Mia's eyes darted frantically between mine, her mouth fumbling to form shapes but no sound escaped past them. It was like I'd just told her the grass was purple, and the sky red, like I'd shifted her entire reality. And I suppose I had. 

I was supposed to be the boy who revelled in finding ways to wind her up, the boy who once kicked a ball at her to be an ass, from her reality I was supposed to be the last person ever interested in her in that way. Yet here I stood, looking her dead in the eye telling her how much I loved her.

I swallowed back the fear, that was bubbling up in my chest as it threatened to consume me. I wouldn't allow myself to regret my words and for telling the truth. It wasn't my fault I loved her, and I was fed up of being ashamed of it.

Mia's eyes continued to dart around my face, her brown eyes swirling in confusion. "But...but...," she stuttered. "How? When?" She mumbled, her voice filled with so much uncertainty.

Not taking my eyes off of her, I took a hesitant step forward, then another one. Once I'd closed the distance between us, I reached out and took her hands. Her hands were warm, and soft in mine, and I clutched them a little tighter than I had to, fearful that she'd leave after I'd finished with what I had to say.

Though it riddled me with fear, I returned my eyes sharply back to her intimidatingly beautiful eyes, then softly cleared my throat. "Remember how I told you I had a crush on you back in the sixth grade, and that's why I was mean to you?" My words came out soft, and as I awaited her response, I traced circles with my thumbs against the backs of her hands.

Mia's eyes continued to search over my face, in a way that made me feel naked and exposed. "Yeah?" she finally spoke hesitantly.

"Didn't you notice I never told you what grade I got over it?" I asked softly, remembering all too well how I'd distinctly left that part of my confession out at the cliff.

Mia blinked in surprise at my question, then nodded. "Well, Yeah, I noticed but I just assumed you got over it in the same year. Crushes never last too long," she said with an easy shrug as though things were just as simple as that.

I wanted to laugh as the words left her lips. 'Crushes never last too long.' That was no doubt the same dumb wording I used all the years ago when I was twelve, and first met her. It turns out I was wrong – some crushes never end, not when you don't want them to.

The corner of my lips cracked up into a small smile. "Mia, I never told you a date because it doesn't exist. I never stopped," I said, my heart racing faster, only emphasizing my point. "I've spent the last six years insanely obsessed with you, Mia."

Mia shook her head slowly, seeming adamant about not believing me. Her eyes searched mine for some kind of deception, or trick, likely remembering my stupid joke at the ice cream shop that long time ago when I'd asked her to kiss me. I'd played it off as a joke at the time, but I hadn't been joking.

"B-but that can't be true? You literally told me you liked someone else. You said she was perfect and all this other unbelievable shit," she said, her eyes narrowing fast.

I looked over her in confusion, genuinely confused by what she was referring to before I remembered, and a sharp smile tugged to my lips. She was talking about herself.

A laugh escaped my lips, amused she hadn't connected the dots. The idea of me liking her must have been so foreign to her, she refused to see facts that were glaring her straight in the face.

I wasn't a fool, I knew it was my constant lies and deception that had made her feel that way, but now I was determined to fix that. I was going to tell her over and over again that I loved her if I had to.

My thumb stroked the back of her hand once more, and I stepped even closer. "That girl was you, Chubs. I was always, always, talking about you. I could only ever love you," I whispered, as my eyes flickered between hers. I wanted to kiss her in the moment, so badly it hurt, and I let my eyes dip to her lips for a fleeting moment before returning my gaze back to her eyes.

Still seeing, the doubt tricklingly behind her eyes, I breathed out an amused breath.

"Think about it, you're pretty much the only girl in school I regularly talk to," I muttered teasingly, as I flickered my eyes up and down her amusedly. It was pathetic, but true, and only made the fact that Mia hadn't put the pieces together that much more hilarious. That and slipping up by kissing her about three times kind of gave me away.

Mia opened her mouth and then swiftly closed it, seeming stumped for words. "But seriously?" she finally mumbled. "The entire time...," she stuttered.

I laughed, a full smile now reaching my face, at her cuteness. "Yes, Chubs, the entire time, since the very first class we shared all the way up until now," I mumbled.

Mia continued to stare at me, her eyes littered with a strange kind of expression. From the way my stomach squeezed, I knew I liked the way she was looking at me. I liked it a lot, maybe she-

No, it could be pity, Ethan. She does not like you, otherwise, she would have said it already. Give up.

I swallowed the bitter feeling away and just tried to focus on the fact she seemed to be taking the news surprisingly well. She didn't look close to disgusted and wasn't screaming or running as I'd always predicted. There was a genuine chance we could be friends after this.

"But..." Mia started to say, her voice still hesitant. She was still looking at me cautiously like she was waiting for me to tell her I was pulling her leg at any moment. "What's so great about me?" she asked with a nervous smile. "Not to sound insecure, but I'm hardly 'perfect' or any of the other extremely nice things you said."

