When It Rains In Ocala

8- Remember When You Answered

Breathe, Maggie. Just. Breathe. You can do this. You are brave. Don’t forget to breathe.

After a small self-pep talk and one deep breath, I lifted my fist into the air and pounded it three times against the dark wood that was a door. A front door to be more specific.

My breathing stopped, yet again, when the door swung open and Evan stood on the other side. He didn’t look sick anymore, which makes sense because Jason had said that it was only a twenty-four hour thing, and he was standing there with a nervous smile on his face when he saw that it was me. Anxiety filled his eyes, but I’m sure that mine mirrored his anxiousness tenfold.

“Hey.” He said timidly, eyeing the paper in my hand cautiously.

Without saying a word, I pushed the first piece of paper towards him. He took it with a look of confusion before unfolding it and he began to read what I had written on the piece of notebook paper last night.

Dear Evan,

If you get to hide behind a note, then so do I. I don’t feel sick or anything, but I just don’t think I could voice these words without like, puking or something. Okay, so here it goes: All my life, I’ve been this good girl that everybody thinks is perfect, and it’s boring. Doing everything right and not breaking any rules. But when I’m with you, I don’t feel like that sheltered brat, I feel like I’m on top of the world with you- like I can do anything. Like we can do anything. And I know we’ve only known each other for a little over a week, but it feels like it’s been so long. I feel like I know everything about you, and you know everything about me. And it is scary, it’s terrifying, really that somebody can make me feel this way. It’s terrifying to feel so strongly for a person that I’ve only known for a total of nine days. It might be wrong, but it feels so right. And it might be weird, but it’s our weird, and I like it.

Your sexy best friend,
Maggie

When it looked like he was finished reading while I just awkwardly stood there, he looked up at me with a small, yet still confused smile. Probably because I hadn’t answered his question. I smiled anxiously at him before silently handing him the second piece of paper that I held in my trembling hands.

It was the same letter that Jason had given me yesterday, only I had checked the “Yes” box. When he opened it, every crinkly noise could be heard a mile away because neither of us were speaking, and I wasn’t even breathing- I’d lost that ability long ago. Silence had engulfed us. A tense, anxious silence.

After a few short seconds of his mesmerizingly green eyes scanning the paper, he grinned. A heart stopping, ear-to-ear grin before looking up at me.

“You mean it?” He asked.

I nodded, frantically searching my brain for any glimpse of ability to speak. “Of course I mean it.” I finally managed with a short laugh.

His grin widened and I’m pretty sure I was grinning too, in pure excitement and relief.

“So I can like, kiss you now?” He asked, taking a step closer to me.

“I think so.” I responded. “I mean, don’t boyfriends kiss their girlfriends?” Wow, that sounded amazing. Really, really amazing.

With that, he took one last step to me before wrapping an arm around my waist and planting his lips on mine. I smiled into the soft kiss before wrapping my arms around his neck and deepening it.

It was a gorgeous kiss, with that indescribable feeling sprouting in my tummy and tickling every bone inside of my body. His lips moved with mine passionately, making my knees go weak and my mind to be taken over by a daze. Like a cloud of heaven and rainbows invaded my brain, making it hard for me to think about anything except for Evan and his lips on mine.