As they finally take the hint and get out of the way, Via is laughing, and damn if that smile on her face doesn't capture my heart.
"Hi," she says on an exhale of a breath and a gut laugh as I swoop her up into my arms and spin her around once. Once standing still, I place her feet back on the ground and run my hand under her chin, tilting her head to mine.
Unable to wait another second, we reach in simultaneously, our mouths colliding. Not deepening the kiss in front of everyone, I pull back with a smile and plant a kiss on her cheek, directly next to her mouth. She lets out a huff, and her eyes grow wide. I pull my face away from hers slowly and pull her back into a hug. "Hey, Rosie," I whisper into her ear, my voice more raspy than usual, as I soak in the moment and let her sweet scent fill my nostrils. Damn, I've missed her. My tall frame towers over hers. She's nowhere near short. I stand at six foot four, and she's about five foot five. I instantly appreciate our height difference as I notice that her head rests perfectly on my chest when I hold her to me like this. Placing one more kiss on the apple of her cheek, I back away slowly but keep a hand on the small of her back.
"Oh, would you two just fuck already!" Izzy mouths off from the porch in front of us with a laugh.
Via begins to choke literally, and I can feel the heat radiating off her blushing cheeks.
"Eww, that's a mental image I could live without. It's bad enough that I always get stuck watching you two weirdos suck each other's faces." My sister Abbie says from next to Izzy as she makes gagging noises and gestures. This only pulls a screaming laugh out of Jett, who finds all this utterly hilarious.
Izzy comes up behind her and shoves her playfully. "Hey! We're not weird," Izzy says, laughing, not denying the part about her and Jett sucking faces. Abbie rolls her eyes in return. Abbie is twelve and thinks it's weird that Izzy and Jett like to make out "for fun." They don't care who sees. She's not alone in that thought.
Jett likes Izzy; they became good friends when she came to the island with Via over the summers, but Izzy never seems interested. Not as interested as he is, at least. She was down for making out with him and maybe occasionally banging him because she mentioned to Via that he was "decent." Still, she never showed any interest in anything further. That shit drives Jett even more crazy for her.
"Speaking of which, can I come with you guys? I don't want to stay with the spit swappers!" Abbie groans.
"No, Abs, not tonight." There are few people I have a soft spot for in this world other than Via, Abbie, and Natty. Seeing the annoyance on Abigail's face when I tell her no pulls at my heart a little, but tonight is about Via and me, for once.
"Wait, go with us where?" Via cocks an eyebrow my way as a slight smile pulls at the corners of her mouth, obviously confused. I pull her into my side, lean to her ear, and whisper, "I told you, it's a surprise," I flash her a slight smirk.
"You know I hate surprises," Via says under her breath as she throws me a look, trying to appear displeased, but she can't cover how excited she looks. She's trying damn hard, though. The apples of her cheeks are redder than they usually are, which tells me she's blushing.
"You'll like this one, I promise." I return with another quick smirk, and she rolls her eyes.
Chapter six
Via
2017
The drive down to the island was anything but quiet. We talk almost daily on the phone, some days for hours. We hadn't seen each other face to face in way too long, so we had a lot of laughs, cheesy jokes, and useless facts to catch each other up on. These conversations are only amazing in person, seeing the other person's reaction to every word up close—the ones that phone calls and Facetime cannot replace.
It's been a year since Ander officially asked me to be his girlfriend, although I have always been his, even when he didn't know it. Our parents love us together. However, I don't think they would be happy if they knew we'd snuck off in the night together. I don't really care about anyone else's feelings right now. It's time for me to be selfish.
Ander's phone died on the way here, and my phone doesn't get an ounce of service down on the island, which doesn't matter much to either of us. At this moment, electronics or anything else related to the world outside our own has been the last thingon our minds. It's nice disconnecting from the outside world, especially with him.
I know he said this was a surprise, but I'm anything but surprised, which makes it all the more perfect. There's no place else he'd take me and no place else I'd rather go with him than the island. It will always be our place. When we first got down here, we parked at my family's beach house and walked out to the field.Our field.
We reminisced about when we first met over ten years ago, growing up together, and all the stupid shit we've done throughout the years. Time with him here in this place is my fondest childhood memory. We were lying on the ground looking up at the stars. I've always loved looking at the sky at night. There's something special about taking in the universe like that that reminds me my problems are so minor in the grand scheme of things. It's always brought me comfort.
As we lay together, I ran my hand through the grass, stopping on a particular weed. I pull it from the earth and hold it up. I can't help but laugh, thinking back to all those years ago when Ander wished I was the type of girl who made wishes on dandelions. At this exact moment, I decided to give it a try. Through my chuckles, of course. I huff in a deep breath, hold it in for a beat, silently make my wish, and blow it out. I watch the petals circle and dance with the wind into the night air above us. Anders's soft chuckle and "Hm, so shedoeswish on dandelions" beside me sends electricity through my veins. We both stay quiet for a bit after that.
I can feel Ander's fingers grazing my hip over my jeans, and I sense he's looking at me now. I turn my head away from the night sky, breaking the trance it held on me, to see him propped up on his right elbow, looking down at me. His light brown eyes look black in this light, and I don't mind it. I could get lost in them just the same.
I see a smirk dance around the corner of his lips as he starts to talk. "What are you thinking about right now?"
I roll my eyes as I let out a breath, "Leave it to you to want to get inside of my head," I say, laughing. He raises an eyebrow and nudges me softly. I shake my head at him and laugh a little harder.
Before I can answer, I can feel my cheeks flush, so I pull my hands up and cover my face as I try to hold back a laugh. Ander stands up and reaches down, extending his hands to help me up. I grab them, letting him do most of the work by pulling me off the ground.
Once I'm up and on my feet, he doesn't immediately let go of my hands like I expected. He uses them to pull me closer to him. Nervously, I look down, and he releases one of my hands, placing his hand on my chin and lifting my face towards him—slowly, softly, gently.
He leans in closer, his eyes locked on mine. With the other hand, he tucks my hair behind my ear like he always does, and with his thumb on my chin, he brushes it softly over my lips. Out of natural reaction, I lick them and bite down on my bottom lip. I can see the fire behind his eyes begin to burn wild. He slides his hand around my waist, pulling me into him, slowly inching our faces closer together.
The panic ensues. It's been almost a year since Ander and I have truly kissed. What if I don't remember what to do, and I make it awkward?
Where do my hands go?
