Sorry for keeping you guys waiting!
Here is chapter 23!!!
Picture of stone-arch to the side/above ~~~~>
Enjoy! :D
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Ava's P.O.V.
"Come on Liam! We've been walking for hours!"
"It's only been 2 minutes!" He yelled over his shoulder.
I rolled my eyes. "Okay, I might have exaggerated-"
Liam turned around and stared at me. "-You think!"
I glared at him. "But it does feel like we've been walking for hours!"
We were walking up a small hill of sand and grass towards the forest beach destination thing of Liam's. When I had gotten out of the car, the pine trees made the place seem like there was going to be layer upon layer of trees. In reality, there was only about half a layer. Overall, there weren't that many trees.
After walking up the small hill and passing the trees, all there was in sight was an open area beach. There weren't that many people around, only a few couples walking along the coastline and at snack-shacks. This place was less crowded and more isolated than the local beach by Cali's Diner. The coastline from where we were standing was beautiful. The ocean water was a clear, calm, shiny blue while the sand below my grey converse shoes looked inviting. For my feet, that is. All the way at the end of the right side of the beach was a gigantic rock-stone arch. It was in the shallow part of the water, where the waves would crawl across the sand of the beach, then disappear.
A smile made its way onto my face. "This place is amazing!"
"Thank God!" Liam shouted, surprising me and causing a few strange looks to be thrown our way from the couples walking by. "This girl actually likes the birthday surprise I've given her." He started to kiss the ground. 'Or should I say the sand?'
I watched in amusement as small grains of sand started sticking to his lips. I smirked. "Uh, Liam? I wouldn't do that if I were you."
Liam stopped and looked up at me. "Wh-..ew!" He immediately got up and started wiping his mouth in disgust. I bursted out laughing which earned a glare to be thrown my way.
"It seems you just can't stop having a conversation with the ground." I paused, trying to catch my breath from all the laughter. "Or should I say, a make out session?!" Just that got me into a fit of giggles, again.
Liam's glare intensified, but then a smirk soon replaced it a few moments later. 'I do not like where this is going.' I immediately stopped laughing, looking at this situation with seriousness. "Well, Avalon. Would you care to show the correct way to talk to the ground since I was clearly doing it wrong?" He started to stalk his way over towards me as he spoke.
My eyes widen realizing what he was planning. I quickly shook my head backing away slowly. "Uh...I think I'll take a rain check on that. Um-" I gazed around looking for something that will get his attention and make him forget what he was thinking. As if the heaven's were trying to help me, I had suddenly remembered...the snack-shack. 'Surely, saying that I'm hungry will get him to leave the situation alone, right? It's worth a shot.'
I glanced back at Liam, who was by the way, quickly closing in on me. "You know, I'm pretty hungry." I spoke, my voice wavering a little as I smiled nervously. "How about we go get some food? Yeah?"
He shook his head. "Not before you have your turn talking to the ground. Then, we can go get some food. Yeah?" Liam quickly added the 'yeah', mimicking the last part of what I said. I scowled back at him.
The distance between the snack-shack and us began to grow farther and farther as I continued backing away in the opposite direction. Liam was leading me to a location on the beach that was more reserved, where not more than two couples strolled along the shore. I took a quick glance behind me to make sure I wasn't going to be backed into a corner. Suddenly, the stone-arch I had noticed before, came into my view. It was near. Near enough for me to reach a great escape. I just had to wait until I was close enough.
I was so caught up in my thoughts, that I hadn't noticed just how close Liam had gotten until I felt a warm-cool breath blow across my neck. I instantaneously turned my head to find him about only two feet away from me. 'One word, oh crap! Well, technically two. Well, if you think about it... It might be counted as one? What the hell am I thinking?! I am one second away from getting my face planted into the sand and I'm thinking of how many words there are in a sentence? What?!'
I mentally face palmed myself. I gave a small wave of my hand with an unsure look on my face. "Um...hi?" Liam smirk grew wider. 'And this is the part when I run!' Right as he was about to take the last step towards me, I broke of into a full on sprint to the rock-stone arch that I had seen earlier behind me. Not soon after, Liam started following in my footsteps.
"Avalon!" I heard him call from behind me. "You can't run away from me forever! I will catch you!"
I snorted. "Keep saying that, stalker! Soon enough, you'll start believing in that yourself!" I looked ahead of me, watching as the arch grew nearer and nearer.
Just when I was about to reach it, I felt something snake around my waist and yank me off of the ground. I literally felt as if I was being thrown in the air because someone decided to lift me over their shoulder. I started to scream. "Hey! What the he-"
"Ah, ah, ah! No swearing in public, Avalon." The Cheerios Murderer himself interrupted. "There are little children running aroun-"
"Put me down you kidnapper!" I began pounding my fists on his back in an attempt to inflict pain on him. However, that plan failed miserably. I sighed in defeat, knowing that I'm probably not going to make it out of this alive. 'Dang boys and their sculptured bodies!'
