Little Miss Perfect | Neteyam¹

Chapter 33: Finally Together

Italicize - someone's thoughts or a story from the past

Bold - sign language 

After Norm checked up on Marali, and gave her a sling for her arm, Marali and Neteyam left the Mauri pod to find a quiet place to talk. It was hard considering that it was midday, but they both decided that it would probably be best to sneak into the forest so that they could ensure that no one would be listening to their conversation.

Marali's head was clouded with thoughts as she mindlessly followed Neteyam through the forest. Once they got to the clearing that they frequently went to before everything happened, both teens sat down on the ground below them.

Neteyam grabbed Marali's hand and nervously played with her fingers as he carefully watched Marali's facial expressions. He wasn't sure why she wanted to talk to him, but he hoped that it wouldn't be something bad.

"So uh, what did you want to talk about?" Neteyam cautiously asked.

"There's actually a couple of things I want to talk about," Marali said, and Neteyam stared at her and waited for her to continue. "Well, the first thing is, that I originally said that I wanted to take this," She said, motioning between the two, "slow, but due to recent events, I don't think that's the best solution."

"So, what do you want to do?" Neteyam questioned with raised eyebrows.

"I don't know, Neteyam. That's one of the reasons I wanted to talk." Marali said, "I mean getting shot and almost dying is kind of an eye-opener. We both have feelings for each other, so what's the point of taking things slow?" Neteyam slowly nodded his head and pursed his lips.

"I still haven't earned your trust, Mari. You can't let me off so easy," Neteyam said, and Marali looked at him, confused. "Who said anything about letting you off easy? I've got the rest of our lives to get payback for what you did," She said with a snort, and Neteyam playfully rolled his eyes before his face became serious.

"The rest of our lives? You plan to spend the rest of your life with me?" Neteyam questioned.

"Well, yeah. I'm in love with you, so why wouldn't I want to spend the rest of my life with you?" Marali said with a smile.

"You love me?" He breathed out.

"So much that it hurts," She responded.

The boy looked at her with the biggest smile on his face as he grabbed her other hand, and traced soothing circles between her thumb and pointer finger. This was the first time she had ever told him that she loved him, and his reaction was the cutest thing she had ever seen.

"When did you know that you were in love with me?" Neteyam asked.

Marali thought about it for a moment before speaking, "Why don't we start with when I realized that I liked you, and then we'll work our way up?" She asked, and he eagerly nodded his head.

"Do you remember when you gave me that really pretty flower?" Marali questioned, and Neteyam froze. Did she realize that she liked him around the same time he realized that he liked her?

"Yeah," He whispered.

"When you gave me that flower, I thought you were really sweet. At that point, I think I already had a little crush on you, but I was too young to realize it. But when you saw me crying because I lost the flower, and you immediately ran to find me another one, I realized that it was more than a crush but less than love." Marali said, and Neteyam could feel his heart ramming against his chest.