"Are you actually kidding me?" I laughed, unable to stop myself. "I can't think of a single thing that's not great about you, Chubs," I stated honestly. It almost insulted me that she thought I'd pick anything but the best for myself, and she was the best.

Still seeing the doubt flashing through her eyes, I realized I needed to break down line by line exactly the kinds of things I liked about her. It seemed obvious to me, but clearly not to her.

The leaves of the forest floor crunched under my foot as I moved closer, diminishing what was once a respectable distance. I saw her throat sink sexily as she swallowed, and I set my eyes firmly on hers, willing myself to stay focused and not get distracted. I ignored the whistle of the wind, and the distant laughter of students echoing quite far in the distance, and just focused all on her.

"You make me feel amazing when I'm just standing near you, and you make me smile even when I don't want to," I whispered, the tips of my fingers burning from where they were still tracing hers.

She didn't move away, her breaths only rising.

"And I love how crazy you are," I muttered with a chuckle. "And how you're not afraid to break into my house in the middle of the night," I teased my eyes jumping mischievously over hers on those words.

Her cheeks burned a bright red at my words almost instantly, and she rolled her eyes lightly looking like she wanted to hit me. But she didn't; she smiled.

"I love bickering with you, and how you roll your eyes at me when I say something stupid," I said, my smile lifting higher. Mia's lips twitched clearly knowing she'd just done that very thing, and from the look in her eyes, it looked like she was burning to roll her eyes again. I wanted her to.

"I love how your face goes all red whenever I say something inappropriate," I mumbled, leaning into her purposefully as I spoke. As expected, Mia's face burned a brighter shade of red, and she glared playfully at me. "And I love how embarrassed you get whenever I check you out," I chuckled, my eyes sweeping over her figure. My smile burned brighter, knowing from the look she was giving me, she was dying to call me a perv.

"I love how you throw a cushion at me whenever I piss you off and-," I paused, swallowing hard. " I love how when you bite your lip, you have no idea how much I want to kiss you," I said, as my eyes raked down to her lips.

I decided to leave out, how much I always wanted to kiss her, but from the heat in my eyes, it was no doubt pretty obvious the things I wanted to do with her.

"I love how your eyes widen, whenever I get too close to you," I said, smiling as I brushed up against her, and playfully squeezed her hands. I knew I was flirting, painfully so but I couldn't help myself.

"I just love you okay," I finished softly, my heart jumping as I looked at her.

Mia's chest was moving fast, the smile that was once on her lips, slipping away, to be replaced by a different looking entirely. A serious look and an intense one.

I could tell she was going to reject me; it was obvious. She said all those weeks ago at my house, that she'd only kissed me back because 'she'd been caught up in the moment.' I didn't fault her for it. After all, you couldn't force someone to love you. 

In fact, I was so at peace with it, that if any other guy showed her romantic interest I wasn't even going to get involved. Okay, fine, I might have a salty comment or fifty to throw at the guy, and I might 'accidentally' give him a friendly shoulder punch a little too hard, but that was it, I swear. I totally, wouldn't create a website slamming his name. Not at all, because that's what an insane person would do.

Pushing away the pain that was inevitably tearing at my chest, I reached out and brushed a loose escape of her hair behind her ears before swallowing.

"I know you only see me as a friend, but I just needed to get this off my chest," I sighed. Mia's brows plucked up, a weird look burning behind her eyes. "I apologize if this creeped you out and I'll promise not to-"

I nearly choked in shock when Mia out of nowhere grabbed me by the scruff of my shirt and pulled my lips down onto hers.

I let out a muffled moan in surprise as our lips met, and my stomach dipped then burned in pleasure as Mia pressed herself fully against me. She threw her arms eagerly around my neck and pulled me closer to her. Mia's lips were moving softly, and hypnotizingly against my own, fogging any rational thought from occurring.

Mia Collins was kissing me.

Finally breaking free from my stunned state, I smiled against her lips, and my hands slid around her waist yearningly, the tension leaving my body.

I kissed her back, just as passionately, ignited by the deep tugging sensation in my stomach. I couldn't believe she was doing this. Why was she doing this?

Before things between us could get dangerously heated, Mia broke apart from me softly, and I stared back at her in shock, watching as our chests rose and fell heavily against each other as we tried to regain back our breath. I kept my hands at her waist, refusing to let her go, needing to continue to feel her against me.

My eyes dipped once more to her swollen lips, wondering if I'd imagined it. Shit. That was totally something I would do. No, no, no, I swear to God, if this was one of my dreams, I was going to beat my own ass because this so wouldn't be funny.

I swallowed and dragged my eyes back to hers and let my eyes move over her carefully. "Please, please, tell me I'm not dreaming, and that you're real," I whispered cautiously, half-expecting her to vanish from before my eyes.

A laugh escaped Mia's lips, her eyes crinkling at the corners. "Of course, I'm real you idiot. And I love you too, Ethan," she whispered, her eyes shining brightly.

I damn near fell to the ground, the second the words left her lips. My eyes widened. She- WHAT. That couldn't be possible. I – I....No, this wasn't - My brain felt like it was malfunctioning.

