Viridescent Flares

24

Y O U

I've seen it coming—I've been asking for it. I mean, we've been dating for a month or so, but I wasn't expecting it to happen tonight. Not when I'm in a spiral of confusing issues that I don't know how to sort out in the first place. But I want Lauren. I've always wanted her and now that she's asking me to be hers once again? How can I say no to that almost pleading green eyes that tend to send me in a dizzy state without even trying?

If the room is quiet enough without the raindrops hitting the whole house, she would've been hearing my heart beating loudly as it tried to stand out from every noise coming from the earth.

I pursed my lips, shaking my head in amusement before shooting her a disbelieving look. "Of course, you idiot. Your speech gave it all away."

She tried to bite the laugh down but failed, embracing me in an awkward position but none of us cared. It's April the sixteenth, and I'm finally getting the assurance that I need despite the complications going on. This girl is making me believe that there's still hope—there's still something I could count even in this can of worms.

"I love you," she said adoringly, as if she'd been holding a secret for a long time and now she has finally let it out, she couldn't be any happier.

"I love you, too."

Before I know it, Lauren was already pushing a strand of my hair behind my ear, eyes solemnly focused just on my lips. I watch her trail her gaze to my nose piercing, and then to my awaiting orbs. If my heart was beating erratically earlier, it could definitely jump out of my ribcage anytime soon now. There's something in the way Lauren looks at me with this mere distance and it's far, far different when she's looking at me from afar. The person's eyes is the window through their soul.

And how lovely Lauren's soul is right now.

I lost it when she pressed a feathery kiss on my lips. It was soft, but long enough to make me remember the sweet taste of her lips. It's addictive—like craving for juice during a hot afternoon and I can't just get enough. She pulled away with a smile on her face, a content and genuine one that made me want to fuck it and dive in again. But she stretched her arms outward, reaching behind my neck and started unclasping my necklace. What was she doing?

When she finally got the loop off, she slid the ring from the chain. She placed the discarded chain beside her and faced me with the silver band between her index finger and thumb.

"It was the twenty-fourth of December when I gave you this, few days after the sixth of January when I assumed you considered removing it. But it's the sixteenth of April and I want to have a fresh new start for us," she stated, eyes never once leaving mine to show how she was into this. "I'll never let myself be burned the same flame twice and only death can separate us now. I promise not to leave you again no matter how many mountains or seas you are far from me."

She didn't wait for me to say something—like there's something I could say with her talking like this. She lifted my right hand, the same feelings when she did it first flooding back my mind.

"Do you remember the promise that comes with this ring?" She asked, subconsciously brushing her thumb against the back of my hand as she held it.

"You promised me that you'll always be mine," I replied, still having it memorized until now. "'Whatever happens, whether how many miles you are from me, I will always come back to you, and nothing can change that.'"