Page 99 of The Love We Make

“It has always been us,” I added. Hoping that together we could hammer this into our brains once and for all.

She didn’t need many more words, though. In a flash, she was scooting closer to me, trying to figure out how she could get as close as possible in the limited space of the boat.

I pulled her into my lap and crashed my lips to hers. It wasn’t even something I had to think about. So natural and innate. Like it's what we had been doing for years.

She pulled back long enough to tell me, “God I love you, Ethan. The right kind. I always have.”

I crashed my lips back to hers as I nodded.

We continued to explore and savor each other’s lips under the moon until one of us finally had to come up for air. Not sure who pulled back first but we were both breathing like we had run a marathon.

“You were right,” she started as she rubbed my jaw with her thumb. “I am glad I saved myself for the right person. For the perfection that I craved. I am glad you were my first.”

“I am also your last, Maddy.”

She smiled and a blush rose up on her cheeks, “Yeah you are.”

I lifted her in my lap and stood up, her legs wrapping around me on instinct. She was about to hate me for a minute, but I had one more thing I had to follow up on.

Holding her in my arms, I began kissing her again, distracting her from knowing I was toeing my shoes off. Then, before she could realize what I was up to, I jumped in the water, holding her to me.

“Ethan!” She screamed as we came up for air. I had lost my hold on her when we hit the water and she was splashing around getting her bearings. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Something I couldn’t do when I was 10.” I pulled her into me and used my legs to keep us floating. “Something I wouldn’t have dared to do at 12.” I continued. “Something I used to dream about when I was 13.” I wrapped her legs back around me. “Something I thought I would never do when I was 15.”

I had backed us up close to the boat and held onto the ladder for support. We were both great swimmers, but I was about to make us stupid. I needed all the support I could get.

“What’s that?” She asked, even though she knew what was coming.

“I am going to tell you I love you, here, in this lake. And then I am going to make love to you.”

???

Madison and I didn’t need many more words than what had been said. There was an understanding between us of everything we had ever been through. Somehow, it finally came to fruition. What was always meant to be.

We docked the boat back at her parent’s pier and climbed up, still soaking wet from our lake swim. We walked hand in hand, goofy smiles on our faces, and love in our eyes.

We had made this walk together a million times but this one was my favorite. Because all acts and pretenses had been dropped. We were about to go tell our parents that we were no longerjustbest friends.

I was fucking giddy.

“Love you,” I whispered, one more time just because I could. Because now those words had new meaning to us.

“Love you,” she mimicked, still turning a shade of pink.

“Good, God. If I am seeing what I think I am seeing, then it’s about dang time!” My mom was standing on the porch, yelling across from where we stood. I suddenly realized my dad was next to her, laughing as he sipped on a beer.

“Are they back?” I heard. I looked toward the door and saw Madison’s parents emerge from my house. Her mom registered our approach and yelled, “You’re back!”

Something told me they anticipated this and was going to be happy for us. But nothing could prepare me for the love we felt as we made it to my yard and they met us, hugging us as if we had just come back from war.

A small part of me felt ridiculous. Were our parents seriously that invested in the outcome of our relationship?

Yes. I guess they were.

They had been best friends themselves for so long that seeing their kids happy, and together, was probably a huge deal for them.

“So what’s the plan?” My mom asked as we all sat on the porch.