Waking Up With Him

-Fall 2016-

Music Recommendation: - Celestials- Ed Sheeran

That day was a rough one. I had gotten yelled at because I was late in submitting my assignments. I had gotten bullied by the same person bullying me for the previous month. I had passed out during cross country and I had woken up in the clinic.

I had a lot to tell Reese for the day. He was waiting for me when I got to the tree. And I was near tears when I got there. We sat with our backs against the tree until I was brave enough to tell him.

I didn’t tell him about the bullying. I didn’t want him to think of me as weak.

“Did you tell me everything that happened today?” He asked after I was finished.

I nodded. The tears were no longer there but I wiped my eyes just to double-check.

“What about Mathews?” He asked.

He was looking at me straight in the eyes. The air had just grown colder and the leaves were now rustling above me.

The tree above us was the only one with rustling leaves. How strange.

He was looking at me with sincerity and honesty. He was looking at me with concern. And he was looking at me with anger that I had been hiding something from him.

“I was scared to tell you.” I muttered.

I broke our eye contact. He listened to my story and then he put two fingers under my chin and raised it to meet his eyes.

“He’ll never bother you again. No one will. I’ll make sure of it.”

He now sounded mad at Mathews. Like he would kill him. He was like my shield.

I was confused.

“But why?”

“Because I love you, Amy.”

He leaned in and kissed me.

No warning.

No music.

No bold letters.

He leaned in and just kissed me. Leaving my heart thumping against my chest.

Then a strong sleep overcame me and I went to sleep before I could react to our sudden kiss.

I woke up.

“Reese?” I mumbled before I had any sense of anything else.

There was soft grass below me. I could hear the birds chirping above me. The sunlight was warm against my arms. A leather jacket was covering me.

And his jeans were just next to me.

“Hm?” He asked, “Good morning…well, 3 PM is hardly morning is it?”

Then I shot up.

“3 PM! How long have I been asleep? Holy SHIT! NO!!! I’m gonna---”

He put his finger on my lips.

“Shh. You need a break.”

He leaned in and kissed me again.

My second kiss. But I was awake this time. I savoured it fully. The feeling of his lips on mine. I would remember that moment forever.

That day I went home and continued my story.

Her prince is now hers.

And she is officially his.

She is his.

She doesn’t wanna be anyone else’s.

Not that he would let her.

The next day, when I walked into the campus, everyone was staring at me. Either with jealousy or awe. Or maybe anger or confusion. Reese was popular in my school. I had just been too distracted to notice him. And he had announced he was dating me.

I didn’t even know we were dating.

But I was glad either way.

Mathews and anyone else who had bothered me apologized to me.

Reese’s fans glared at me as if they would kill me but they weren’t brave enough to make a move.

I smiled as I saw him turn into the corridor. He smiled as our eyes met and I ran into his arms.

“Good morning, baby.” He whispered into my ears as he gently brushed his lips against my ear.

I can’t put my happiness into words. I had gotten the boy of a girl’s dreams. I had gotten the boy of my dreams.

I did say that it was fate. That it was meant to be.

This was my first boyfriend. I had just entered Holly Bourne’s world of love, kisses hugs, laughs, and tears and finally….heart breaks.

I loved him. I loved him more than I loved falling in love.

I continued my story that night.

The prince is engaged to her.

She is happy.

She is glad.

She is bursting with joy.

And so is he.

Even though he shows it way less.

I had been waiting for this moment for a long time now. Through my mother’s extreme love life, I had thought that love was stupid. I lived in fantasies because I was scared of reality.

He made me feel like my troubled heart was a million miles away,

He made me feel like I was drunk on stars and we were dancing out into space.

But Love could be better than novels. Words couldn’t describe a lot of things. The feeling of ultimate joy. The process of falling in love, the way your first kiss hangs in your memories. The way you’re always thinking of falling in love. The way your heart is always somewhere else. The way you get lonely when you’re away from your love.

I tried my best to explain them in my story.

But no words were enough.

Those feelings were feelings.

And you had to live and learn sometimes.