[Continuation of Homemade Lemonade]

{Requested}

•12 Years Later•

         Remember all the stuff I had said about _________? Well... let's just say, after that day, things have changed between us. We started to have play dates everyday in eachother's front yard, have dinner at eachother's houses, we even hung out at school all the time. She was actually the type of person I wanted to be around all the time, she was funny, she was understanding, and she was just a person I genuinely liked.

        Actually, I don't know if 'liked' is the word, or I even loved her, I don't even know if the feelings I had for her were platonic. I was confused, I mean, who wouldn't like her. She's the one out of a million, her smile could brighten anyone's day. She was just so perfect. I sighed softly and stared up at the ceiling, unable to sleep, I turned my head and looked at the time.

3:50 AM

      I rubbed my tired eyes and sat up, reaching for my phone on my night stand.

       I dialed in _________'s number, then I stopped before pressing the call button. I couldn't call her at three in the morning, I was gonna wake her up and she would get all cranky because of it. I shifted my body until I was sitting up, my back against the headboard of my bed. The light that emmited from my phone darkening. After what seemed like forever, I finally decided to call her, I don't know what for, but I needed to hear her voice.

      I ran my fingers through my hair nervously as I put the phone to my ear, after three rings she picked up.

    "Keith? Why did you call me? It's like four in the morning?"

     Her voice was slightly groggy but it seemed like she had been awake for a while.

       "Sorry. I just wanted to talk, I'll leave you alone if you wan-"

         "No, it's fine. I actually wanted to talk to you too."

    
       I already had an idea of what she wanted to talk about, now that we were eighteen and seniors in highschool, graduation was was only two months away. __________ had been planning to go to her dream university for as long as I could remember and now she was accepted, I'm really happy for her, however she was moving out of town, and so was I. We were going to two different places that were way far apart from eachother, I was terrified of leaving her.

       "Oh? About what? Is it college again?" I asked, I heard her sigh from the other line.

       "Well, it kinda relates to that... in a way. But..." She hesitated, there was scuffling and then silence again.

        "I don't know... can you come over?"

       "Sure." I don't think 'come over' was the correct term for this situation, it was more like a 'can you sneak in?'. Let's just say _________'s mom didn't like the fact that I liked coming over because, 1. I was a boy, which is basically self explanatory and 2. I accidentally cracked the wind shield of her car when __________ and I were playing soccer. Yep.

       "I'll be there in five."

        "Thanks Keith."

       We hung up and I sprung up from bed, walking over to my closet and grabbing my black sweater, then slipping on some jeans that were on the floor. I quietly made my way out of the house, not needing to worry about waking my dad since he was gone working the night shift.

     I jogged across the empty and quiet street and over to __________'s front yard. I saw her curtains from the second floor move and then her face appeared, a smile already gracing her features. She lifted the window open and stuck her head out.

       "Come through the back, it'll be easier to sneak in." She whisper shouted, I nodded and jogged over to the backyard, having to jump the brown picket fence since the gate was loud and squeaky, I prefer not getting my cover blown.

      I made it to the back yard and saw the tree with a ladder attached to it that lead to the tree house __________ and I used to play house in when we were younger. I climbed the ladder until I was on the platform and from there I got onto the roof by her window. I tapped on it and she opened it for me.

     "Why hello, you must be my knight in shining armor." She joked and moved away so I could get in.

        "I guess if you want to put it that way." I offered a half smile, she giggled.

        She turned to her bed and sat down, grabbing a pillow and hugging it close to her chest. She wore nothing but some cozy blue pajama pants with white little clouds placed on them with a white tanktop. I looked around her room and saw trophies from when she did the science fair projects in grade school, pictures from our camping trip last summer, and even posters of her favorite shows and bands. She still had the Voltron lion figurines, even the special edition Red lion I had bought for her, in return I kept the quarter she had given me the day of our 'rivalry', I'd like to think the coin was a symbolization of our friendship. I still had it to this day.

