thirty-five

Background color
Font
Font size
Line height

        I was almost positive Adam noticed a change in me in the days after I broke up with Grace and made up with Blake. I mean, it wasn't like I was very good at hiding the bubble of euphoria I was floating around in. My hands had no scratches, only scars, and there was an indescribable light in my blue eyes that even I could see just by looking in the mirror.

        We had started up our almost-nightly routine of going to the pool again after a very long break. It wasn't as frequent or half as interesting as it had been before all of this happened. There were issues looming over our heads like storm clouds and all of it was threatening to pull us back into the slump we'd been caught up in for months. We never really brought any of it up, though. Instead we talked about our days or whatever random shit popped into our heavily sleep-deprived heads. But just because we didn't talk about it doesn't mean I stopped worrying about it.

To: Lij
Come to the pool ASAP

        I glanced over at my clock which read '1:30 PM' in bright green letters.

To: Adamn
its only half one tho

To: Lij
I know. I've got something to show you!!

        That was intriguing enough to pull me out of the cozy pile I was wrapped up in and walk all the way down to the pool. I decided I liked it better at night. In the day, there were people everywhere. Dogs took pisses on the pavement and kids ate dirt from the playground floor as I walked by and pretended to ignore them. At night, the entire area would have been pitch black and perfectly silent, the only thing close to dogs pissing and kids eating dirt was the squirrels that always freaked me out a bit when they scurried by my feet.

        I finally arrived at the pool to once again find Adam not standing alone. Only this time, little James was running around with a toy car instead of falling asleep in Adams tight grip.

        "Hello Eli!" He shouted as I slid my way down the side of the wall.

        "Hello James!" I said back with a small wave.

        "Tell Eli the good news," Adam whispered, pushing his pudgy little body towards me.

        "I'm going to Scotland!" He cheered, running up to me with his tiny car clutched in his hand. "I'm going to start primary there! It's massive. Anna showed me it."

        I furrowed my brows and glanced over at Adam, who still had a dopey grin stuck on his face. "You're moving?" I asked James, who nodded.

        "Tell him the best bit," Adam said, biting his nail to keep himself from smiling even wider. I was completely lost.

        "Anna, my nanny, is coming with! And Adam is driving up every month to visit and FaceTiming me and my dad every night so that he can say hello and help me with homework because now I'll have homework."

        "That's..." I looked back to Adam who was unable to stand still. He smiled so it reached his eyes and lit them up. "That's so cool, James! You're going to have so much fun."

        "I know!" He exclaimed before rushing off to the shallow end while shouting, "I'm going on the swings!"

        "Be careful!" Adam yelled after him, but the little boy had already rushed up the side of the pool and over to the playground.

        "He's got more energy than both of us combined."

        He snorted. "He's a happy little guy."

        "I can't believe you're going to drive up to Scotland once a month. That's like seven hours, mate."

        He shrugged. "It's not that bad. It's worth it, really. I still get to see James a lot more than if I just FaceTimed him every night. Plus, I could catch up with my dad and his family. I haven't seen them since my birthday a few years ago. I think it worked out pretty well."

        "You're a really great brother, you know that?" I told him.

        "It's really not that hard," he paused and looked down at the ground. I, on the other hand, was unable to take my eyes off his face. "Plus you can come with me sometimes if you'd like."

        My eyes widened for a split second, but I shoved my hands in my pockets and nodded casually. "That'd be cool. Yeah."

        "Cool. Yeah," he repeated, wrinkling his nose as he tried to hold back a smile.

        I peered down at his hand— which was free of any cuts or bruises— and I decided I'd let mine fall casually next to it. I hooked my pinkie in with his and after a few seconds, he laced the rest of his fingers in with mine— a gesture that made me feel like I was going to explode.

        In a good way, of course.

        He turned and looked at me with his chocolate eyes, our faces centimetres apart. "You're properly beautiful," I felt myself say. I pressed my lips together to get myself to shut up, but it was true. Yeah he had flaws and baggage and all that, but he went about life as positively as he could, making sure people were as happy as they could possibly be, and that was truly beautiful.

Plus, he was insanely handsome.

        A small smirk made its way onto his lips. "I am?"

       I broke our eye contact and let my sight dip down to his lips, but he was quicker than me. He leaned down until our noses were touching and cupped my frozen cheek lightly in his hand.

        "You are," I whispered.

        holyshitholyshitholyshitholyshit

        "ADAM!" James shrieked from the top of the pool. Just like that, the moment was completely lost. We jumped away from each other, Adam coughing uncontrollably and me falling on my ass. I winced as I hit the concrete, but I wasn't even worried about the inevitable bruises. Instead, I resisted the urge to send the pudgy boy running towards his brother the iciest glare I could manage.

        As Adam gave me a sheepish smile and ran off with James tugging at his arm and pulling him away, I sat on the floor and stared at the concrete, a million things running through my mind... most of which had the word Adam in it.

        I was so busy staring, that I didn't see Adam slide back down the side of the pool faster than he ever had before and rush over to me, panting.

        "I've only got a second," he told me before grabbing my arm and pulling me up from the ground.

        "What the f-" I was cut off by Adam pressing his lips to mine carefully, but passionately enough to show he'd wanted it just as long as I had. I couldn't help but smile into the kiss as it hit me what was finally happening. Every scream from a child by the playground and every bad thought in my mind was gone, and the only thing I could focus on was us. There were no fireworks or love songs playing like the stories always said there would be, but there was us, and that was all I needed. I kissed him harder, determined to get as much of him as I could before we parted.

        But just like that, it was over. He pulled away with the cheesiest grin slapped on his face and took his hand off my cheek. The cold hit me almost immediately, and more than anything I wanted to pull him back to me.

        But I just stood there.

        "Later, Lij!" He said before running back out of the empty pool and back to where the rest of the world was.

        "Later."

<><><>

mmm yes we love a good slow burn

I said it once and I'll say it again: I can't write kissing scenes for shit. BUT I think this one turned out all right (I've been editing it forever so it better be at least alright). But holy shit yes they finally had a good kiss!! Ahhh!!! What'd you guys think of the chapter?

I've been getting a bunch of new readers so I just wanna say hi! Welcome! I hope you're enjoying!! I really appreciate seeing all the feedback and stuff and it always makes my day when someone comments or votes or something so thank you guys!

~Teddy

You are reading the story above: TeenFic.Net