I could feel a vibration signaling that Liam was laughing. 'Good grief.' "First off, Avalon, I am not a kidnapper. Second of all, you came here willingly with me..." He paused. "Oh! I almost forgot to ask, how's the view down there?"
I rolled my eyes knowing he was smirking through the tone in his voice. "Psh! Yeah right! What ever you want to believe big boy. Just remember, your ego is more smaller than you think..." I paused copying what he had did earlier. "Oh! I almost forgot! All I see back here is a big blob of jelly."
Out of the blue, Liam started to cuss some really bad words under his breath. He began swaying left to right as if he was high on drugs. I was frightened. 'What would happen if he dropped me? One things for sure, if he did, it wouldn't look pretty... for Liam that is.'
"Liam are you alri-" Just as I begun to ask him if he was okay, he suddenly started hoping on one foot unbalanced. Liam started leaning in towards one side making him unbalanced. "Oh my holy fudge cakes! Ross!" I started pounding my fists onto his back with all my might. "Put me down this instant before you drop m-" But it was too late. I was falling to my death.
I squeezed my eyes shut waiting for the impact of the ground to knock me out. 'One... Two... Three...' "Oof!" 'Huh. That's funny. It wasn't as painful as I thought it was going to be.' I opened my eyes. Although, the second I opened them, I immediately regretted it. The sight before me left me breathless. I couldn't avert my gaze somewhere else other than this situation. 'Argh! What's with this boy and awkward- Wait! Scratch that- bizarre situations?'
My face was literally two centimeters away from touching Liam's. Couples walking by would've mistaken us as a young couple kissing on the beach.
'But we aren't a couple and we aren't kissing.'
The thumping of my heart within my chest felt like it was going a hundred miles an hour. I knew that Liam was just as affected by this situation than me because his breathing was more shallower than before. His soft exhales of breath caused the smell of mint to blow lightly across my face. I could feel my cheeks start to heat up. 'God, Ava! Get yourself together!' But how could I? The gentle gaze from his blue-grey eyes was somehow intoxicating. His light brown hair was tousled from saving me and the fall. The orangish-yellow light that was casting off of the skyline only made matters worst.
"Or maybe better," my brain commented.
"Shut up," I mentally mumbled back. Although, I knew she was right. It did make matters better; if that makes sense at all.
Liam broke eye contact with me only to take a quick glance down at my lips. My breathing got caught in my throat as he started closing the distance between us. 'If I go through with this, things might change between me and Liam. But if I don't go through this, then I don't what I-'
I didn't have time to finish my thoughts because they were interrupted by someone gently planting their lips on mine. I lied eyes-open shocked on top of Liam. 'What was I supposed to do? Kiss back? Lie still? Smack him?-' But, again, I didn't have time to think about it because soon as I know it, I was kissing back. I gently placed my hands flat against his firm chest, making distance between us so my face wasn't literally smashed against his.
The last time we kissed was in Walmart. It was a fake kiss forced by those plastic head dolls. But, this kiss... was different. I felt emotions pass between us like a water current after a storm. The one I experienced most... passion. A passion for liking him. For him always teasing and making fun of me, in a good way. Standing up for me at times. The feeling that I knew him even before we met outside Cali's Diner. 'I know, crazy right?'
I never felt this way about anyone. It was something new. I haven't noticed just how attracted I was to Liam up until this bittersweet moment. The bittersweetness of this was having feelings for him but not knowing if he feels the same back.
And just like a message from above, Liam broke our kiss and smirked. I didn't know what that meant because all I wanted to do was kiss him senseless. It was addicting. He was addicting.
I was so caught up in my thoughts that I hadn't notice Liam slyly switch our positions so that I was now beneath him. I squealed at the sudden movement of me landing lightly on the sand.
I started hearing chuckling from above me. Glancing up, I found Liam grinning like the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. But it wasn't creepy the slightest bit. It made him look adorably cute. The illuminating light from the sun made his hair a golden brown with some other strands blonde. My heart felt as if it was melting with a wonderful warm feeling from the inside-out. His grin wasn't the only thing I caught. I saw the admiration in his blue-grey eyes when he was gazing down at me. Being his center of attention right now caused butterflies to roam crazily around in the pit of my stomach. 'Gosh! When did I get so cheesy?!'
My cheeks started to blush profusely. Although, I couldn't stop the grin that was making its way onto my face. His grin was so contagious, it was making me want to reflect one back in return.
Liam took mine as a signal that I wasn't freaked out by his move. He then slowly lowered his head a few centimeters just so that his lips were just a breath away from touching mine. He was teasing me. Either that or he was trying to encourage me to make the first move, which I gladly did.