"Are you serious?" I whispered slowly as my eyes searched over hers carefully, convinced she had to be lying. If she was, it would be a cruel one.

Mia shook her head at me, still laughing. "Yes, I'm very serious. I'm madly in love with you, Ethan," she stated more confidently this time. My heart jumped again, then I flattened it, refusing to let my suspicion go. This was fishy-as-fuck. My head had to be making delusions again.

"Okay, I'm about ninety-nine percent sure this is a dream now, this is a typical thing dream you would say," I mumbled slowly, my eyes narrowing in genuine suspicion.

Mia rolled her eyes at me, then grabbed me by my t-shirt, she pulled me onto her lips for a second time.

As soon as our lips made contact, I was instantly responsive and kissed her back eagerly, my arms snuggling tighter around her waist. I was desperate for her in a way I hadn't realized. As I felt the heat of her body and the warmth of her lips, I realized how real this was. The electric feeling spinning up and down my body couldn't be faked, nor could the excitement crawling through to my fingertips as they dug into her lower back. This was real.

Mia gently pulled away from me causing a light groan of frustration to escape past my lips. She didn't move far before smiling up at me. "How real does that feel?" she whispered, her brow quirking teasingly.

A shiver ran down my spine; the way she was looking at me, so teasing, and smug, made me desperate to kiss her again.

My mouth stretched up into a slow smile before I flicked my gaze back down to her lips, a mischievous gleam no doubt in my own eyes.

"I'm still not convinced, let's try it again, just to be safe," I suggested, as I grabbed a hold of her cheek and started to lean in for my third kiss.

Mia put a sharp hand to my chest stopping me before I could, her eyes sparkling. "I wasn't born yesterday, Ethan, you clearly know it's not a dream," she laughed, the cutest grin lighting up her entire face.

I bit back a grin, knowing from the gleam in her eyes, Mia got a kick out of teasing me. She could tease all she wanted; I was getting my next kiss soon.

"Yeah, I know, but it was worth a shot," I shrugged, honestly.

Suddenly, Mia turned away and seemed to pause, the blood ever so slightly leaving her face. "You know what I just realized.....," she mumbled.

"What?" I asked curiously, my brows furrowing in confusion.

"If that girl you were talking about this whole time was me. That means...," she trailed off in thought. "That means I've been jealous of myself for months. Like...like...an idiot....," she whispered.

My heart raced faster, shocked to hear she'd been jealous this whole time. Jealous of an imaginary girl of course, but still jealous. God, that was hot...

I laughed, a far too big smile stretching over my face. "Aww," I teased. "Did my little Chubs get jealous of my crush?"

I knew I had absolutely no right to tease about being jealous with my history, but I couldn't help it.

I was obsessed with any sign, that provided evidence that she loved me. How could I not be?

"Shut up," she mumbled in embarrassment as she flashed me a playful glare.

She looked as though she was about to say something else before she once again went silent. I smiled realizing she must have been processing another painful realization,

"Oh, wait, shit?" she whispered. There was a pause before she let out a long groan. "I've indirectly called myself a stupid, blind bitch in my head over, and over," she mumbled.

I laughed instantly. "I'm not sure about the stupid or bitch part but you might be onto something with the blind. It was a bit worrying how you never clocked on to the fact I liked you," I teased. I wasn't exactly wrong. Other school years had been mildly ambiguous but this year, I'd been undeniably throwing myself at her.

Mia opened her mouth about to defend herself then quickly pulled away from me and looked around, her eyes locking on the group of students far off in the distance.

"Crap, we're so behind. Do you think anyone's noticed we're gone?" she whispered; her eyes widening in panic. I looked in boredom over at the students in the distance, not feeling any regrets for losing the group considering the miracle of what just took place.

Remembering her question, I turned to her and then shrugged. "Probably. It's hard not to notice when the hottest guy in your group is gone," I sighed, with a teasing glint in my eyes.

Mia slowly shook her head at me, a small smile curving her lips. "How do you support the weight of that ginormous head?" she asked in fake amazement.

"Easily, on this well-built 'Greek-God-like body' as you like to put it," I cleverly threw back, unable to resist the jab.

Mia gave me a sharpened glare or more accurately a sexy one before purposefully pushing past me and continuing up the trail.

Don't look at her ass. Don't look at her ass. Whoops fucked up.

I jogged lightly to catch up with her. "Are you sure you want to catch up? Wouldn't you rather just stay here and make out some more? I don't think they've noticed we've gone," I sang persuasively.

My girlfriend gave me a dry, and once again irresistibly hot look that kind of made me want to push her up against the nearest tree. Luckily, I was also smart enough to know that look also meant, 'behave.'

I put my hands up in surrender. "Okay or maybe not, it was just a suggestion," I laughed. And as I followed her up the trail, and through the forest, I couldn't wipe an enormous smile from overtaking my face. 

Six long years and the Collin's girl was finally mine. 

--------------------

Yay, Mia and Ethan are officially together!!!

Hope you enjoyed xx