The Fake Boyfriend [completed]

23: real first kiss

"I knew you before. We knew each other before."

She stands up from my bed and releases my hand. Our connection- our magnetic pull is lost. She stares at the picture. A young Diana and Miles laughing while they eat ice cream. It was the first day we met. I remember she'd fallen and her knee looked disgusting. Young Diana had the longest hair. She would braid it and wear it into pigtails. Papi took that picture.

"How long have you known for Miles?" She asks. For a second a flash of sadness crosses her face. I see it. It's so fast, I almost miss it.

"All this time. As I said, you're pretty hard to forget." I mention the same thing I had told her just a few weeks ago.

"You- you knew all this time?" She turns to look at me and I see tears forming in her eyes. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I remember falling in love with you the second I met you. Obviously, a ten-year-old doesn't know that, but looking back now? I was struck by lighting when I met you. I remember going home that first day of summer and talking to mami about you. I would wake up every day wanting to play with you and wanting to see you." She doesn't say anything. Diana is just standing looking at the picture.

I want to know what's running through her head. I want her to tell me everything. But all I can do is look at her. Look at her and try to figure out if she's looking at me with adoration or hate.

"You left. I never saw you again after you left. Not until high school." I sigh and lean against my bed's headboard. I feel the bed sink again next to me and I turn my head over to see Diana.

"That was the summer my dad left." I start. "He and mom started fighting so much and it was always about the stupidest thing. Papi paid the electricity bill a day late or mami complaining about how much she worked at the house taking care of us. Sometimes it was simply just about the movie we were going to watch. Papi got sick of it and asked for a divorce at the end of the summer. I was so young back then, but I remember everything. I tried to play with Alejandro and Clarissa so they wouldn't hear the screams. Tried to tell them everything was going to be okay. But a ten-year-old can only do so much."

"The divorce was so messy." I continue. "Dad left us with nothing. We lost the house and had to move. Mami was going crazy having to look for a job. She would cry so much." I start to feel tears in my eyes ut I blink them away quickly. "Fast forward a few months later, everything started to fall into place. I saw you in middle school and wanted to talk to you, but you had new friends and I was too worried about my siblings. They were eight and six when it happened Diana. My mom tried. She tried so fucking hard. And I was ten carrying the weight of a thirty-year-old father that had left."

I feel her head fall against my shoulder. I feel a tear slip out of my eye and go down my face leaving a trail of wetness and salt.

"I'm so sorry that happened." I look at her and silently plead for her to not mention anything of what I just told her. "I don't know how I didn't notice when you showed me that picture of you in freshman year at my party. How I didn't make the stupid connection with marc."

"You remember that?" I feel a smile on my lips.

"Totally. But of course, you're him. Everything felt so natural and safe with you. It was like we started right where we left off. You know, I'm kind of mad at you?" I look down at her and see her eyelashes go up and down as she blinks.

"Why?"

"For not telling me."

"I was scared," I say. "I don't know why, but I was." We fall silent. Our minds are running one hundred miles per hour. It felt like it was a dream. Being with Diana was a beautiful dream that once you wake up from you can never go back to. I've always been a touchy person. Being able to hold, feel someone's skin makes everything real. But with Diana, her soul touched me before I ever got to feel her skin.

I am completely in love with her. She's a dream. My favorite dream and I'll get to replay it as many times as I want because she is real.

"Diana?" I turn my face and meet hers.

"Yeah?" Her voice comes out as an almost whisper.

"I don't want to do this anymore. I'm done with this fake relationship."

"What? What do you mean?"

"You said when I was done with the fake dating I'd tell you. So I'm done."

"I don't-" I lean in and close the space between us. I feel her lips on mine, my lips on hers. My hand goes to her cheek and I stroke it gently. This is actually happening. Her hand finds my hair, pulling me closer to her. I once thought of Diana as a heart and the impression children get that hearts are the most beautiful thing.

Diana always will be my heart. She's powerful and strong and if you aren't careful she'll rip open the cage and you'll turn out like me. Completely in love with her.

"I don't want it to be fake." I pull back. We're both out of breath but I need to tell her how I feel. "I want the real deal with you Diana since the first time I saw you. I want a real first kiss and a real first date. But most important I want to be all your last. Your last first kiss. Last first date. I think I totally just took that from a book I read. You make me all sappy and romantic." She lets the words sink in as she kisses me. Our real first kiss.

"The sunset has allowed the night to come." She says. "I can't wait for you to be all my last." 

FINALLY! I actually thought that the kiss was never going to happen. This ended up being a much bigger slow burn than I intended it to be, so I apologize. 

How was it? 

Vote and comment if you enjoyed the kiss:)