"Matteo and bella will do their pre-game handshake before the game starts."
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I took him back.
I cried the entirety of the night but when I went to school the next day everything changed. Ethan was standing at my locker guilt ridden and holding a bouquet of white roses. He knew how much I liked those flowers in particular.
"Baby, I'm sorry", Ethan says to me when I start to slip away from him. I couldn't do this, I couldn't look at him pretending to be sorry. He moves toward me and says, "Valentina I'm sorry."
"You hit me", I say trying not to let my chin wobble as I do so. "Not once, but twice."
"I didn't mean to", he says, his eyebrows down to show his emotion. I squint at him, my hands at my sides twitching as they want to grab for the flowers and accept my apology. I ground myself though and he continues, "When I say I'm sorry, you don't know how much, Val."
"You slapped me", I say to him and he nods. I could see how ashamed he is about that. "I know, baby. I know how much I hurt you. You know I make mistakes and you know how I don't mean the things I do."
I look at him, my feet trying to take me closer to him. "Valentina, I love you. So much. You are the single most important girl in my life."
Single most important girl in my life.
Did he think of me that highly?
My shoulders slump with a hint of forgiveness. "I promise to never hurt you again, hell, I promise to treat you the way you deserve to be: respected and well loved."
Promises.
Matteo and I made a lot of promises, so many.
"Okay", I say to him and watch as a big smile comes onto his face. It is so bright that it immediately lightens up my mood and I'm giggling when he places his hands around my waist and pulls me up. He presses a kiss on my shoulder and says, "I'm so sorry baby."
"It's okay, Ethan", I say to him because his apology was so sincere. He had sounded sorry about hitting me and he was the boy I loved. I knew he loved me as well and I knew that he didn't mean to hurt me. He puts me down and presses a kiss to my lips, so gentle and lingering that I try not to let my knees buckle.
"I love you", he whispers in between the kisses he kept pressing into my mouth. I smile into the kiss and place a hand on his jaw where I kiss him back harder than before. I had missed him, I had missed this. Somehow we are back against the lockers and before our kisses can prolong, I pull away.
Ethan doesn't frown at that like he usually would. He puts his arms over my shoulder and I press my head to his chest. He moves me closer and I smile, breathing him in. He was sorry and I knew that. I pull away and press my lips to his and when I pull away, I find Matteo looking at me from across the hallway.
