Sunkissed Serendipity

Chapter 46

Julian

Isla Nova just kissed me.

While I had gotten the sudden thought that my friends had set me up on this outing with Isla, she had other motives. While I was thinking about how my friends could do this to me, knowing how many times I stressed the friendship I had with Isla, she said that we weren't friends.

It scared me—it did. If she said that we weren't friends, did it mean everything that I thought it did? Did it mean that I was right—our hanging out was just based on how she has to babysit my brother and how convenient it was that she also saw me? Did it mean that she had an epiphany of thinking that she didn't want to hang out with me anymore?

That's where my mind was headed when she uttered those words. Never had I thought that she would say something entirely different. Never had I thought that she would say it with such bravery as well.

Bravery I wish I could reciprocate, as her lips are pressed to mine in a soft manner. I close my eyes despite myself, but I cannot get myself to kiss her back. Kiss her back! I've been meaning to for the last few weeks, and yet here I was, unable to do it.

After a second, she pulls away, but not too far. Her lips just hover over mine as she places a hand on my chest and looks into my eyes. "I've kissed you three times now, Julian. Now would be a good time to actually kiss me back."

I feel terrible as soon as those words come out of her mouth. The thing was, I didn't know how to respond. I didn't know what to say about the fact that when she kissed me, it was like my entire world had been righted. It's been awkward between us at times, and the kiss—it felt like the kiss fixed everything. I couldn't reply back to her, though, because I was having a hard time thinking. I was thinking about how her lips were so soft and light against my own. About how, the butterflies in my stomach rose all the way up and were kicking at my ribs in excitement. About how everything seemed to be still at that moment.

I open my mouth to say something—anything that will save this moment. I don't get to say anything, though, as the ride jerks back to moving and Isla pushes her head back, shouting in glee. She swipes a hand over my shoulder, moving it down to grab my own. I'm shocked to see that she isn't awkward about the fact that I haven't kissed her yet. I'm shocked that she is smiling hard at the thrill of the ride and how she keeps a hold of my hand.

Her excitement is evident even after the ride is over, and I take my hand away from hers. As we get off the ride, it's like everything in the world stops as I look over at her. I wonder what was going through her mind at the fact that I could not say anything. Say something. I plead in my mind, but nothing comes out of my mouth. I don't know what to say.

"That was fun, yeah?" Isla asks me, moving closer to me. I barely nod before I take her hand and lead her to an empty spot at the carnival. We make it to the back of all the games, and I stop, letting go of her hand. She still has a smile on her face, something I cannot understand.

"Isla," I finally manage to say, and she looks up at me, interested in what I have to say. Her face doesn't waver from the smile from earlier, though; it's still plastered on her face. The thing was, it looked genuine. I take a deep breath and say, "You kissed me."

"I did," she confirms with a nod, her eyes softening as she looks up at me. She had the perfect doe eyes that made my gut clench at the fact that I didn't kiss back.

I scratch my wrist, trying to find my words as I say, "You said we weren't friends."

"We aren't," she says, and when I only stare at her blankly, she elaborates. "Julian, we have been skirting around about this for the longest time. We have moments where we want to kiss, and well, I don't want to skirt around it. I don't want to hold us back."