the progress project [3]

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yuli

her hands shake, but she knocks on the door anyway, licking some of the mint chapstick off of her lips. she waits thirty seconds, ready to turn around in her impatience.

"yuli," atília murmurs, eyes glued to her face.

she raises her hands to reveal a baguette and a mini eiffel tower. "i came to win you over with french clichés. is it working so far?"

a slight tug upward at the corner of his lips make its way to his face despite his effort to fight it. he steps back to let her in and sits on the edge of his bed, tensing when she sits next to him. "i have not decided yet."

"i know you don't like how i used you. i don't either," she says, grateful that he doesn't pull away when she takes his hands into hers. "and i'm sorry. you deserve so much better."

"maybe i do."

"i understand if you don't want to be with me, after everything that i've—"

he shakes his head. "no, yuli. i still have the full intent in dating you. i am not a quitter."

"i... really?"

"yet along the way, i have encountered blow after blow. when will it end?" he asks, shoulders slumping to throw off his cool demeanor.

guilt is the only thing running through her body. "i never meant to hurt you."

"i know," he says softly. he is so close that she can feel his breath on her skin. "and i know that i should not feel how i do after everything, but..."

"i feel it, too," she insists, and she doesn't know why she's led him on this whole time. the fact that he's willing to turn over a new leaf, though, the fact that the tension between them is finally dissolving...

"est-ce que je peux t'embrasser?" he whispers, lips ghosting against hers, so close, so close that she can't breathe.

her brows wrinkle in confusion. "i have no idea what that means, i haven't been studying my french at all..."

"yuli," he snaps her out of her daze and doesn't hide the glance to her lips. "can i kiss you?"

her mouth molds with his as she tugs at his hair to pull him closer. his hands automatically cup her face, one running down her neck to send a shiver throughout her body. atília pulls away, pushing her hair out of her face and smiling so softly that she practically melts.

"i love you," he says, and her heart stops... and starts again. "and you do not have to say it back, but you need to know. you need to know that i said it and that i mean it, because i do."

"i like you," she replies instead, pressing a kiss to his jaw. "a lot."

he wraps his arms around yuli and holds her, chin resting against her head. she can hear his heartbeat, and all of her worries disappear in his embrace.