After All This Time (A Sal Vulcano Love Story)

Chapter Nine

The movie was nothing too special, and even if it was, Vanessa couldn't have told you. All she could hear was the pounding of her heart and the constant screaming of the little voice inside her head.

Kiss him! Kiss him right now! Why aren't you kissing him?!

Every part of her just wanted to kiss him, or hold his hand, or something. Their friends were right- it had been far too long.

Suddenly, Vanessa felt an arm snake around her waist, pulling her closer. Shivers ran down her spine. Finally, something.

Sal was afraid he'd chew his bottom lip off before he ever got to use it to kiss Vanessa. His nerves were eating him alive. Part of him wanted to just jump already, just get it out of the way and kiss her. The rest, however, was scared stiff, too frightened to move.

The soundtrack began to slow, the song moving to a tender, romantic tone. Sal swallowed hard and figured this was what Q meant when he said he'd know when it was time.

He turned to look at Vanessa, whose face was still the most beautiful he'd ever seen, even in the dim, flickering light of the movie screen. She noticed his gaze and moved to face him, looking him in the eye for a moment.

"Vanessa..." Sal whispered.

"Yeah?" she whispered back.

There was nothing he could think to say, so he leaned in and finally connected his lips with hers.

As cliched and cheesy as it seemed, fireworks were going off in Vanessa's mind. She kissed Sal timidly at first, but as soon as he put a hand up to her face and parted his lips slightly, she couldn't contain herself any longer. She kissed him back fervently, making up for years of lost time.

Unbeknownst to them, Sivon and Brian had come up for air just in time to catch them in their first kiss. The couple giggled softly, pleased that their plan had worked.