I gently placed my hands of both of his cheeks and brought his lips down to mine, closing the unbearable distance. This kiss seemed more different than the first one, holding more hunger and passion of the attraction for each other.
I unhurriedly slid my hands down from his warm cheeks to the back of his neck and started running my hands through his hair. He began gently placing kisses at the corners of my mouth. I could feel the the smirk that was dancing on his lips when it came into contact with my skin. The emotions I was feeling all at once were beginning to become over whelming. I think Liam had sensed this too because he suddenly stopped peppering me with his kisses.
I saw concern flash in his eyes as he looked at me. "Ava, are you okay?" He quickly got off of me and sat on the sand observing me.
I sat up, trying to catch my breath. "Y-yeah. Just... um... just...-" Before I could finish my reply, he butted in. I looked over at him finding him running his hands through his hair in distress.
"I forced myself on you, didn't I?-" he asked.
I shook my head. "Liam-"
"Shit. I'm such an ass-"
"Liam-" I tried again.
"I'm sorry, Ava. I'm so s-"
As much as I loved watching him ramble on and thinking of himself as an "ass," I didn't want him to feel guilty. I tried multiple times to calm him down; but, he wouldn't. So, I did the only thing that could possibly do the trick. I kissed him, again. But this time, it was much shorter than the other two. Although, the length of the kiss was short, it still had managed to shut Liam up.
I smiled, satisfied by how he reacted. "First off, Ross, you didn't force me to do anything. Second of all, I was the one who made the first move for the second kiss."
"Yeah, but-"
"-No buts!" I interrupted. "Stop sulking in your oh-so-vulnerable-self-pity and stop feeling guilty." I got up and brushed the sand off of the back of my jean shorts. After doing so, I stuck a hand out for him to take. I jutted my head in the direction of the snack-shack. "Let's go get some food. I'm hungry."
What I said managed to get a chuckle out of Liam. "Only you, Avalon. Only you." He sighed, shaking his head in amusement.
I shrugged my shoulders. "What? You can't force someone not to eat. That's just, unnatural."
Without taking my hand, he got up off the ground. Liam started dusting his hands off and wiping them on the front and back of his shorts. "You never really seem to disappoint me."
I brushed my shoulder acting as if it was nothing. "Psh. When have I ever disappointed you?" That was supposed to be a rhetorical question; but, I guess he mistook it as a question waiting for an answer.
"Well, there was that time when you crush my man pride with your bike. That was a crude move. Let's see..." He tapped his chin, thinking. "Oh! There was also that time when you tackled me to the ground with your man power strength. Would you like me to go on?" Liam asked, raising one of his eyebrows.
I pretended to think about it for a minute. Though, instead of answering to his question, I decided to confuse him. "Hmmmm.... I would like one scoop of chocolate and vanilla ice cream on a cone with a cherry on top, please."
The look on Liam's face made me burst out laughing. He looked like he was having trouble in the potty department.
"What?!" He asked incredulously with a constipated-confused look on his face.
Without saying anything back, I started running towards the food stand. When I was about an equal distance between the food stand and Liam, I turned around to look at him. "Are you coming?"
From where I was standing, I think I saw a light blush form on Liam's cheeks. 'Aww! So cute!'
"Yeah," he mumbled, barely audible for me to hear.
I rolled my eyes playfully. "Then come on!" I gave a wave of my hand, signaling for him to hurry up. "Last one to the stand has to pay for the food!" With that, I started sprinting the remaining distance to the food stand. But, from what I can hear from behind me, Liam wasn't too far away. He was quickly catching up.
Just as I was a few feet away from the stand, I felt someone lightly tackle me to the ground. There were couples walking around, though they didn't seem to notice. I looked to my side to see who had tackled me. And sure enough, it was Liam.
When he had noticed that I had noticed him, he quickly tried getting up onto his feet to get to the food stand first. But I wouldn't let that happen. I latched my arms around his leg making him trip.
Once he was on the ground, I push myself off of him and hurried over to the stand. I scanned over the menu boards posted above, thinking of what I should eat. 'Hmmm, well I'm still having dinner with my family. So I shouldn't eat too much. Uh, I'll just go with ice cream.'
I looked behind me finding Liam pouting at me like a stubborn kid. Giving him a 'really?' look, I walked over to where he was sitting.
"Ross! Come on!" I whined. "Let's go get some food! I'm hungry!"
"But I don't want to pay," he said, still having the point on his face.
"But today's my birthday," I whined back.
I watched as Liam looked everywhere but at me. His pout was so cute that I wanted to take a picture of this moment. I reached into my pocket fishing for my phone. But, it wasn't there. I just remembered it was back in the car with all my stuff.
"Shoot, I forgot my phone. My mom could be calling me right now." I glanced at Liam. "Do you have your phone with you? Can you check the time."
