Sweet Lantern

Chapter 7

Alice

My head is spinning as we walk back to our seat; Darry holding my hand. He keeps looking at me, a smile pulling up the corners of his mouth. I can't believe what's just happened. I was there, I was in the moment with him and it still seems surreal. I've known Darry my whole life, I know everything about him or at least I thought I did. I had no idea he felt this way about me. I mean I knew he loved me, I love him too, but I didn't know he loooooves me.

And that kiss! Had he not said anything at all, his kiss would have said it all for him. I can't stop thinking about it. I've never kissed anyone, but that's exactly how I imagined it would be when I did. It was like a kiss from the most romantic movie ever made. Sweet and passionate and full of his longing... and mine, surprisingly enough. I kissed him back. This fact had not been lost on me. And it felt like the most natural thing in the world for me to do.

Of course I've looked at Darry and been able to appreciate how handsome he is. I love how strong he is and he really has always been there for me. But my love for him goes so much deeper than that. Me and Darry get each other, better than anyone else, we know each other's deepest personal secrets and we understand each other in a way that no one else gets either of us.

I can trust him, and I can depend on him. We know what makes the other tick. He's always been there for me and me for him. Of course I love him, and right now, I really just want to kiss him again.

When we sit back down, Darry's friends are all smiles, genuinely excited for us. They'd been watching us, I guess. As embarrassed as I am that they were spying on us in that very personal moment, I'm more intrigued by how happy they all are for Darry. It's very obvious that hey really care about him.

And they all knew he was going to do this. The realization hits me hard. He's talked to them about us, about me, about this. How did I miss his feelings for me, but they all knew? Why would he tell them first?

Jessica is the only one not congratulating Darry on being "man enough to finally kiss me." She's the only one not happy at this moment. She glares at me when we sit down and without saying a word, she crosses her arms over her chest in a huff and walks away into the crowd of students standing around the fire.

When the others go back into conversation with each other, I turn to Darry and smile up at him. I ask for his jacket and he puts it around my shoulders.

I remember that our families are going to be out for a while and ask Darry if he wants to go back to my house to hang out for a bit, maybe we could talk away from the crowds? He agrees and we say our byes and leave the bonfire.

All the way back to my house, Darry holds my hand. Raising our hands from time to time, he presses his lips to my hand, kissing it so sweetly while he looks at me, making my heart do flips.

When we get to my house, he pulls up to the front porch and gets out to come around and open my door. He reaches for my hand and helps me up out of the car, holding it all the way into the house. "Do you want anything to drink?" I ask him. He nods yes, so we go into the kitchen first and grab two glasses of ice water.

I don't know what I want more, to talk about this and know exactly when he knew he loved me or if I just want to kiss him again and again and again. No one will be here for hours, I think to myself again. As if reading my mind, Darry leans in and puts his hands on my face, pulling me into him. His lips feel so soft and he tastes sweet.

I can't imagine wanting to be anywhere else than in this moment right now. My heart is beating so fast and I'm surprised at how right this feels, kissing Darry like this. I want him to keep kissing me, but he pulls back and looks me in the eyes. "I love you, Alice", he tells me again and I smile at him with all the love I have in me and tell him, "Oh, Darry, I love you too. More than anything in this world."