Late Bloomers

Blossom

“I think I love you”

Sinead must have heard him wrong. There was no way…and yet Sinead knew exactly what he had said. Her mouth dropped open slightly and she blinked several times as she tried to process the words. Her heart began to pound and punctuated her thoughts. Love. Neville said he thinks he loves me. Loves me. An incredibly light-hearted sensation took over her and she felt as if she could take on the world. She remained silent, a look of shock upon her face and Neville began to appear uncomfortable. He squirmed and looked at the ground nervously.

Sinead had never been in love before, but she had read all about it (her favorite book, after all, was a love story). Supposedly, it was an emotion that ran deep and was highly complex; it could make one feel lighter than air one moment and heavier than stone the next. It had the power to make one giddy with happiness if the feeling was returned and desperate with sadness if one was rejected. Though Sinead had never thought she would fall in love, let alone so quickly, she knew without a doubt that she most certainly loved Neville.

She had been silent for several minutes, staring at Neville with an expression of shock, her mouth slightly agape. The bubble of hope and confidence that had bubbled inside of Neville at his admission of feeling had gotten a puncture. He felt sure that Sinead’s lack of response meant that she did not return his sentiments and his face grew hot with humiliation. “Sorry,” he mumbled as he sat up forlornly, “I shouldn’t have sa-” the miserable, embarrassed tone he spoke in jolted Sinead back to reality.

 “I love you too,” the words rushed out of her mouth without any sort of tact, but they were true. Neville looked at her for a moment as she sat up as well, hardly daring to believe his ears. The bubble in his chest inflated once more as a grin spread across his face.

Sinead beamed, her eyes positively glowing with happiness. She couldn’t believe she had said it. She couldn’t believe it was happening at all, and so quickly! It was completely illogical, but in that fleeting moment Sinead realized that love simply wasn’t logical. It didn’t always happen the same way. It didn’t always take years to develop. It simply was. Sinead couldn’t take her eyes off of him. His eyes were crinkling at the corners as they always did when he was happiest and she noted the light that seemed to shine behind his eyes. She felt giddy, almost drunk with it, and hardly knew what to do with herself. She laughed quietly, grinning at Neville, and he joined in. It was a sound of pure joy; quiet, but filled with delight. After a moment they lapsed back into a comfortable silence looking at each other with sheer love-drunk glee.

Neville’s gaze flickered down to her lips and he once again felt the sudden urge to kiss her. They weren’t in Hogsmeade this time. There was no door to bang open and make them jump apart. There was only himself and Sinead, sitting in the grass, the sun just beginning to make its descent on the horizon. Her lips were the perfect shade of pink, like pale roses, and they looked incredibly soft. Her mouth was parted slightly and he found himself drawn to her as if by a magnet. Sinead noticed the shift in atmosphere and, without really realizing it, had drawn closer to him. She felt like she could see right into his soul through his kind hazel eyes and that he could do the same to her. Tilting his head slightly to the side, Neville brought a gentle hand to Sinead’s cheek, running his thumb over the soft skin of her cheek, and closed the distance between them.

It was like fireworks, but better. His lips were warm, and much softer than Sinead had expected. As their lips met, her eyes fluttered closed and it felt as though nothing else in the world mattered; nay, nothing else in the world even existed! She and Neville were the only ones there, the only ones alive, the only ones that meant understood what this felt like. She felt the soft pressure of his hand on her cheek and smiled against his lips as they pulled out of the embrace, her eyes meeting his as she leaned her forehead against his. Neville grinned and brought their lips together once more before pulling away.