      I glanced over at some of the framed pictures of when we went to the beach, the amusement park, then a picture of when we were ten we had a bake sale, we were grinning at the camera with a whisk in our hands and blotches of flour in our hair and faces. I smiled softly when I recalled the memory. _________ looked so much different now that she had grown up, her face looked more mature and her hair was much more manageable now than when she was younger, she used to be a little taller than me when we turned twelve then I got a growth spurt and ended up growing five inches taller than her (which she'll never forgive me for). But she got to get a kick out of when I went through puberty, my voice would be squeaky one moment, then super deep the next. I didn't mind though because I always picked on her for being shorter.

     I heard __________ let out an exasperated sigh from behind me, I turned around and she was holding her head in her hands, I walked over to her and plopped down on the bed, facing her.

      Her {H/C} tresses was pulled up into a bun, strands sticking out in a few directions. I knew she had alot on her mind when she did this, _________ was normally a very talkative person, and when she wasn't, she was either deep in thought, hesitating to say something, or hungry. I think the first two were the best options.

       "__________, if you need to say something, say it." I reminded and she pulled her head up, looking at me with those sympathetic eyes.

        "Okay... well... I don't know. I've... no... Um, I don't know how to put this..." She let out an airy laugh that felt empty to me, not like the ones where she was truly happy and you could just feel warmth and happiness come from it. She fiddled with her hands on top of the pillow that lay on her lap, her eyes darted down and she bit her lip nervously. I reached over and set my hands on hers, she looked up at me in surprise and I felt my heart skip a beat upon seeing the slight blush on her face despite the lack of light that emmited from her lamp on the nightstand.

      "Do you want me to talk first?" I asked and she nodded slowly. I pulled away for a brief moment before I felt her fingers intertwine with mine, I took a deep breath.

       "__________, I don't know what or why I've been having these feelings but, we've been friends for a long, long time. And throughout those years, I couldn't help but have a feeling that I liked you more than a best friend, and while time progressed, these feelings have been getting stronger to the point where I can't sleep because my mind drifts off to you. And I'm scared because now we'll be going seperate ways once we graduate, I don't want to leave you ___________, I don't want us to never see eachother again because... because..." I stopped for a moment and gave her hands a reassuring squeeze, I looked up at her face, tears were pooling at the corners of those beautiful {E/C} hues, her face was relaxed into a soft expression. I gulped then whispered ever so quietly.

    "I love you..."

       I didn't know what to expect next, which I knew could only go two ways. Rejection and a friendzone, or acceptance.

     It was quiet for what seemed like forever, then before I knew it, warmth engulfed my body.

      __________ was hugging me tightly, her tears soaking into my sweater. She let out a quiet sob and I rubbed her back in slow circular motions, confused to if she rejected me or recroporated my feelings.

      She pulled away and wiped her tears with the back of her hand. A quivering smile making its way onto her face.

      "You have no idea how long I've been waiting for you to say that." She whispered, I let a lazy smile make its way onto my face, I scratched the back of my neck while gazing to the side. My whole face was probably red right now.

      ___________ cupped my face in her hands, making me gaze at her. Our faces close in proximity, I looked down at her lips which made a temptation stir within me, I licked my lips.

       "I love you too."

    Our faces drew closer and my eyes fluttered closed, our lips met in a short but meaningful kiss, my face was definetly red because of this.

       I let my hands travel to her hips, cupping them, the softness of her pajama pants making contact with my skin. Her arms encircled around my neck as the kiss became deeper. Shivers ran up and down my spine as she began to pull and tug at strands at my hair. How was she so good at this? How many boys had she kissed before me?

     In all honesty, I didn't really have a clue on what to do since our teeth would clink together occasionally, and, well... I've never kissed someone in my life. So I was winging it.

     We pulled away and our faces were flushed, she let out a short giggle and let the tips of her fingers touch her peach colored lips.

      "That was my first kiss."

   I rolled my eyes.

       "Well you really seemed to know how to do it better than I did." I confessed.

     "I've watched many romance movies and read those terrible love novels in my free time."  She winked. "It's my guilty pleasure."

      "Ew, can I take that kiss back?"

    I let out a chuckle as she punched my arm.

       "You're so mean to me." She muttered.

       "I know." I leaned over and kissed her forehead.

        She blushed and looked away, embarrassed once I pulled away.