Double Dare II waterparks

033

Otto is at a loss for words.  He just can't find the right way to say it.  Just flat out saying I love you doesn't feel like enough to really describe the way he feels, the way his heart feels like it skips a beat when he hears her laugh or smile or the way the whole world stops when she cries because nothing is nearly as important as making her happy again or the overwhelming way she takes over his entire being just by existing or that she's the sun to his solar system and he's just caught in her gravitational pull and couldn't get away even if he wanted to but he'd happily be pulled in and let himself burn in love with her.  He definitely can't put into the words the way his heart speeds up like he'd just sprinted three miles when she looks at him in that certain way where he can almost convince himself that she feels it too because, damn, that look has to mean something.  Grace waits patiently for him to speak, not pushing even though she's curious about what he's going to say.  Part of her feels like she might know already but she refuses to get her hopes up and her heart broken.  "Remember before you left to come join this tour," Otto brings up, surprising Sophia.  This isn't what she'd been expecting.  "After what happened with Awsten and you were in tears?"  Grace only nods in reply, letting him continue.  "Seeing you cry that night broke my heart.  I woulda done anything to make those tears go away.  And then I finally somehow managed to make you smile and it was like my heart was piecing itself back together...the idea that such little things can make me feel like that is terrifying and amazing and, I don't know if you feel it too but, I have those sorta things around you all the time.  You pretty much own my heart, is what I'm saying and it doesn't feel like enough to say that I'm in love with you because that's such a simple thing to say but I am.  I'm in love with you.  I have been for a long time; you're the one I told you about who I thought would never love me back but I'm really hoping that, by some miracle, maybe this isn't one-sided."  Grace is quiet for a moment, processing the big reveal.  This is what she wanted to hear, exactly what she was hoping for because Otto's feelings definitely are not one-sided but she feels an odd sense of guilt.  She never told him that Awsten had kissed her that night, or that she almost kissed back but she thought about him and then just the idea of kissing Awsten made her feel sick.  "Otto," she starts off hesitantly, "I...I didn't tell you and I should have and I hate that I didn't...that night that I came over after leaving Awsten's?  He kissed me that night.  I didn't kiss back, I almost did but then I thought of you and realized that the only person I wanted to kiss was you.". Much to her surprise, Otto smiles at the confession.  "You're not mad?"  "Why would I be mad?  I mean, I don't enjoy the thought of Awsten kissing you but we weren't together then," Otto is completely reasonable, despite Grace 's worry that her words would change things.  "And, as weird as it as to say, I'm kinda glad you thought of me."  "So, uh, where do we go from here?"  "Well, Grace , as you are an actual Queen," Otto goes for the obvious pun because he's an adorable dork, "once you're outta here I'd like to take you on a date fit for one."