3
He chuckled. She wasn't going to make this easy for him. Yet another trait he adored about her. "I'd say that you were joking."
"What if I said I wasn't?"
"Then I'd say I'm the luckiest man on earth."
She tilted her head and smirked, "Really?"
He looked deep into her eyes then. His sadness had been replaced by a sparkle in his eye. "Really."
She broke their gaze and stared at her empty coffee cup. Without a word, she stood again and went to the kitchen. When she returned, her cup was full and she carried the pot over to fill his mug. She returned the kitchen again and returned to her seat on the couch. He was thankful that she'd filled his cup. It meant that she didn't want him to leave yet. The silence, though, was killing him. But he waited for her to find her words.
Finally, "You know, I've waited for this moment for a long time. I've played the conversation over and over in my head. I knew exactly what I wanted to say. I knew exactly how I wanted to walk toward you. I knew the exact point I wanted to kiss you." She wanted to kiss him? That had to be good, he thought. "But now, well, let's just say it's not going as planned."
"How was it planned?"
"It doesn't matter."
"It matters to me."
She looked at him with her half smile, "Yeah?"
He nodded, "Yeah."
"Well, first of all, I never thought you'd be the one asking me. My whole plan was centered on me convincing you that I was right; that we could make this work. Now, it's like it's the other way around."
"Okay. Well, how's this?" He put his cup on the coffee table and leaned toward her. "I know that I might not be the easiest person to be around, and I know that I've made a lot of mistakes. I've hurt you, and I can't take that back. Trust me, that if I could change one thing, I'd take all that hurt back. But since I can't, I'll make this promise to you." He raised a hand then and placed it on her cheek. "I promise that, if you'll give me the chance, I'll spend every moment I can replacing that hurt with happiness and prove to you that we can make this work." As he drew her face toward him, she never deviated her eyes from his. The sparkle in his eyes turned to deep passion as their lips met for the first time. It was a brief kiss, light and feather-like. But the magic and passion that was held in that moment would never be replaced.
He pulled back from her, but left his hand on her cheek. After a few moments of silence, "How'd I do?"
She smiled. That smile intoxicated him. "Better than any of my plans."