Star Light Star Bright

Chapter 25

My eyes widened and I couldn’t move. I was frozen in my spot, just as Chris seemed to be. The silence was stifling and it almost hurt to listen to.

Chris’s smile disappeared from his face and was replaced by a worried line. “Sage,” he whispered his voice tight and restrained. He took a small step forward at the same time that I did. “Sage…I’m so sorry.”

I nodded in response, not trusting my voice, or my head, and especially not my heart, which was thrumming inside its prison, threatening to break free.

“I don’t know what I was thinking answering ‘why not.’ It was the stupidest thing I have ever said. It just made sense at the time. I didn’t think about the fact that you might not have realized my feelings for you. I didn’t know that you thought you were just a… a toy.” He grimaced at the word. “I would never…” He shook his head, trailing off.

I took a small step forward and his eyes widened the smallest amount. He took a tentative step forward and slowly, very, very slowly we closed the distance between us.

The first thing he did was touch was his hand to my waist. When I didn’t immediately pull way, he reached forward and placed his other hand on the back of my neck. We were still about a foot apart, but the gravity between us was hard to resist and pulled us closer to each other. Our bodies pressed against each other and the heat climbed to my cheeks, making them flush a dark read.

“Sage, I have made some big mistakes in my life, but the biggest one to date, was not telling you face to face how I feel about you.” His eyes met mine with an intensity I had never seen in him before. “The main reason for that is I didn’t know how to tell you. I still don’t know how to explain it. You’re just always on my mind and you make your way into my every thought. No matter what it is that I’m thinking about, you seem to come into play.

“And then when I see you my head starts to spin and it’s hard for me to speak and my hands get all clammy and my heart starts to pound in my chest, blocking out every other sound except the sound of your voice.”

I couldn’t tear my eyes away from his, making it impossible to hide the tear that slid down my cheek. How could I have been so stupid? I was an idiot for thinking… well just thinking. If I had trusted my heart and not my head I wouldn’t be in this predicament. I had been so obsessed with the hatred and grudge that I was bent on keeping, that I hadn’t seen what was right in front of me.

I was so wrapped up in my thoughts that I didn’t realize that more tears started to spill silently down my cheek. Chris frowned and lifted a thumb to wipe my cheek. “Aw Sage, what did I say? I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you cry. I’m so-,” There was no way I was going to let him finish that sentence, especially since I was the one that should have been apologizing.

I didn’t think about what I was doing, or why. I didn’t need to. I just knew it was the right thing to do. I pushed up onto my tip toes and crushed my lips against his, causing him to cut off in the middle of his sentence. His hand tightened on my waist and around my neck, as if expecting me to pull away. But I didn’t. I didn’t want to.

For the first time I let myself enjoy the kiss, not questioning his motives, or what might happen after. I relaxed into his hold, pressing myself closer to him. His lips moved slowly against mine, carefully molding our lips together.

He pulled away slowly, but kept me pulled tight against him. The sun had started to set behind the trees and an orange glow filled the clearing, and shone on to my face, but Chris’s face was in shadow, making it hard to see his expression. We stood there for a few motherents not saying anything. I could feel him studying my face and when he would shift just right I could see a contemplative look on his face. “What are you thinking?” he whispered. His warm breath washed over me making it hard to think at all.