Raine

00

August 06, 10:07 pm.

—
"I think I'd miss you even if we never met."
- The Wedding Date
—

The party is a disaster, which is entirely understandable because really, what high school party isn't?

Drunk people scatter the cramped floor, and I have to rise up onto my toes to see if I'm going the right way.

Where is he?

"Raine! Wait up!" Inwardly, I groan. What now?

I turn to the girl coming up behind me and plaster on my most genuine smile. "Hey Kristina." I greet, glancing behind her at the guys dancing, wondering if any of them could possibly be him.

"Hey," she smiles, her greenish eyes still lighting up as they always do, even in the dark room, "This is crazy, right? We're graduated, going off to college. It feels unreal."

If I hear someone say that one more time, I'm gonna freak. Yeah! We're graduated. Off to college. It's crazy. Unreal. I've thought about it enough to the point where I'm sick of hearing that other people think about it, too.

"Super crazy." I nod. She's saying something, but I lose focus from her words as my eyes scour the room for what feels like the tenth time in the past half hour.

He said he'd be here.

"So did you get into MIT? I mean, what am I saying? Of course you did."

I don't respond. My eyes have fallen on the person I've been looking for all night, and my breath catches in my throat.

Every time I see him, it's the same reaction. He looks perfect. Standing there, towering above everyone else, his white t-shirt hugging his body as he folds his arms across his chest, his eyes looking around the room. He easily finds me. He always does.

"I've gotta go." I mumble to Kristina, not paying any more attention to her. It's rude and I'll find a way to apologize about it later, but right now, I can't think of anything else but the man standing 20 feet away from me. 20 feet too far.

He smiles when he sees me making my way towards him, as I push through the impossible walls of the people I went to school with for years. He smiles, and my heart bursts, because it's a perfect smile. It's perfectly him.

I reach him, stumbling forward as the crowd of people surges outward. He grabs onto me with a smug look on his face that I've always hated, yet secretly adore.

"Hi." I smile up at him, not caring if I look completely ridiculous.

"Hi." He responds, his deep voice easily heard over the loud music.

I'm standing right in front of him, our chests almost touching, his hands on my waist, but it's not enough. I want to be closer.

As if he hears my thoughts, he slips his fingers around my belt loop and tugs me closer. Slowly, he lowers his head to mine. I dreamed about this moment all summer, but it's even better than I could have imagined. He presses his lips to mine, the warmth sending chills down my spine, across my arms, everywhere.

I can't get enough. I make an embarrassing whiney noise when he pulls away, and he chuckles. It's a sound I feel deep in my chest.

"I missed you." He whispers, tucking a stray hair behind my ear.

"I missed you more." I whisper back, pulling his face back down to mine instantly.

He stops me, though. "Eager, are we?"

"Shut up." I mumble, smashing my lips to his. I don't care if anyones watching, or if this is the kind of thing I'd make fun of other people for. In this moment, it's just the two of us.

Two months apart is in the top five list of the stupidest things I've experienced in my life, and I never want to do it again.

If Raine from one year ago would have heard my thoughts now, she'd have yelled at me.

She didn't realize that she was in for the craziest ride of her life.