Page 65 of Don’t Forget Me

I waited under the golden sun. It surprised me how beautiful spring was at its full potential here in Edinburgh. Back home, it was hot, dry, humid, and suffocating all at once. But, the view I had before me was out of this world. The roses in the field danced with the slight breeze that flowed through them.

Slight, quiet footsteps neared me. I looked up, standing from the log I’d been sitting on.

Warmth curled his lips. Remarkable. The sunlight marked his sapphire eyes. I couldn’t help but grin as well.

“I got your letter,” he said.

“I’m glad,” I replied.

“Why are we here?”

And all the words, the apologetic speech I had planned, disappeared like smoke. A brow of his furrowed.

“Are you okay?” he asked, approaching me. The allure of his gaze pulled me in completely. I didn’t know I could swim in a person’s stare until I met his ocean look. I was able to dive into his soul, and I didn’t wish to be pulled out from under.

I was the one who caused this drift between us, and he was the one asking if I was okay. I should be asking him that question.

“I asked you out here because I can’t really talk freely when I’m at the academy.”

“Okay,” he said more as a question.

“I’m sorry for what I did the night that we went into town.”

He shook his head. “It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

“I am worried because I noticed how you’ve changed.”

“I haven’t changed.”

“Yes, you have. You don’t talk to me like you did before.”

Ezra examined the field of flowers beside us. I hated this distance so deeply. We were beginning to build a bridge of connection, and now it felt unfinished. As if I’d been screaming at him from the other side and he couldn’t hear me.

It was kind of him to take me out on a walk, letting me see his favorite spots in town. He was letting me into the innermost parts of his heart. Ezra let me open my Pandora’s Box that was my past. Then he made sure to remind me of my worth.

And then it clicked.

I had an idea of how he felt for me, thanks to Camille’s incessant squealing that day, but I didn’t want to admit it. Because then I’d have to confess that I felt the same way. Maybe even more than he did.

Feelings, that was never something I’d ever had for someone else. No one had stolen my heart before.

He stole it with one glance, one word, one smile. It was troubling not to give in to the magnetic force of him and everything that he was. I was entrapped in a love haze. And surprisingly, I didn’t want to be set free.

The words left my mouth before I could even stop myself.

“I know you feel something for me.” I clapped a hand to my forehead.

He turned around immediately, analyzing me as I exposed his secret. His face had turned a slight red. Every bone in my body quivered.

“You don’t know what I feel,” he mumbled.

Oh, but I did. I knew how he felt because I felt it too. I felt it all. I had never experienced this euphoria with anyone else, and I would be brave enough to say that I didn’t believe I would have it with anyone else.

My heart raced when I was around him. My stomach fluttered whenever he smiled at me. And my mind yearned for him when he wasn’t around. This wasn’t a crush. This was more.

It was now or never.

I sighed, stepping toward him quietly, gently. Setting a hand over his shoulder, his eyes had gotten blurry, and there was despair in them.