Page 4 of Never Forget You
“So, this carnival… it sounds like it might be a little more exciting than you made out to me,” I declare in a teasing tone of voice. “I’ve been looking forward to the excitement ever since I first left you, you know.”
“Oh, well, I have as well… but mostly because I get to spend time with you.” He laughs. “But yes, it is one of the more thrilling things to happen around here, but that doesn’t mean you’ll have the time of your life.”
I pull him a little closer to me. “Of course I will. I’m going to be with you, aren’t I? It’s going to be incredible.”
To be honest, it seems like we’re both in shock about one another liking each other. It’s kinda cool that we both feel the same way. I’ve never had a connection with a guy before, so I’ve never had any real idea how it’s supposed to feel, but this has to be right. We’re on the same page, falling head over heels together in thissweet vacation romance that I already want to be so much more. He’s the sort of person that I want in my life forever, even if I know that my father would never approve. But it’smylife and these sorts of choices are supposed to be my own. He has his own life that he can focus on. Maybe this can be the start of my breaking free of the walls that have been wrapped around me my whole life. Maybe it’s time to finally be me.
“Oh, wow, that was insane!” I certainly don’t look as nice as I did when I first left the hotel. The fairground rides that we’ve been on have made me a right mess. I don’t even know how my hair is. I would never let myself look this way in front of my friends from back home or they would judge me to hell… but it’s different with Harry. He seems to love my having a good time, and I’m sure as hell having the best time ever. “So crazy.”
“It was wild, wasn’t it?” Harry laughs. “That’s a new ride this year and I wasn’t sure I could handle it.”
“Please don’t tell me that you nearly threw up.” I find myself bent double with laughter. “Oh, my God.”
“Hey, I held it in! It didn’t go all over you. You should just be glad of that, you know.”
And then something magical happens. In the middle of the laughter, certainly not when I’m expecting it at all. Harry reaches out and takes my hand, and it feels glorious. Honestly, it’s like one of those cheesy moments in a rom-com movie, only it isn’t cheesy at all. It’s absolutely incredible. I love every moment of it.
“Is this… okay?” Harry goes a little funny shade of red. “I don’t want to push you too far…”
“I like it.” God, he fills me with a confidence that is absolutely delicious. I love it. I can’t get enough. “And I like you.” That’s something I never thought I would say to another person, but I am. “I like you a lot.”
“And I like you too.” The lights twinkle around him, around the pair of us. There is something so delightful and dream-like about the moment that I want him to lean in. I might even make the first move. I want a kiss…
“Harry!” As soon as we hear someone yelling to Harry, we jump apart like we’ve been electrocuted. It’s a younger voice, so definitely not someone I know, but I can’t kiss him like this. “Harry!”
“Oh, that’s my best friend, Matthew,” he tells me in a worried tone of voice. “Sorry, I hope this is okay.”
I let out a little laugh. I might be disappointed because we haven’t shared a kiss yet, but it doesn’t mean that won’t happen. We have plenty of time for that, don’t we? We have all night. “I would like to meet your friend.”
Harry introduces me to Matthew, and I do talk to him a little, but to be honest, I find it hard to take my eyes off Harry the entire time. I am completely infatuated by him. I want to cling onto him forever more. I can’t explain it. I know it’s totally insane to feel this way over someone I’ve just met, but he makes me feel new. I love it.
The night continues in the same magical way, my happiness growing by the minute. We spend some time with Matthew, going on some of the rides with him, but he soon finds otherfriends and vanishes with them, leaving us alone to eat cotton candy and to get to know one another a little better. His life is so different from mine, and that’s what makes him so interesting to me. I can’t get enough of listening to him. I want to know it all.
There is even a sweet moment where he tries to win me a big teddy on one of the games, which is really like a scene from a teen movie. It doesn’t quite work out like that. Instead, he ends up getting a tiny handmade shell creature with googly eyes, which I actually love a million times better. This is the sort of thing that I can take with me anywhere I go, so I can always have a little piece of Harry and this night with me. I want to remember them forever.
“I don’t want this night to end,” I moan as the carnival starts to come to a close. “It’s been perfect.”
“This doesn’t have to be the end of our time together, though,” Harry reassures me with a beautiful smile. “We can spend as much time as you want together while you are here because I’ve had the best time ever.”
His eyes lock on mine. I can feel something shifting in the air, swirling around us, locking us into a bubble together. The rest of the world simply melts away as I stare at him, adoring him, trying to silently let him know that I don’t think this is just a vacation romance, but rather, the start of something special, something new…
And then it happens. It’s unexpected and inevitable all at once. He crashes his lips to mine and sets my body alight. Flames flicker all the way through me. Fireworks explode and my stomach does flip-flops. There are butterflies flapping in my veins which might as well be the size of birds. It’s incredible, phenomenal, overwhelmingly perfect. For a first kiss ever, thisis beautiful. His lips are soft and delicious. His hands sit on the best place on my hips, sending a shiver down my spine. I can almost feel his heart pounding in rhythm with mine. We’re bonded tightly together in this glorious moment, and I truly never want it to end. I could kiss Harry forever.
“Wow.” Eventually, he breaks the moment, but he rests his forehead against mine so we aren’t too far apart, and I can see the immense emotions that he’s feeling at the same time. “That was amazing.”
I giggle girlishly. “I am spending every second with you while I’m here, I’m just warning you.”
“Oh, I couldn’t imagine anything better. It will be the time of our lives. I promise you.”
4
HARRY
“Ican’t believe it,” Matthew says, almost with a wistfulness to his tone. “I actually can’t believe it. You and the rich girl, who is absolutely one hundred percent out of your league, are actually together.”
“I know, right?” I laugh back. “We’ve been together every single day since she’s been here and we’re going from strength to strength. I can’t believe how lucky I am to have her. Can you? She’s the perfect woman.”
“She does seem perfect, which is why I can’t work out what she’s doing with you. She must be a little bit crazy.”