Our hands hold each other the whole time, both of us almost on edge when his slow song “Dive” comes on. The minute his voice comes out and sings the beginning, I don’t think. I just pull her out of the row and walk down the aisle with her running behind me to keep up, but I make my way to the back as I wave to the guy blocking the hallway to where her office is. Thank fuck it’s the same guy who works the game because he just smiles and opens the curtain for me to go in the back. I open her door, the lights are off but a small light on under her desk, pulling her in, and closing the door. I look down at our hands still together. My chest heaving, I look at her leaning against the door while she looks up at me and it’s there. The look I’ve been waiting to see, that I’ve hoped to see. The look that makes me see I’m not the only one in this.
“Max,” she whispers.
My eyes go back down to see our hands still attached. I slip my hand out of hers and turn to face her, both my hands going to the side of her head. Her hands go onto my chest.
“Max,” she says again and it’s almost like a plea.
“Allison,” I say, looking down at her. “I tried. Tried to ignore this.”
Her hands move up on my chest, softly, slowly. “Kiss me. Please, Max, just kiss me.”
And I bend my head as she tilts her head back a touch and my lips touch hers, soft at first. Electricity shoots through me. I move back again. One hand goes to her cheek and my thumb rubs her chin. I lean back down again, this time not going slow. This time my mouth opens and my tongue goes into her mouth as she gasps out. This time my tongue twirls with hers. This time I kiss her with everything I have. My hand goes around her waist and I push her closer to me, and her hands finally wrap around my neck, our mouths never leaving each other. We kiss each other as if it’s the last time we will ever see each other. We give in to the months of tension. We give in to the crashing around us, and I pray to fuck we are still standing after this.
Chapter Seventeen
Allison
It’s happening. Either that or I’m having a stroke and this is my way into heaven.
Since I was little, I used to see the way Cooper would kiss Mom. It would be like the Princes would kiss the Princesses. It’s the kiss that you read about in the fairy tales. It’s a kiss as a girl you wait patiently for. Each time you kiss a frog hoping he turns into a prince. And this moment right here with Max’s lips on mine, with his tongue dancing with mine, I know this kiss right here is what a kiss is supposed to be. A kiss that, if anything happens, I know will be the best kiss of my life.
My day started with me waking up with big red puffy eyes from crying. Crying for actually believing that we had something, crying because he showed up there after all this, poured his heart out, and then just left. He didn’t give me a chance to say anything, to tell him that it wasn’t just him, that it was me, too. That I was feeling the same thing he was.
After I closed the door I curled up in a ball and chills filled my body, so I shivered on the couch all night wrapped in the biggest blanket I could find in the house as I watched the night turn into morning. My body ached so much it hurt to stand up and as I stand in the kitchen and wait for the water to boil the doorbell rings. I don’t know who I expect it to be, but I’m not expecting a man holding a FedEx envelope. I sign for it and open it up and gasp out loud when I see two Ed Sheeran tickets.
I pick up my phone and call Matthew right away. “And you said you didn’t have pull,” I say as soon as he answers.
“What the fuck are you talking about now?” he asks, confused.
“The Ed Sheeran tickets I just got.” I slap them down. “Who the hell would give these? I mean, besides you and Cooper.” I slap my head. “Okay, I gotta call Dad.” I hang up and call him.
“Baby girl,” he says right away.
“Dad, how did you find tickets to Ed? I’ve been looking for ages,” I say.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, but if it makes you happy I did it,” he says and I stand here in the kitchen thinking about who the fuck could have gotten me the tickets. “Either way, you are going to bring mace with you, right?” he asks as I roll my eyes and tell him I’ll call him back.