Penfield's Greatest Swimmer

🌊~41

Staring at the outline of her face, I couldn't tell if she was actually cool with everything, or she was just doing one of those things girls do; pretending to be ok when deep down, they're not ok. Since she wasn't dropping any hints either, I decided to voice out my thoughts.

"Ok so, if you're cool with the kind of relationship I have with Princess, then why were you acting upset in the beginning?"

"I wasn't acting, I was genuinely upset! I was upset because you broke your promise to me!" Shola turned for the first time since this conversation started and I immediately caught the hurt swirling around in her eyes. "You promised me you would make it to the fair, remember?"

How could I forget? I remembered that night like the back of my hand. It was the same night she had kissed me on the cheek.

"In the beginning, I didn't think you'd make it because you had the Nationals swim meet the day before. But you promised me, you assured me that you'd make it to the fair and I grew expectant. I wanted you there with me, by my side. But you didn't come."

Guilt welled up inside me.

"At first I thought something equally important kept you from coming, but then you showed up in rumpled clothes with lipstick stains on your shirt and my mind just assumed the worst." Shola paused. "I thought you didn't care about me, the club or the project. None of it meant anything to you and you'd rather spend your time kissing some girl. That's why I got upset and kept my distance from you."

Silence warped round us. Shola had said a lot of things, but out of it all, one single thing kept repeating itself in my ears, and it led me to ask, "You think I don't care about you?"

As expected, my question met no answer.

All the time I spent thinking that Shola had a problem with Princess, she actually didn't. The problem was all me and the fact that I'd made her feel insignificant by breaking my promise to her.

"I'm so sorry." The words tumbled out in full honesty. "I truly am. You're the last person I would try to make unimportant in my life and that's because I care about you." A deep confession was at the tip of my tongue, and though a part of me thought that this wasn't the right time, I swallowed hard and let the words roll out.

"I like you a lot, Shola, almost to the point of calling it love."

A flicker of astonishment touched her features and as quickly as it came, it disappeared. But it didn't stop me from talking.

"And it scares me sometimes cuz I've never liked anyone this much before." I paused to gather my thoughts. "I know this confession isn't going to change much but... I think you should know that I would never deliberately go out of my way to hurt you. Everything that happened the night before the Science Fair was a mistake, my mistake, and I'm sorry it hurt you and made you feel less important."

Done with my short spontaneous speech, I wished Shola a goodnight and climbed out of her car with my bag.

I was well aware that my sudden confession had just complicated our friendship, but it was worth it. At least now she knew how I truly felt about her. Shoving my free hand into my pocket, I quickened my pace across the pavement until my ears picked up on the sound of a slamming car door.

"Akwasi, wait!"

When I turned, Shola had stepped out of her car and looked slightly anxious as she came closer.

"Umm..." I took a few steps towards her. "Did I leave something in your car or-"

Before I knew it, she was on her tippy toes in front of me, warm hands cupping my face and bringing our lips together in a soft, tender kiss that had me swimming in both surprise and confusion until I felt her pulling away. And because I wasn't ready to let the moment end, I dropped my bag to pull her closer, deepening the kiss. My heart was racing, her heart was racing. My body ran wild with heat and so did hers, but none of us were willing to stop.