"Do you want to play truth or dare?" Kennedy asked me, as we lay on the grass staring up at the sky.
I turned my head to look at her. Her eyes were twinkling with mischief and I wondered what she was planning.
"Are you allowed to say no to the dares?" I asked.
"Absolutely not. If you do there's a forfeit." She told me, giving me a cheeky look that made my heart do a flip in my chest.
"Alright." I said slowly. "Are you going first?"
"I'm asking first. So truth or dare?"
"Dare." I decided, after a minute. "Nothing you make me do can ever be as scary as the truth."
"Aw, you're no fun." She pouted.
I chuckled. "What do you want me to do, sweetheart?"
She thought for a minute.
"Tell me your deepest secret." She said eventually.
"That's cheating. You can't use a truth for a dare!" I argued.
"Of course I can. It's my game. I make up the rules." She fired back.
"Technically, truth or dare is a universal game which has been around for decades and so we're playing by someone else's rules." I said, to buy some time.
"Are you going to do the dare or risk a forfeit?" She asked.
"Depends, what's the forfeit?" I asked, wiggling my eyebrows cheekily.
"Pain. Lots of pain." She said, trying to sound threatening and failing beautifully.
"Ah babygirl, I've lived my life in pain. You're going to have to try harder than that." I chuckled.
The atmosphere got quiet and I wished I could take my words back but it was too late now. Her smile dimmed and I cursed internally for ruining it. Why did I always ruin things?
"So my deepest secret, huh?" I asked, to stop us both from dwelling on my words. "I wish I had yanked my brother down with me during the crash."
She nodded, slowly and I realized that that probably wasn't the best way to lighten the mood but it was said and done now.
We were quiet for another minute and I sighed internally. I didn't mean to turn the mood so sour. Why couldn't I just make everyone happy?
"Is it your turn now?" I asked, to try and move on from this before any damage was caused.
"Yeah." She said after a minute. "I pick...a dare."
I was tempted to ask her what her biggest secret was in return but decided to stay away from topics that were going to make us fight or fall apart.
"Kiss me." I said instead, trying to do my best to make her laugh. She should never stop laughing.
She chuckled. "That's it?"
"That's it."
"Seems like an easy way for you to make a move if you ask me."
"So what if it is?" I asked. "You're the one who wanted to play."
She sighed. "That is true. Unfortunately."
I chuckled and she looked at me, smiling.
"Close your eyes then." I instructed.
She did so obediently and I pressed my lips against hers, moving to grab her and pull her closer. I ran my hands through her silky hair and leaned into her until we ended on the ground and stayed tangled up like that for a minute until she grunted something unintelligible and tried to push me away to catch her breath.
Slowly, reluctantly, I pulled away, looking into her eyes that seemed to sparkle in a way I never knew eyes could. I could feel a warm sensation spread through my body as I watched her and fought the urge to pull her close again and never let go.
Here's a truth: I would spend the rest of my life trying to make this girl happy. I would give her everything. Anything. If it could make her happy. I would even walk away if she told me too.
If that's what it took to make her happy, I would do it every time. Every single time.
"Can I have another dare?" I asked, as we looked at each other.
She shrugged. "Sure."
"Close your eyes." I told her.
"Is that it?"
"Just do it."
She did, and I smiled as I made sure her eyes were firmly shut.
"You better still be there when I open my eyes or else I'm going to kick your butt." She announced and I chuckled.
I shifted position slightly and took a deep breath.
"Okay, novia, you can open your eyes now." I said, so softly she may have missed it.
She opened her eyes to look down at the little box in my hand before looking at me.
"Kennedy, darling, will you make me the happiest man on Earth and in the universe by being my one and only for the rest of my life and yours?" I asked, my voice cracked a bit and my hand trembled ever so slightly.
Her smile then was worth everything we had been through together. Every pain. Every fight. Every obstacle that had come our way. Every uncertainty we had faced to get to this point.
"Yes." She said.
She knelt down next to me and I slipped the ring on her finger before kissing her intently. Passionately. A promise of all that was to come.
I finally realized what it meant when people talked about love. To find your other half somewhere in all this chaos. Ever since she had walked into my life she had given me pieces of myself I didn't even realize were missing and piece by piece she had put me back together. Patiently fixing the puzzle I had long since given up on and showing me the full picture.
She made me feel whole, complete. She made me feel loved. And I would spend the rest of my life and beyond trying to make her feel the same way.
Because once you have someone who puts the colour back into your life, you never let them go.
And it wasn't until now that I realized just how much I needed that colour.
YOU ARE READING
Darkness Falls
Teen Fiction"Everything I am, everything I ever did, every mistake I ever made. It was all because of her. She was the reason for my existence. And without her, I wasn't the same." Jake has spent his life fighting against his father and the gang he uses to con...
