Never Met a Girl Like Her | ✔️

(31)

H E A T H

After a British dinner of fish and chips with mom and Sarah, I headed back to the apartment and smiled when I thought about seeing Leonie again. She didn't have to rush. I knew that she was catching up with her mom and I wanted to have that time. But I still felt a little somersault in my stomach when I thought about having her in my arms tonight.

She wasn't in when I opened the apartment door. So I had a shower, pulled on a pair of sweats and lounged on the bed with some weird show on the television. It must have been a local drama. I wasn't giving it a lot of attention. Earlier, mom had been talking about what an amazing pair of people Leonie and her mom, Meredith, were. And how we'd never be able to repay them for their kindness.

She couldn't understand why they were being so giving. Mom assumed it was because of Leonie and how she felt about me. But she was wrong. Leonie was giving and it had nothing to do with me or what she may or may not have felt. It had everything to do with her soul and how generous she was. Sarah deserves to have someone like Leonie in her life. She deserved to experience the things that Leonie was so willing to give her. Even if I couldn't be with her in the way that I wanted, I was glad that Sarah had her as a friend.

Suddenly, Leonie burst through the door, breathless. I stood up from the bed and approached her, but she held up a hand to stop me from coming closer.

"Wait," she swung the door shut behind her. "We need to talk. Well, I need to talk. You need to listen. And don't interrupt me until I'm done. Because I need to get this out."

I slipped my hands into my pockets and nodded for her to go ahead, curious and sort of nervous.

She started pacing and occasionally shot me a brief glance. "Yeah well I've been thinking. A lot. About us," she said, restless. "And I've come to a sort of conclusion. About us."

She continued pacing and threw me a shy look. I had no idea where this was going but my heart started hammering.

"And well— the thing is— I like you. A lot. In fact. I like you so much that I want to shout it at random people on the street. I want to tell them that I'm crazy about you. I want to tell them that if I'm the wind, then you're the sky. Because you can't have one without the other."

She stopped pacing and faced me. But she was still fidgeting and breathless.

"And I wanna do life with you Heath. I wanna—" she threw her arms up, looking for the right word— "I wanna breeze through life's ups and storm through life's downs. I wanna— I dunno— rage, whip, whirl through life— with you. Because I'm the wind and you're the sky and— fuck, I have no idea what I'm saying right now," she put a fist against her forehead and exhaled a pent up breath. "But I wanna life with you. Okay? Like together. I wanna be your wind and you be my sky and lets be the real deal?"

I felt like the air had been sucked out of my lungs. Was this real? She wanted the real deal? I wasn't even sure if I was dreaming or not. After I'd been waiting months to make her mine and here she was, declaring that she wanted that too, I felt frozen.

Her breathless voice whispered my name. "Heath?"

I closed the distance between us in three long strides, swept her into my arms and kissed her, hard. Fuck, she was everything. Everything I'd ever want. Need. Her fingers went into my hair, her chest pressed into mine. Our kiss became frantic and furious. Hands were moving fast and I couldn't get her close enough.

With one hand around the back of her neck, I used my free one to grip her thigh and lift her up. She hooked her legs around my waist and squeezed. Her nails scratched my bare back as her little moans filled the air. "Is that a yes?" She was breathless as my mouth dragged down on to her throat, my fingers wound in her hair.