Sofia grabs her purse from the seat and slides out of the bench. I guess this means we’re done.
“I’m done,” she announces as I grab my jacket in my hand and slide out to stand in front of her. “You don’t have to leave. I can see myself out.”
I don’t bother saying anything to her, instead I hold out my hand for her to walk ahead of me. I hold up my hand to a couple of the guys as I walk out. My hand itches to slip it into hers as we walk around the building and toward the back, where I see her car parked, but she’s one step ahead of me.
The sound of her shoes clicking is the only thing that makes noise. There isn’t even another car on the street. “This is me,” she says from the back of her car.
I stand in front of her. “How serious is it?” I tilt my head to the side, waiting for her to answer, hoping like everything that it isn’t.
“None of your business,” she retorts, her eyes staring straight into mine. I nod my head at her. “We are two friends having a conversation.” She throws my words back in my face. I smirk at her, always knowing those words would come back to bite me in the ass.
My whole body fills with nerves. I make sure my eyes never leave hers when I say the words, “The last thing I want is to be your friend and we both know it.”
She lowers her eyes just a second before looking back at me. “I know a couple of things.” She crosses her arms in front of her. “One, I didn’t want to be here but you didn’t give me a choice.” The lie comes out of her mouth so smoothly. We both know she didn’t have to come here tonight, but she did, and I don’t know who I’m going to owe that she is here, but I will pay them double. “Two, what I also know is that we shared something”—she takes a deep breath in—“a while ago, but now it’s gone.”
“What if I want it back?” I ask the loaded question.
She pffts out, cocking her hip to the side. “You think I’m going to be your rebound?” She points at herself.
I can’t help but chuckle, my whole body on alert. My hand clenches my jacket so tight I think my fingers are turning white. “You aren’t anyone’s rebound or second choice.” I take a step toward her, my feet not even caring what my head is saying. At this point, I’m not thinking about anything but her. I stand so close to her I can feel her breath on me. “You’re the fucking first choice every single time.” The words come out in almost a whisper. My hand drops my jacket to the ground and flies to hold her face. She gasps just as my lips touch hers and I feel like I just walked into heaven.
sofia
Everything happens in slow motion, or at least it feels like that. One minute I’m sitting down in the booth and he’s saying things I need to compartmentalize, and the next, he’s asking me if I’m dating someone. The fucking balls on this guy, he literally asked someone to marry him. Now he’s asking me if I’m dating someone and if it’s serious. I wanted to stab my fork in his eyeball. The audacity of him, and now his lips are on mine and I want to hate it and tell myself to push him away. But the minute his tongue slides into my mouth, it’s like the first time all over again, except now it’s going to be worse because I remember what it’s like to be kissed by Matthew.
His hands move from my face and are buried in my hair as he pulls me even closer to him. His head moves to the side to deepen the kiss, and I forget it all. I forget that I’m pissed at him. I forget I wanted to slap him across the face. My hands move on their own as they go to his hips and then up his sides, slowly moving to his chest where his heart beats under my palms. Our hearts beat almost at the same rhythm. I want to push him away from me but I get lost in the kiss. I get lost into everything that Matthew Petrov is. He’s charming, he’s beautiful, he’s funny, he’s the love of my life, yet he’s also the one who broke my heart.
He moves his nose against mine. “Matthew.” His name comes out in a whisper or a plea, I don’t really know nor do I trust myself if he’s touching me.
“I love when you say my name.” His voice is a whisper also, right before he comes back to kiss me. I close my eyes for a second and tell myself I never had a last kiss with him, so this is going to be the last one, but even my head laughs at me. My tongue fights with his as they go around and around and around.
My hands fall from his chest and I take a step back from him. His hands fall from inside my hair as my head tingles from his touch. My lips are still wet from his kiss as both of us just stare at each other. My eyes move over his and then down to his chest to where my hands just were. “You kissed me.”