The air is cool for a September night in Texas, but my entire body is warm and alive with excitement. I’ve snuck out of the house many nights before to meet Noel on this dock for a late night swim, but this is different. Things have certainly changed quite a bit over the last week.
Somehow over the summer we’ve gone from best friends to more. We’ve never really discussed this new territory of hand-holding and hugging that we’ve worked our way into, or what it means for us exactly. Maybe the subject will come up tonight.
People at school aren’t surprised, I guess. Everyone knows Noel and I are close, so our new bouts of PDA don’t raise too many eyebrows.
That doesn’t mean we’re ready to make our parents aware that our long-time friendship has blossomed into more though. They’d never let us be along together again.
I tiptoe down the hill to the dock behind my house and allow my eyes to adjust in the moonlight. At the end of the dock, Noel leans against the wood railing with his arms crossed against his chest, waiting for me. I’m not sure what tonight will hold for us, I just know I can’t wait to see what unfolds.
A wide grin stretches across his face the moment our eyes meet. The features on his face are well defined like the new physique he acquired over the summer. His blue eyes shimmer with excitement the moment my feet hit the wood on the dock and my breath catches. Every time I see him now it’s like my heart skips a beat.
I bite my lip and shove my hair behind my ear as Noel reaches his hand out to me. I slide mine into it without hesitation and my stomach flips.
He pulls me into his side. “I wasn’t sure if you were coming.”
I tilt my head. “Of course I was. Have I ever stood you up on this dock before?”
He swallows hard and pinches a lock of my long, brown hair before twirling it around his finger. “No, but things are a little different now, aren’t they?”
I nod and my breathing picks up a notch. “About that … what are we doing?”
Noel’s hand trembles a little as he releases my hair and touches my cheek with his fingertips. “I think it’s pretty clear.”
I know exactly what he’s getting at, but I want to hear him say it. “You think so?”
He stands a little straighter and cups my face in his hands while staring into my eyes. “We’re falling in love and finally giving into what fate has planned for us.”
My heart thuds against my ribs. “Are you saying you love me?”
The grin on his face lights up my entire world. “You know I do. I think I’ve loved you since we were five. I’m just the idiot who didn’t realize how much in love I was until this summer when I found myself getting jealous over any guy I caught looking at you. The feeling that you’re meant to be mine won’t leave me, and I don’t know what to do about it, or if you even feel the same way.”
“Is that why you stayed away all summer?” I ask.
“Yeah. I was hoping it would go away and we could stay friends, but all that went to hell that first day of school when I saw you and you needed help. I knew then I could never be just your friend. I’m always going to want more with you. I feel like you’re my forever or something.”
Emotions from within me take over and tears well in my eyes. “It might’ve taken me a little longer to come to the same conclusion, but I feel exactly the same way.”
Noel’s thumbs trace over my cheeks. “I love you, Lane.”
I smile as a tear falls freely from my eye. “I love you too.”
He leans in and presses his lips to mine. My eyes drift shut and I fall into his kiss—fall into him. This is everything I never knew I always wanted. His lips part and mine move in sync with his until he finally slips his tongue in my mouth. This isn’t my first kiss, but it is the first time I’ve ever felt something kissing a boy. It’s like tasting my future and I can picture my entire life in my mind—a life with Noel.
With more skill than I knew we both possessed, we slide down to the floor of the dock without breaking our kiss. I grip handfuls of his shirt and he teases the skin on my back just under the hem of my blouse. This is moving entirely too fast, but I can’t find a logical reason in my brain to stop the madness. Being so close to Noel feels incredible and I don’t want it to end.
Noel lies back, pulling me on top of him, allowing me to feel the bulge in his jeans against my thigh.
I’m scared as hell, but the way his lips move against the soft skin on my neck makes it a little less intimidating. “We don’t have to go any further than you’re ready for, Lane,” he says, his breath hot and tempting on my flesh.
I press a feather-light kiss on his cheek. “I love you and I’m ready. We aren’t strangers, and I can’t think of one other person I would rather experience all my firsts with.”
Noel tucks my hair behind my ear. “I want to be your only.”
There’s no fighting against that. That kind of magical romance is something all girls dream about. I’m just lucky I’ve found my prince so soon.
“I want you to be my forever,” I tell him before he crushes his mouth to mine and we head into our forever.