𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬 . . . 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐰𝐬

•seven•

after billy's sudden burst to josie, he felt all the pressure his father was giving him about making a sweet and rich girl cry. mr. andrews even made him go over to the pye residence with a fresh bouquet of flowers and apologize to josie in person.
the following week at school, everyone knew that josie was as happy as can be but billy would have rather been anywhere else at the time. though he wanted to do one thing more than any other. he wanted to apologize to marissa and tell her how he truly felt about their friendship.
gilbert and marissa started to hang out more and more and the brown-haired boy had started falling for the girl with blazing blue eyes. marissa was lying if she said that she didn't feel the same way. the pair both too scared of rejection to say a word.
after the school day, gilbert and marissa had made plans to go to the little cliff over the ocean. billy had heard of these plans and wanted to interrupt their get together, but his father told him he could never talk to marissa again if he knew what was good for him. so instead, he watched from the other side of the room, josie under his arm, as gilbert wrapped the colorful scarf around marissa's neck.
gilbert and marissa walked out of the off-white building shoulder-to-shoulder talking about whatever they could. they walked towards the woods and soon enough, they were at the cliff looking down to the waves crashing on the rocks below. they both took a seat on the browning grass and scooted closer to one another for warmth and comfort. gilbert wrapped one of his hands around marissa's tiny frame and pulled her closer to the side of his body. he turned to look at her face and she shifted to turn her gaze towards the boy in front of her.
"i actually had something i wanted to say to you," gilbert spoke suddenly, "i've been holding it in for weeks and i don't think i can keep it from you any longer."
marissa was worried by the words gilbert spoke out. "what do you mean gilbert? what's wrong? are you ok?"
gilbert chuckled slightly at her sudden uneasy mood. "no, it's nothing bad, i hope. i just i-i-uh." he couldn't seem to get the words out of his mouth but told himself he needed to do it for both of their sakes. he took a deep breath and mumbled out, "i really like you. i have for a while and i mean that i like you as more than a friend."
marissa's eyes widened as she didn't expect gilbert to say the one thing she hoped he would. gilbert started to panic and tried to cover up his words. "i-i'm sorry that i said that i shouldn't have said what i said and i know that you don't like me like that but i just, i'm rambling." he nervously scratched the back of his neck.
marissa simply smiled back at him and said, "what you just did was very brave. it's not easy to admit to someone that you like them in that kind of way," she paused for a minute thinking out her next words, "now it's my turn to be brave and say that i feel the same way." the two sat looking into each other's eyes trying to read them for signs of a joke, but all they saw was the pure joy that had sparked in the other person from simple words spoken at the right time. smiles grew on their faces and gilbert started leaning in towards marissa's face. she dodged the boy's lips but only enough so that he could kiss her cheek.
"i don't want our first kiss to be so soon. i want it to happen when it happens and when i feel that i'm ready. i hope you can understand that," marissa explained. gilbert smiles slightly and nodded his head slowly. the two then decided it would be a good time to start heading back to their own homes, so they parted ways after they shared a sweet hug.

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word count:709
i really like this chapter because their is finally something interesting happening so i hope you enjoyed!
xoxo~angie