When I had asked him if he had his phone, he opened his mouth looking like he was going to answer. But once I said if he could check the time, he shut his mouth closed. 'Very mysterious.'
"No," Liam bluntly stated.
I opened my mouth to say something, but he cut me off. "You know what? I'm hungry too. Let's go get something to eat." Liam got up off the ground and started dragging me towards the snack-shack.
"You're paying though!" I said.
"Okay, fine. Whatever you say, your majesty."
I clapped my hands together. "Great!"
After waiting and getting our snacks, we walked along the shoreline. We kicked-sprayed each other with the warm ocean water. Which in the end, resulted in our clothes getting wet. This had went on for a long time, up until the sun was setting. I had no clue what time it was, though I think Liam did.
Then out of nowhere, he took out his phone and checked the time. My mouth gaped open like a fish. I started scolding him for lying to me while pretending to make a fit by playfully kicking and punching him. 'IT WAS FREAKING 6:30 p.m.! My parents are probably wondering where I am!'
Liam explained to me that he didn't want to leave the beach. He wanted to spend time with me on my birthday. He also specifically said, "I wish that I could relive this day again, the same way it was," then added a kiss on my forehead.
Liam wrapped his arm around me as we made our way back to the car. Once in the car and driving back, we didn't really say anything to each other. It was a comfortable silence that gave me time to sort through my thoughts. The things, more like kisses, that happened today.
When we reached both of our houses, Liam pulled up in front of mine and put the car in park. He turned his body in his seat so that he was facing me.
"I had fun today," he said with a small smile.
I looked at him and smiled. "Me too."
I was about to reach for the Mustang's door handle but Liam stopped me. "Hey, Avalon?"
I faced back towards him. "Ye-" But I wasn't able to finish my reply because he crashed his lips onto mine. 'Gosh! What's with all of the breath taking kisses today?'
Before I was able to respond back to his kiss, he broke away. "I like you, Ava," Liam rushed out in a husky voice. My mouth gaped open in shock from his sudden outburst. I think he took my shocked face as a sign that I didn't like him back because the next thing I know, he was apologizing. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything."
I immediately shook my head. "Liam, I-"
"You don't have to say anything back," he said.
"No, listen. I-"
I was cut off by Gracie's high pitched greeting through the opened car window. "Hi Ava," she chirped happily at me. Me and Liam both turned our attention to the little girl who was poking her head inside the car. "How was your trip to the beach?"
I smiled, remembering everything that happened today and knowing that they will forever stay between me and him. "It was the best birthday present ever," I replied back.
But now is not the right time to sigh dreamily about today. There is still a misunderstanding between Liam and me. I needed to talk to him. "Hey, Gracie? Can you go tell mom and dad I'm home?"
Gracie nodded with a big smile on her young face. "Okay!" With that, she skipped all the way back to our house and closed the door.
I turned back to Liam finding him observing me intently. "Listen, Liam. Stop assuming negative things." I quietly stated. "You might not know what I think. But, I certainly know what myself thinks."
I opened the Mustang's door and stepped out. Closing it behind me, I leaned in through the window. "Today was one of the best birthdays of my life." I sighed and took a step back. "Goodnight, Liam. I'll see you tomorrow at school."
From the corner of my eye, I saw a small smile on his lips.
"Goodnight, Avalon," he said before starting the engine and backing up to the front of his house. I gave a friendly wave of my hand and made my way to my front door.
Before going inside, I took a glance back at the navy blue Mustang parked on the side of the street. Liam was just getting out of the car when I caught a slight frown on his lips. 'Argh. What's happening to me? I think I'm falling in love with this boy and I just met him like a month ago.'
I hated the sight of him frowning. So I did what a creepy stalker would do. I dropped my backpack on my porch and ran over to him.
Liam didn't see me coming until I smashed my lips onto his when he turned around. He instantly responded by kissing me back and placing his hands on the back of my head gently. The few minutes of the kiss was worthwhile. Nothing could compare to the feeling I felt at that exact moment.
When we broke apart, both of us were breathless. Liam had a dazed expression on his face, probably the same expression my face held too.
"Goodnight," I whispered, still affected by the kiss.
Liam, who was still dazed, blushed. "Goodnight, Ava."
After he said his goodnight, I quickly ran to my front door, opened it, stepped inside, and closed it, all in one swift motion. I rested my back of the door. 'When did everything escalate so quickly?'
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I HAVE FINALLY UPDATED!!!
Sorry for not updating in over a month. As you know, school has been keeping me busy. 😪 Although, if you guys have noticed, this chapter was way longer than all the other ones. Just wanted to make up for not updating in a long time. Also! I added huge surprises in this chapter. 😘 Some kind of steamy scenes here and there for your enjoyment. 😯 So anyways, how was the chapter? Good? Bad?
Please comment, vote, follow...
Thanks for reading Chapter 23!!!
See you later, you PRECIOUS people!