in my eyes, the jealousy when I saw Kayden with another girl was the fear of losing him.

You were heads over heels, Tillie.

I knew that the moment his lips first touched mine and asked myself why it took us so long?

Nothing mattered right now, no what ifs, no buts because I was laying in his arms and that was all I wanted.

We had fallen asleep in the same position we had cuddled into yesterday, and I couldn’t remember when I had last slept this well.

Caitlin had woken us up to tell us our friends were looking for us in the big hall. I was glad it was her who saw us clinging to each other and not my cousin. I knew Autumn, she would have made a big deal about finding us covered in my lipstick while I was lying on top of a half-naked Kayden.

If I thought about it this way, it was a big deal and I had no clue how it would be between us now.

“We should go and find them, I’m sure they will distribute wanted posters for us soon,” Kayden mumbled, still sleepy while he pulled his shirt over his head.

He was about to walk out the door when I grabbed his arm and stopped him.

Kayden laughed, “You want another kiss, my love?”

He pressed a light kiss to my lips, and I could feel both of our smiles.

“Yes, that and… it would be agood idea to get rid of all those red stains on us, right?” I told him, bending down to get the makeup wipes out of my bag. I took out a few wipes and rubbed my marks of Kayden’s cheek and jaw.

“I wouldn’t mind leaving them on, your lips suit me.” He got this playful smirk on his face while he eyed me.

“Don’t worry, we can refresh them tonight.”

“How about now?”

Before I could tell him to shut up and let me do my work, he sunk his tongue back into my mouth.

I kissed him back but chuckled, “Kayden!”

He pulled me against him, just looking down at me now.

“I have this constant fear of waking up and finding out that everything was just a dream,” he admitted.

“I can promise you that this is real, Kayden.”

Promising something I myself had doubts about being real was cruel, but nothing had ever felt more real for me than last night.

I did pay for it all with a terrible headache, though. Drinking alcohol had been a foolish idea, but I needed to find out for myself what was so magical about it that everyone loved it so much. I came to the conclusion that nothing about the effects of alcohol was magical. The only thing it did for me was taking my anxiety away. I would lie if I said I wasn’t thankful for it, I was because otherwise I didn’t know if the kiss would have happened yesterday.

But now I didn’t need any more alcohol in my life- I didn’twantany more alcohol in my life.

Kayden brushed my hair behind my ear and his eyes were dreamy looking down at me.

Those eyes.

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