Page 133 of What You Wish For

“Yeah. I saw you banging on that broken locker, and I thought, ‘Oh, shit. That girl is going to ruin my life.’”

I pulled him closer. “The first words you thought when you saw me were, ‘Oh, shit’?”

“Pretty much.”

“What do you think when you see me now?”

“The exact same thing.”

I gave him a little smile.

“Don’t ever fucking do that again, okay?” he said.

“I won’t. I swear.”

“You scared the hell out of me.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I feel things, okay? You have to believe me.”

“Okay.”

“I feel everything.”

“I believe you.”

And I had one last thought before he kissed me again. The worldkeeps hanging on to this idea that love is for the gullible. But nothing could be more wrong. Love is only for the brave.

After that, we kissed our way back to my place.

I’m not even entirely sure how we got back. But there was kissing involved.

Kissing as we walked.

Kissing at crosswalks as we waited for the light to turn.

Kissing pressed up against the sides of buildings before remembering to keep going.

Kissing back in my apartment, after we worked the lock open with the key, still kissing, and stumbled in. Kissing as we fell back onto my bed and tried to peel off each other’s sticky, salty, seawatery clothes.

Good kissing. Life-changing kissing. Kissing so intense, my whole body tingled.

Kissing so intense, I saw flashes of light.

Kissing so intense, I could smell honeysuckle and roses.

And that’s when I realized: It wasn’t just the kissing.

I was having an aura.

twenty-four

Yep. I was about to have a seizure.

For a minute, I wondered if maybe I’d just swallowed too much seawater earlier when I’d almost drowned. But that wasn’t it. You get pretty good at knowing.

Perfect timing.

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