Leap of Faith

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“Cinderella style?” Theo’s suddenly amused.

I nod. “Exactly.”

He falls silent as he mulls over my proposal, and the air between us becomes thick as I wait for his verdict. “I’m in,” he finally says. “But first…”

He brings his lips down crushingly against mine, and I yelp from the sudden urgency in the kiss. It’s deep, intense and full of promise. If this was going to be our last kiss until the Valentine’s (at the latest) then it was the perfect way to end it.

His tongue found mine and I felt my body give into him. He could have asked me anything right now, and I would have done exactly what he wanted me to do. Kill someone? Sure. Rob a bank? You got it. Take a leap of faith? Already done.

“Catherine,” his voice teased me. “I need you to know something, ok? Let me say it, and don’t interrupt.”

I stay silent, just like he asked me to.

“This has been the most incredible night of my life,” he starts. “When I came into this closet, all I wanted was peace and quiet; a calm for the madness that lies out there. I freaked out when you crashed into the picture, but now I can’t imagine not knowing you.

“I believe that everything happens for a reason,” his words echo on the walls as I listen to everything he says. “You happened for a reason, Catherine, and I wasn’t sure why at first, but now I do. I get it. All my life I’ve done what everyone expected of me, but never what I wanted to do. You changed that for me. You made me see that it’s ok to want what I want, and no matter what happens, I will always love you for that.

“But,” he leans his forehead against mine. “I’m running out of time, so I’ll just say this one last thing. I will find you because I am in love with you.”

My knees buckle and we crash to the ground together. Falling together, how ridiculous, and yet absolutely perfect, is that?

I laugh at how stupid we must look, our bodies intertwined in a tangled mess and words left unsaid. There was so much I needed to tell Theo, too. Like how glad I was that I had stumbled into his closet. How he had made me realize that it was ok to be me. How he had made me feel hopeful. But there was one thing I needed to tell him above everything else.

“Theo,” I murmur his name. “I’m in love with you, too.”

I wait for his reply, but he stays silent. I can only imagine him smiling manically at my words- the ones he had wanted to hear. I bend down to kiss him lightly and despite not being earth-shattering, it conveyed everything that needed to be said.

Then I heard it. Fireworks at midnight.

Then came the click of the door opening.