Effortless

Thirty-six

We were already so close that I didn't have to lean much for our lips to connect. My eyes fluttered shut as I pressed my lips against his. I felt him stiffen at the suddenness of it, but that went away in less than a second. Javi relaxed into it; his lips moved against mine tenderly and delicately.

He cupped my chin and tilted my head up as his other hand slid to my lower back. The warm feeling of his hands on me made my head race and sent a shiver down my spine. My breathing was shallow and his lips were just as soft as I had imagined them to be. His lips moved against mine delicately yet so passionately.

The butterflies in my stomach and the heat rushing to my cheeks were more intense than they had ever been before. My whole body felt warm, fuzzy, and tingly. I forgot about everything that was happening before now because all I was focused on was Javi. I didn't want the moment to end and it did not seem like he did either.

But we had to breathe at some point. Javi pulled back from the kiss and when I opened my eyes he was already looking into mine. We were both panting, me a little more than him. He pushed a stray curl from out of my face as he looked at me with adoration.

Then his arms wrapped around me as he gently pulled me into a hug. I was taken by surprise as it wasn't what I was expecting him to do because I never knew what exactly was supposed to happen afterward. After a moment of me awkwardly standing in his embrace, I wrapped my arms around him too. I rested the side of my head on him and we held each other like letting go was a crime.

If I could have stayed pressed against Javier for the rest of my life, never having to deal with anyone else again, I would have. I would never go anywhere ever again if it meant that I got to stay with my arms wrapped around my rival forever.

We stayed in that position for longer than we probably should have but I did not want to move and it was obvious that Javier didn't either.

Javi squeezed me tighter. "I want you to promise me that next time you're upset about something you will communicate it with me when it happens."

I nodded but that was not enough for him. He pulled back from the hug so that he was still touching me but could actually see my face.

"No matter what it is. That goes for both of us, of course." Javier said with seriousness. "Alright?"

"Alright." I agreed.

"Great." Javi was pleased. "Now we should probably get back downstairs before everyone else starts to worry."

We went toward the door and I was about to turn on the doorknob but before I could Javi stopped me. He put his hand on my shoulder and turned me to face him behind me.

"There was some stuff from a while ago that has come back up and Diane was telling me about it because I was who she used to always tell. She didn't know who else to go to." Javier explained. "I was just comforting her. She was my friend before everything else, remember?" 

That made a ton of sense. Hearing that made me feel better about it; it was just Javi being the caring person he continuously proved to be. It did not completely take away the jealousy but it felt good to know the real reason.

"I get it, that's really kind of you." My words were sincere.

He smiled. "And we'll talk about everything else you said sometime later."

I had kind of hoped that we could mutually agree to forget about it but I was realizing that he was not the type to let things go untalked about.

"Sure thing."

When we came back into the living room much happier than we had left it we were met with a mix of intrigued and confused faces. Before we could get attacked with millions of questions, Javi excused himself and Paxton to pop popcorn for all of us.