Spotlight |h.s|

Seventy Two

Aubrey Hart

The sun evades my eyes through their lids from the window of our room, the curtains being open and leaving nothing to prolong the darkness of night for any longer. Harry's arms are wrapped around my body as his chest presses to my back, his hands meeting clasped together in the center of my torso.

I still can't believe he beat me to it.

I had a whole speech planned out for him and everything, ready to finally share my feelings with him after what feels like years of waiting, and he said it before I got the chance. I had everything down to the comparison of my love for him to that of roses, books, and strawberries planned ahead of time. I thought the snow would make it more meaningful and make him a little less likely to reject me or something drastic, and as I let myself get caught up in the weather for a moment to try and calm my nerves about it all, he caught me off guard with the three-word phrase.

After our confessions last night, we stayed in the snow for a few more hours repeating the words to each other like a couple of idiots. He ended up getting too cold to stay out there, his nose being bright red and his teeth chattering in the low temperature. That was our cue to leave, leading us to come back here and take a warm shower in the bathroom connected to our room.

I thought I was happy when I realized I love him, but god, I don't think I've ever been this happy now that we've both actually said it.

I slowly turn my body around in his hold, his hands now being clasped on the small of my back and allowing me to get a good look at his sleeping face. He looks so calm, his long eyelashes resting on his cheeks and his cherry lips just barely being parted in his sleep.

He somehow picks up on my movement, his hug to my body getting tighter and making me tuck my lips into my mouth so I don't laugh as my face is now buried in the bare skin of his shoulder. I decide to hug him back, his hold on me getting tighter and letting me know that he is, in fact, awake.

I pull my head back to look at him, his puffed eyes looking into mine as his lips curve upward at the sight of me.

"Hi." He greets me with a tired voice, his hands moving up and down on my back a bit in an act of comfort.

"Hi." I reply with a grin.

His eyes run over my face for a minute as I squint from the bright lighting of the room reflecting off of the snow on the ground outside. He says nothing, quietly observing me which makes me feel unbearably nervous like his focus always seems to. I open my mouth to speak in an attempt to quiet the nerves, but he cuts me off.

He lazily pushes his lips into mine like he can't stop himself, muttering, "I love you," into the kiss and making my heart melt and my entire body relax instantly from that singular phrase.

"I love you." I say right back with a tired smile as I kiss him right back, never wanting to leave this very place wrapped up in the sheets right beside him in nothing but one of his baggy t-shirts.

He continues kissing me, every bit of the contact between us being extremely lazy due to the fact that we haven't even been awake for five minutes yet. We repeat the three words to each other over and over between kisses, everything about it still sounding so incredibly unfamiliar to leave each other's mouths in reference to the other person. I'm still not used to not having to hide it anymore, my stomach jumping whenever I hear or say it since it isn't some kind of secret I'm keeping anymore.

We're continuously saying the phrase on a loop, my hands leaving his back and arms exiting the hug to hold onto his jaw while his hands find my cheeks with endless repetitions of, "I love you," with each action from both of us. We've been waiting to say it for what feels like forever, and now we don't know how to stop.