Page 55 of The Night We Met

“You know-” I start to say but I’m cut off by Liam crushing his lips to mine.

Shock overtakes my body because it feels like deja vu. Suddenly that shock turns into recognition, and I’m kissing Liam back. Our tongues move together as I put my hand on the back of his neck to pull him closer to me and at the same time he grips my hips and pulls me into him

I roll my head to the side to get some much-needed air into my lungs, “Liam, I need to talk to you. In private.”

He kisses me one more time and then takes my hand to pull me upstairs to his room.

Once in his room, I open my mouth to speak but Liam puts his finger over my mouth silencing me, “Kamryn, let me go first. Okay?” He starts and I nod my head, “You were my very first best friend. In Ms. David’s second grade class. I remember it like it was yesterday. I walked in so scared because I was the new kid in class and had no idea where to sit. But this short, curly-haired little girl waved me over to sit next to her. I did and the rest is history. I had my first kiss with you when we were twelve. We played spin the bottle, hormones were starting to change the way we boys saw you girls. Of course we thought we were too cool to play that juvenile game. But we did. And I thank my lucky stars that I played and that the bottle landed on me. I didn’t show it, but I was nervous Kam. Not only were you my first kiss, but you were my first crush,” He confesses to me.

I look at him with a thick throat and unshed tears that he remembers stuff like that. It’s been almost ten years since that game and so much has changed. Yet the bond that formed when we were seven has stood the test of time. No, we weren’t always the best of friends. But the mutual love we had for one another beat out all of those odds.

He cups my cheek gently. “That first day of college, when you kissed me to prove Allie wrong, I thought that would be the turning point for us. But I was wrong. I thought when we started our just sex arrangement that would be the moment we became an ‘us’. Then I got scared of my feelings for you, so I ran. I stood by on the sidelines and watched you and Mason fall harder than ever for each other. To see my best friend happy was all I wanted. But itwasn’t with me. Watching from the sidelines was hard. And I don’t want to do that again.” His eyes roam over my face. Almost as if he’s finally seeing me in a new light.

“If I’m being honest…you scare the crap out of me. Knowing you want a forever kind of love scares me because I’ve never had that. Taking the next step with you scares me. That summer, I knew how vulnerable you still were. If I were a stronger man, I should’ve been the one to stop it. I had the clearest head out of the two of us. But I saw that moment as my ‘finally’ and I jumped at it. From the time we were little you talked about finding your Prince Charming. I laughed it off because that’s what little shits like me did. As I got older and things changed, I thoughtmaybe. I thought, ‘I want to be that guy for you’. I don’t want to be scared anymore. I definitely don’t want to lose you again. Because this isyouI’m talking to Kam. When I think about my future, I seeyou. When I picture the future I have planned, I seeyou. Kamryn, I’ve loved you since I was twelve even when I didn’t know what love was. You’ve seen me go through every awkward phase that no one other than their mom should see. I want to be the guy that you come home to and complain about a bad manufacturer. I want to be your sounding board when you’re struggling through your sketches. I want to be the one that makes your dreams come true, if you’ll let me.”

He’s saying all the things that I need to hear. “But is it that simple?”

“It can be.”

“We already went down that road once Liam. What makes you think that this can work?” I ask him with complete trepidation. Putting myself back out there after just vowing to myself to swear off men for the year…I mean who does that?

“Because I know you like the back of my hand. I know that you hate sushi. You love the color black. Your favorite season is winter, but you’ll say it’s summer just to please people. You have an amazing voice. You put me in my place and have since we were kids. You dream of having what your parents have. I could go on and on.”

My heart and my head are at war. “But is that what you want too? Am I what you want? Is marriage and kids what you want? Part of the reason I shied from ever taking the next step with you was because I had seen the types of girls you went for. And they were not me. In all of the years we’ve been friends I never heard you mention wanting a family.”

“The only reason I went after those other girls is because I never thought we’d get to this place. But now that we’re here, I can’t imagine anywhere else I’d rather be. You’re the only one I can imagine having a family with.”

I say nothing. What can I possibly say that’ll make this a smooth transition?

“I know you’re still raw from what happened. With me and with him. I want to do what I can to help you. I want the fictitious future we talked about freshman year to become real. I want the dreams we dream together to become real. I want us by each other’s side when we get big news. I want to look up in the stands at my games and see you cheering your head off. I want you to look out in the crowd at your fashion shows and see me cheering with your family. Kamryn, we’re not who we were three years ago. But we can be better.” he says.

What he’s saying makes sense. Taking our friendship to the next level is the logical thing. But I’m still fighting myself with whether or not to finally give in.

I clasp my hands behind his neck before I start. “I’m stilliffy about relationships. Being in one again terrifies me. I went in headfirst with the last one and look at how that ended up. I’m not comparing you two, but you’re both athletes. But being pushed aside again for a sport would literally take me out of the game. I know how dedicated to the game that you are. What I don’t want is if I say yes to giving us a chance, that’d I’d be pushed away because you’re being pressured to focus on the game. I need a promise that whatever happens with baseball, that that would never happen. That our relationship can and will go to something permanent.” I say and release a winded breath. “I have plans and dreams that I always pictured someone by my side celebrating those with, and I them. I have this picture in my mind that is so clear of that. And I’d hate for that picture to become distorted.”

“What are you saying Kamryn?” Liam asks as he pulls me into him so we’re flush together. Not an inch of space can fit between us.

“That sometimes the people in the pictures change. I’m saying that if these aren’t just words to get in my pants, then I’m yours.”

He smiles. “Promise. Baby girl, I’m all in.”

“Good,” And I crush my mouth to his.

It takes two seconds for Liam to react. Then he’s kissing me back and lifting me in his arms. My legs wrap around his waist as he walks us back to his bed.

It feels like summer all over again, but much different. I’m not as broken and Liam isn’t just comforting me. We get to have a complete do-over for our first time together. It’s not under the pretense of a dare. We’re obliterating the whole friend zone category between us.

Carefully, so as not to crush me under his weight, Liam gently lowers us to the bed. His body covers mine as ourhands explore one another. Taking the time to rediscover places on each other's bodies that make our breaths quicken and arch into the other’s touch.

My hands slip under his shirt, feeling the warmth of his torso. I trace the ridges of his taut stomach and move up to place my hand over his racing heart. Like mine, it feels as if it’s going to jump out of his chest.

Liam pulls back on his knees and slowly pulls the hem of my shirt up my body and once it’s off he throws it across the room like it offended him.

“Yours too,” I instruct as I pull at the hem of his shirt, “Off.”

He gives me that cocky smirk I’ve seen him give so many opponents as they approach home plate for their at-bat. But this one is different. It turns my insides more molten than anything. It turns my wanting him into needing him.

When he goes to pull his shirt off I move in on his belt and jeans. I make quick work of unbuckling and unbuttoning, but he has to roll off me completely to take his pants off. When his pants are off, I take advantage and move to straddle him. Kissing down his chest, letting my hardened nipples graze his skin.

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