He lowered his head towards me, a cocky grin spreading across his lips as he raked his eyes across my body before landing them back on mine.
I clicked my tongue in annoyance before averting my eyes, ignoring the blush that threatened to run across...
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CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE COLD NOVEMBER WINDS!
NOVEMBER CAME WITH A SHOWER OF COLD RAIN.
I remember it like it was yesterday; soccer practice ran late and Mara had decided to wait instead of leaving early due to her stubborn dedication to being my tutor. The rain came with the flash of thunder, next thing we knew, the field was being flooded with water and Coach Claridge was suspending practice for the next week.
I didn't hesitate to run away, feet immediately pulling me towards the halo of a girl sitting with her bag held over her head and mine slung over her shoulder. She was an Angel of a person—sunshine was reincarnated into her smile. That beautiful smile I thought was lost during the two weeks after the party.
It felt like she was stuck back in that closet. Time had frozen for her until it began to melt and she allowed herself to crawl out.
I jumped over the fence and grabbed her hand, ignoring the yelp she released as we began sprinting hand in hand until we were by the entrance and bounding down the steps. It had been different. That familiar annoyance and exasperation was gone and had been replaced by a heartstopping smile and flushed cheeks.
Realizing I liked Mara came easy. Trying to hide it was hard.
Every time she turned her head to scan me with her eyes, whenever she bit her lip and snarked some sarcastic joke, all I wanted to do was kiss her. She overwhelmed me. Like an unexpected storm, she threw me off course and now all I could think about was her.
About the way she bit her lip whenever she tried to hide her smile. About the way she ran her fingers through my hair whenever I collapsed onto her shoulder. About the way she smiled and laughed. And her hair—and her eyes.
I could barely keep a conversation going whenever she came into my vicinity, a fact Kenzo couldn't shut up about, especially after he'd taken liberty to be the group's news reporter on everything concerning Mara and I.
She'd look at me, her eyes posing a silent question and suddenly everything disappeared. When my fathers voice got too loud and his hand too heavy I'd turn away and go back to that moment as I held her body close to mine. When the pressure of being his son pressed against my throat and my brother was crying and my sister couldn't speak and the cameras were being shoved up my throat, I would think about Mara. Her hair that smelled like strawberries and the freckle over her lip. The way her mouth pouted whenever she was annoyed and the way her nose seemed to frown whenever she was disappointed or sad.
I'd play the piano and all I could think about was the soft breaths she would release into my neck. How warm her hands felt against my cold body as she stuffed her face into my back.
It was simply exhilarating.
Like that, time continued to pass. With me, hiding everything I felt for her, what I wanted to show her in the depths of my heart. But with every day that passed, every second her eyes drifted to my lips and I could feel my fingers itching to know the feel of her, my restraint slipped. It was impossible to stay by her side, to have her body lean into mine and not have my face press into the crook of her neck.
