What Happened That Night (Wattpad Books Edition)

chapter five

before

I was standing in front of my mirror later that night after the play, using a makeup wipe to scrub away the eyeliner and eyeshadow dusted across my face to look like soot, when my phone dinged. I had tossed it onto my bed after checking a text Bex sent me, asking about that hug she'd seen Griffin giving me earlier. There was a winking emoji in lieu of a question mark. I rolled my eyes when I read it, but I also felt a tiny glimmer of hope because it wasn't just me noticing it, thinking about it, and about him and me, anymore. Other people saw it too.

I was aggressively cleaning off my left eye as I opened the message, my heart racing as I read it and realized it wasn't from Bex.

Meet me outside in five. Please? 

Griffin

The wet grass prickled against my bare feet as I stood in the backyard, droplets of water falling from the roof and plinking onto our patio. It was dark outside but the moon and the streetlights kept everything dimly lit as I waited for Griffin. I had changed out of my pajamas and into a pair of shorts and a camisole, quickly swiping a tinted lip balm over my lips and ruffling my hair.

My mind raced as I remembered how he'd lifted me off the ground earlier that night and how close he'd stood to me even after placing me down, whispering Cinderella in my ear. A little secret just between us. Now he wanted to see me again, after midnight.

There was a rustling in the distance, footsteps, and then I was blinded by the glare of the motion-sensor light as Griffin Tomlin climbed over our fence, landing on the grass near my dad's vegetable garden. He squinted at me, bringing his forearm over his face to shield his eyes from the glare.

I darted to the other side of the yard. The odor of the rain and freshly cut grass was heavy in the charged air but still, I could've sworn I smelled the scent of his soap as he smiled at me, bringing his arm down as the motion light flicked off and it was just us, alone in the dark and the rain.

"Hey," I whispered.

As I looked at him, a raindrop fell on the curve of his cheekbone, rolling down his face until it landed on his shirt, but he didn't seem to notice. He was only looking at me, and that felt both wonderful and terrifying at the same time.

"So, um," I said, feeling the fragile wings of butterflies grazing my rib cage as my heart expanded, "did you need to talk to me or something?"

"No," he said, tilting his head to the side. "I didn't need to or anything. But I wanted to."

I wasn't sure what that was supposed to mean. Maybe it would've been obvious to either Emily or Bex that he was flirting, but it wasn't to me. Because he was Griffin Tomlin and I was Clara Porterfield, in the same galaxy but never in the same orbit. It just felt so impossible to think that someone I wanted could actually want me back.

"Okay," I breathed. "About what?"

Something filled his eyes, something that looked so sincere and inviting and kind. If his eyes were really the ocean, and if he had asked me to jump, I probably wouldn't have thought twice about squeezing my eyes shut and diving right in, right into him.

"You. How I kind of want to kiss you right now." Then, before I had a chance to react, I felt the warmth of his hands on either side of my face, fingertips in the strands of my hair, and his lips against my own.

I closed my eyes.

When he pulled away from me, his lips, the lips I had just kissed, curved into a smile. You just did that, I thought, and it was all I could think. Griffin Tomlin had really kissed me, and it wasn't a dream or a fantasy or anything, but real.