Misstaken ✓ | #Wattys2019

27. p a r a d i s e

last 3 chapters hehe
—> also this was a pretty vanilla scene but if you're sensitive just skip right through!

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I flung myself forward, leaping into the air and into his arms.

"WHAT?" I screamed and giggled and cheered and was so just so happy for him. Nick lifted me up as if I weighed nothing, and spun me in a full circle.

"I know, crazy right?" He laughed. "I guess the incident just wiped out my prosopagnosia. Talk about a blessing in disguise."

I buried my face in the crook of his neck. "I'm so glad."

He leaned over with a foolish grin. "This calls for a celebration."

"What kind of celebration?"

Without a word, he carried me across the sand, and before I knew it, we were nearing the waters. I widened my eyes, half-laughing. "Nick, I'm not even in my swimsuit yet!"

"Then I'll just wet your legs." He chuckled as he sat me down into the knee-deep water.

"Wh--what did you just say?" I reached down and tossed a handful of water at him.

The water hit him and he set me down, a smirk emerging. "I'm going to get back at you for that."

Nick leapt up in the spur of the moment, arms encircled my waist, and then pulled me down with him. I screamed like a child as we went down, with him sheltering most of the current from me.

In our fake struggle, I flipped around and pressed myself to him. He had abandoned the shirt somehow and my hand had ended up on his chest.

"You know, I'm starting to doubt if you were really injured. Maybe it was just a ploy to get me back."

He put his hands under his head and swam backwards. "I could have thought of better ways to get you back."

I teased, "I'll be the judge of that. I'm going home."

I mockingly turned around and pretended to storm out of the water, but not before he took my hand and drew me in. He lifted me a little so my feet were no longer touching the water, and I was eye to eye with him. My legs went around him as support, but I knew he wouldn't dare to drop me now.

The sunset was at its peak, but I found a far prettier sight. I reached my hands into his golden hair, getting them lost in the tender strands that shone in what's left of the sun. They were damp, making them just a little curly all over again. Mesmerizing.

"Oh god, you're beautiful." He whispered to me, as if he had read my mind. Those were the words I had just wanted to say to him.

Nick was taking in every single part of me. I basked in his sunshine, savoring the moment.

"This is the best day of my life." I confessed. "I mean, I'm having a dream holiday with the boy I love, in the most breathtaking sunset ever—"

His hand on the small of my back suddenly stilled.

"What did you just say?"

I ran over my words. Oh.

I said that I loved him.

I answered shyly, "I said I'm on the most beautiful beach with the most breathtaking sunset."

"No, before that. Don't play dumb."

"I think you heard me wrongly —"

But my words were lost in the summer wind as he pressed his lips to mine feverishly. Everything that happened next was a whirlwind, out of pure passion and instinct. My mouth moved equally under his, each gesture stretching out into one full syllable.