| When We Were in Love | |H.S|

| 12 | It's You |

"So please don't break my heart,
Don't tear me apart,
I know how it starts,
Trust me, I've been broken before.
Don't break me again,
I am delicate,
Please don't break my heart."

"It's You," -Ali Gatie, 2019.

| Lucy |

Jared and I walked down the road hand in hand talking. We talked about everything we could talk about. The ocean, the uneven pavement, the weather, our ridiculous night where I somehow didn't remember anything after eleven with just five shots in my system. Jared somewhat filled in the blanks. After I got tired at the bar, we began to walk back but neither of us wanted to drive due to us being somewhat drunk. And although, he swore the walk wasn't far for him, this hill was tall enough to make it seem like forever. I could only imagine how hard it was for him to be tired, stumbling, and walking up this hill with all my weight. I know he told me to forget it, but every step closer to the car made me realize how far he went for me. So much for a first date.

"So, how bad did your feet hurt carrying me over this hill?" I questioned. He let out an amused laugh and shook his head.

"I had a few drinks. I felt fine," he said. I nodded my head and squinted my eyes.

"So what you're saying is you're feeling all that pain now?" I said. He looked at me with a smirk and a raised eyebrow.

"Are you calling me weak?" his accent suddenly became a bit more posh as he sounded offended. I laughed at his response and quickly shook my head to take it back.

"That's not what I said," I defended but he quickly retaliated.

"But you're implying it," he quickly shot back. I laughed at his reaction and accent that was getting more posh with each word.

"Not at all," I said now looking the opposite way. Jared then pulled me towards him with the hand he was holding and tried his best to make me pay attention to him.

"No, say it. Come on, don't be shy now,"  he spoke up while I continued to laugh while trying to avoid eye contact at all costs.

"No, look at me. Say it to my face Lily," he said still loudly but obviously joking yet with a serious face. He could totally be an actor. Before I knew it, he quickly swept me off my feet and began to walk up the hill with me in his arms.

"You like calling me weak? I'll show you with both of us sober I am not," He argued. He held me in his arms while he still had my small bag hanging from his arm. I laughed at his whole reaction to the whole conversation. I wiggled my best to try to get out of his grip, but he wasn't wrong, he definitely wasn't weak. As he carried me up the steep hill, we finally made it to the top somehow faster than when I was walking on the side of him. I hope this isn't my awakening that I'm a slow person.

Jared finally let me stand up and looked at me with a giant smirk. He seemed like he was impressed with himself but was waiting for me to give him the reaction I'm assuming he wanted.

"Okay you've proved me wrong," I laughed while still standing up straight.

"That'll show you not to doubt me anymore," he chuckled. We continued to stare into each other's eyes while the tide hit the sand on the beach that wasn't too far from us. Though it was a bit chilly, it felt so nice to be outside for the first time awhile for a good reason.

We continued to talk a bit as we walked down the rest of the hill and to his car which was in sight and not too far from us. We slightly jogged down with the weight of gravity pulling us to walk a bit faster. As we came closer and closer to his car, a few of the town's people came driving through pasting us by. It was a lot of the same guys that would normally try to talk to me since Harry and I broke up. They were all quite annoying which is why I wasn't too excited to see them driving by. They did this with almost every woman who was single on the island. You can tell they were all lonely and low lives.

As they drove on by us, their usual shouts were going on. From them yelling out their 'Ooh's' and  their whistles. It was more annoying and actually embarrassing today since I was with someone. Not only someone, but Jared.

I quickly put my head down and tried to avoid eye contact. As they came closer, their shouting started to fade away as they all drove by one by one. I'm assuming they didn't say anything since I was with another man. Though they all the guts to catcall and whistle at me, they could never do so when another man was present. As all their cars disappeared from our view, we were coming closer to Jared's car.

"What were those guys' deal?" Jared questioned. I rolled my eyes and shook my head as we continued to walk down the rest of the hill.

We finally made it to his car without another word about the experience we just had. As I walked to the passenger side, Jared went to the drivers side. As we both made it to our sides of the car, I waited for him to open up his doors on his side but instead, he leaned against the hood of the car onto his arms. He stared at me with a slight grin.

"What?" I asked. Jared laughed a bit while he stared at me. He shook his head and I kind of figured he wasn't gonna tell me or open the doors.

"Jared it's cold," I whined. He quickly raised an eyebrow with a smirk on his face.

"Oh it's cold huh?" He said as he maintained eye contact as he began to walk around the front of the car to my side. He threw my bag onto the hood of his car as he continued to keep eye contact with me. I began to laugh as I already knew what he was planning on doing.

"Jared, please-"

"No, no. You said you're cold. I gotta warm you up. It's only the right to do so as a gentleman," his British accent said as he now wrapped his arms around my waist.

"Jared, open the door," I laughed.

"I gotta warn you up," he argued. His legs were spread out a bit to keep himself balanced in front of me while lowering his height a bit as I now leaned against his car behind me. And with me being cold, I could only do what would keep me warm at that moment. I crossed my arms and leaned my head onto his chest, now breathing in warm air and covering my bare arms from the wind.

"You are warm," I quietly said. I felt his chest raise and drop a few times due to his chuckling.

"Yeah I know," he mumbled. I smiled at his words and couldn't help but feel safe. I haven't felt this safe in a long time. It felt different. Scary, even. But I knew I had to let go of my comfort zone eventually.

I pulled away from his chest and looked up at him with nothing but hope in my eyes. He looked down at me and gave me a soft but serious look.

"You okay?" He questioned. Without a word, both of my hands went to the back of his head. One in his hair and the other pulled him down by his neck and onto my lips. His arms loosened and it was now just his hands on my waist, which was quite low. As our lips met, it felt unimaginable. Something I was missing and something that was gonna happen real soon and I knew was gonna be great.

As we continued to kiss, I heard the ocean waves hitting the sand, a single car driving by, the birds squealing from all different directions, and the wind blowing so loudly, I could barely even think. But despite all the chaos, his kiss was stronger than all of that. It felt so right and I couldn't explain it.

Finally, we both pulled away. I kept my eyes closed, but even so, I felt his lips lingering near mine. With my eyes shut, as we pulled away, I felt him placing kisses on my lower lip before the kiss was fully broken. Finally, my eyes fluttered open at the same time his did and we stared into each other's eyes once more.

"I... uh.." Jared began but couldn't finish. I giggled at his sheepish reaction but dismissed it as I pulled him in for another kiss. The same feeling was there. Sparks, butterflies, passion. It was amazing. We pulled away once more and his reaction was almost identical.

"You and me are gonna have a lot of fun together, aren't we?" I questioned. A giant grin appeared on his face as he leaned in.

"Oh you have no idea," he said before he crashed his lips onto mine once more.

God, I hope this works out cause I don't know what I'm gonna do if it doesn't.