finally (flipped oneshot)

Finally

Juli POV

I didn't move once. I stayed in the same position all afternoon, simply watching Bryce through the glass. After firmly planting the tree, he moved the dirt around it, and retrieved the hose and began watering around it. Never once did he try coming over or talking to me; he barely even acknowledged my presence, besides an occasionally nod here and there. He didn't even flash me one of his dazzling smiles.... 

"Wait.... hold up!" I quickly say to myself, "This is Bryce we're talking about here. The same Bryce who openly insulted your uncle and threw away a year's worth of eggs. Ring a bell?"

But it was honestly no use. I could argue all I wanted to with myself about Bryce, but I simply couldn't convince myself. For some strange, reason, despite everything he had done to me, I simply could't deny it. I still had feelings for Bryce Loski. 

I look back at the window and see Bryce seems to be finishing up his watering, which means soon he will be leaving. I will no longer have an excuse to simply look at him. Heck, he might not even want to speak to me after I ran away from him and the kiss at school and the way I completely refused to talk to him afterwards.

He quickly finished up the watering, and after rolling up the hose, picks up the shovel and begins walking towards the house, and me. He stops at the door and knocks. 

"I got the door!" I say to both my parents and open the door, giving him a small smile. "Hey, Bryce." I say. My voice is quiet, not nearly as confident and strong as it was when I normally speak. It shocks and surprises me when I realize I no longer know how to act in front of Bryce. Sure, our past conversations weren't always the best, but I could still talk to him the same way I did everybody else. Now, after the kiss, I found myself actually nervous of what I should say.

"Hey, Juli," He says and returns my small smile with one of his own dazzling ones. It would't take a genius to figure out he is just as nervous as I was. That raised my spirits a little bit, to know Bryce was feeling the same thing I was. 

We stand there in silence for a few minutes, both of us quickly looking away and blushing if our eyes connected. "So..." I say to create conversation, because the long silence was getting pretty awkward. 

"Oh, yeah sorry," he motions to the shovel still in his hand, "I... um... came to return your dad's shovel. He let me use it to plant the..." his voice trails off.

I step out of the house and close the door behind me. "I can take it to the garage for you." 

Bryce shakes his head and lets out a small laugh, "Juli, I'm not going to make you put this away for me." 

I chuckle a little bit too, "Okay then, but I'll still show you where it goes."

He nods and I guide him to the side of the house where the garage is. After he puts the shovel away he looks at me, as if he wants to say something to me, but doesn't know what. 

But it is me who says something, not him, "Thank you for the tree, Bryce. It's going to be magnificent."

To my surprise, he shakes his head. "No, that't not the term I would use."

I look over at him, "Oh really, Mr. Loski? And what word would you use to describe this tree then?"

Bryce returns my gaze and his blue eyes become fixed on mine. "Iridescent." 

Now I am confused, "Iridescent?"

"Well..yeah," Seeing my still perplexed face, he explains more, "I mean, just at first glance, it just seems like a tree. But when you put the elements involved in it, the background, or the person climbing it...." I blush and look away at that.

He continues, "It becomes more."

There is another silence after that, but I find it no longer awkward. After his explanation, I find myself more comfortable with him. I almost feel like I relate to him more. It reminds me of something my dad told me a while back, on how you have to look at the whole landscape.

"I'm so sorry, Juli," I draw my attention back to Bryce once he starts to speak. "For everything. For avoiding you ever since the second grade, for throwing away your eggs, for not helping you in the tree before it got cut down, for not defending you or your uncle that day in the library. I'm sorry for it all, and I know planting a tree will in no way make up for it, but I really hope sometime, if not today, you will be able to forgive me. And maybe eventually, we can even be friends,."

His apology leaves me speechless. But not by his words, by the sincerity in his eyes. I can clearly see his regret for everything and how sorry he truly is, and it is not hard for me to say the words that come out of my mouth next, "I forgive you, Bryce."

He grins. When I don't say anything else, he turns around and begins his walk across the street towards his house. But I'm not done talking yet.

"Bryce!" I call to him and I run to him. He turns to look at me and I say, "And yes, I'd love to start over and be friends."

He smiles at me. A real, dazzling smile that reaches all the way to his blue eyes. I smile back at him, and that's not all I do. To my surprise I slowly reach up and give him a kiss on the lips. I can tell Bryce is just as shocked as me, but quickly begins kissing me back. 

When we pull back, Bryce keeps his arm around my waist. "Wow." he says.

I smirk, "No, wow isn't the way I would describe it. Not at all."

Bryce looks at me, and I can see a smile working its way onto his face, "Oh really? And what exactly, Miss. Baker, would you describe it as?"

"Finally."

He looks confused, and I can't help but laugh. "You've been walking around with my first kiss since second grade, Bryce. Don't you remember?"

A look of recognition crosses his features, and he laughs too, remembering how I almost kissed him all those years ago. "How could I forget?"

And then we were kissing again. Longer than the first, but it still sent sparks and shivers down my spine. 

"Ah yes, finally indeed," I think to myself. Because I was able to finally forgive Bryce, I was able to have my own sycamore tree, and Bryce Loski could no longer say he was walking around with Juli Baker's first kiss.

A/N

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