Sunkissed Serendipity

Chapter 45

Isla

After Julian wins me the flamingo, I'm giggling like a little child. It was funny how one small gesture could make me smile. It was also the way that he laughed at me and then moved away and strolled up to the stand. He played the game without saying a word to me, without even glancing at me. I thought he was just trying to win the game out of spite, but when it turned out to be for me—well, I was in a puddle from how warm my heart was right now.

We walk away from the game, and then Julian stops. Looking around, his eyes studying the carnival that went all out this year, he says, "I'm not sure if we should stay."

He looks back at me to find me pouting at that statement as I say, "What?" I step closer to him, tilting my head. "Why not?"

He looks at the expression on my face and then blows out a breath. I find it cute how he looks at me, and with that thought, I step away from him. He gives me a once-over before he says, "But I guess we can go and check out the other rides then."

"We definitely should!" I shout enthusiastically, and he smiles at me. I liked when his smile was directed at me. He leads us to another game, and as he does, with me walking beside him, I start to think about the soccer game the other day. The one where he had dropped me and then ended up on top of me. The one where I was sure that if we didn't kiss, I was going to come home with feelings too hard to take away. My heart was racing with the way his blue eyes took in my face, flicking to my lips. I was sure that he was going to kiss me. I mean, I had been waiting for it.

I didn't mean for the both of us to get so close, but after I accidentally met my hips with his, I knew I had crossed the line. But even then, I didn't regret it, not with the way his breath hitched and he looked down at me. I haven't had anyone look at me like that in my life, and it was thrilling. I had felt good despite the summer heat. I had felt the butterflies in my stomach waiting to be set free. The anticipation of the kiss was making me lightheaded; I wanted it to happen.

But the stupid ball fell on top of Julian, and in return, he fell on top of me. His hard body met mine at an abrupt pace, and the moment was broken. That was the moment we were supposed to seize, no matter how much it would change things. After Julian rolled off me, my heart sank when I found that he hadn't once glanced at me. He had only focused on his friends, and with my heart in my throat, I ignored his presence as well.

One moment could break our friendship—the nice thing we have as friends—and I didn't know what to do with that. It was a scary place to be. One that made me question all of my steps.

Julian stops so abruptly that I don't realize it when I crash into his back. My face meets the top of his shoulder blade, and I try not to groan at how I almost busted my lip. He stops, takes a step forward, and spins around to look at me. I give him a shake of my hand and say, "It's fine."

He nods and then scopes out the area. "Okay, so which ride do you want to go on?"

There were so many options, seeing as this was the first night of the carnival and not many people had come in yet. Usually the second weekend was the most filled, but the first one? Everything was so fresh and mostly empty, so we could be free to choose any rides without waiting in line at all.

So, with a smile, I point out the bumper cars, and Julian agrees with a nod. The both of us head over to it, and with little to no people there, we take our seats and start a battle of who is going to beat who starts. I'm a laughter machine once the game starts; it was thrilling how competitive the both of us were. Julian doesn't slow down or take things easy with me, so I'm being pushed around the entire game floor. But I'm not the type of person to give up, so with a lot of will, I start to do better.