What are your final thoughts about this book?
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"Screaming my name already?" I almost jump at his voice. "I thought we're going to hold that for beds," Ashton adds arrogantly.
In a swift move, I turn around. For a moment I almost doubted my own eyes. Is he really here?
I gulp. "What're you doing here?" The left corner of his lips turns up as he tucks his hands in his pockets. It's only us in the kitchen aside the drunken asses passed out on the counter.
"Missed me?" He asks.
I shake my head. "No," and cross my arms.
His smirks deepends as he start moving towards me. I take a back. With a disbelief look on his face, Ashton followed my lead. We continue this until my back hits something hard. A wall Oh no, it's the deep end. Ashton takes the opportunity and traps me in the place with his arms, as he leans down until his lips are right beside my ears.
"Ashton..."
"I'm sorry, Kiara," he takes my hand in his and entwines our fingera. I don't try to pull back. "Please let me explain before you jump to the conclusion. Again."
My mind starts screaming and tells me to run away. To not believe his words.
Yet my body doesn't move. It gives Ashton the assurance he needed to continue, "I never meant this to happen, Kiara," he starts. "I know we didn't have the best start. But from the very beginning, I felt something for you. Eventually, I started thinking a lot about you. All the time. And I hated myself for it."
"But I just couldn't stop myself from thinking about you. So I decided that I had enough and asked Owen and Nyako to give me some advice to ask you out. I told them how I felt about you. They reminded me continuously that you won't be an easy catch but I was willing enough to take the risk. But by then-" Ashton pauses.
"By then it was too late," I mumble. Ashton nods and tightens his grip on my fingera.
"At first I thought it was just a coincidence, but then at one party last year, I heard him telling some boys that he asked you out of pure revenge. That he heard me asking for advice to ask you out. And he knew you had a crush on him. So to put me in misery for taking his position in the team, he proposed to you to be his girlfriend." Tears run down my face. I've been a fool to say yes.
"I would've just gone out and finished him if the boys didn't hold me back. I wanted to tell you too, but just imagining your broken face," he says and gulps. "I knew I couldn't do that. Not to you. So I crossed my fingers and hoped you two will break up in some other way. I never imagined it would be this way or-"
I put a finger on his lips and stop him. "You don't have to explain it anymore."
"But-"
"I got the answer I needed," I tell him. "Moreover, I shouldn't have been angry with you in the first place. It was so stupid and wrong of me. I was mad at Derek, mad at myself for believing him. But my anger was never directed at you. I-I'm so sorry, Ashton."
He cups my face with one hand and start wiping my face with another. I wrap my hands around him and lean on his chest. "Don't cry Kiara," he says in my ears. "No boy is worth your tears."
And that did it. I start sobbing loudly. Ashton holds me and soothes soft words.
That's when I realize I made myself promise to never in front of others once. But whenever I'm around Ashton, I don't have any control over my hormones. Or my body to began with.
And I don't even find myself objecting.
He wipes my face as I pull back. Our heads touch as Ashton leans down. He looks at me in the eyes and slowly closes the distance between us. I close my eyes as our lips meet. They fit each other perfectly.
At first, it's slow, caressing, and soft. Slowly it becomes intense. Passion turns to desire. Ashton tastes like mint. And coffee. A lot of them.
We broke the kiss when both of us ran out of breath. Our foreheads meet together.
"Sorry about your shirt." I point at his now stained shirt.
"Nah, it's okay," Ashton waves a hand and chuckles, the corner of his lips turn up. "So no more dumping sorry asses?" He teases.
"I thought we agreed on no more survival theory," I narrow my eyes and hit him playfully. "And moreover, rules are meant to be broken." I stick my tongue out and cross my arms.
"As you say, Snow," Ashton laughs wholeheartedly. "So what're you going to do with it?"
"The Survival Theory?" He nods.
I roll my eyes and scoff. "What'd you take me as? I already did."
"Really? Can I see it?" I nod and pull my phone out. I show him the photos of the latest handicraft that I have finished before coming to the party.
Ashton swipes the screen as he reads the whole thing. "Did you take the photo to show me?"
"No." Yes. I hoped I would bump into him and show these photos to him.
Didn't think it would really happen.
Ashton stops on the last photo.
'Result: the methodology was a complete failure.
Conclusion: you can't bind life with rules and leave it up to your faith.
Comments: Life isn't all about planning, it's about creating, smiling, giving, and leaving for others. And you won't die just because your teenage-self fucked up. Life is all about facing challenges. 'Try not to become a man of success. Rather become a man of value'- Albert Einstein once said.
Don't try to nail teenage. Try to value it. That's the way of surviving high school.
Footnote: don't ever make such weird checklists ever again.'
Ashton looks down at me and smiles. "This is fucking brilliant!" He throws his arms around me and pecks my cheek.
"So...am I forgiven?"
I pretend to think. "Well, there's one more thing..."
"What? Jumping from a cliff? Buying you VIP tickets of Taylor Swift's next concert? Take you on a world tour?"
I throw my head back laughing and wrap my arms around him again. "Your offers are tempting but that's not what I want."
"What is it? Tell me, I'll do anything to get you back Kiara."
"I've noticed you're called me by my real name today and not by the nickname you gave me," I frown. "Why?"
Ashton blinks. Whatever he thought I was going to ask him, this must not have been at the top of the list. "I thought you hated it when I called you Snow."
"That was until I realized how much that nickname meant to me," I say. "To us."
Ashton grins, his dimples appear this time. "Noted, no more Kiara, only Snow."
I tiptoe and bring my mouth to his. The kiss becomes tentative this time.
"I love you so damn much Snow," Ashton groans against my mouth and cups my face with one hand, the other one slips under my shirt and slips a finger into the loop of my waistband. "Please don't leave me ever again."
I reply to him by deepening the kiss. My hands roam around his torso.
Ashton's kisses are nothing like the ones I shared with Derek. They're sweet, tentative, and caressing at the same time. Most importantly, his lips feel so natural against mine. I've never been much of a tongue person. But I don't give it a damn when Ashton slips in his tongue inside my mouth. Rather I found mine doing the same. A groan slips my mouth and I feel Ashton smirking against my lips.
Stupid-obnoxious jerk! Why does he have to be good at everything he does?
Those thoughts fade away when Ashton tightens his grip around me and deepens the kiss. I try to take control of the lips but Ashton is goddamn arrogant.
We hear footsteps approaching.
"My virgin eyes!" Miles groans. Ashton smirks against my mouth and deepens the kiss.
This receives us more groans with some chuckles. Someone wolf whistles.
"No PDA in public guys!" Luca jokes.
We pull back only when the groaning in the background stops. Ashton grins and wraps an arm around me. A small crowd has gathered around us.
"That was hot," a guy from the football team says and pats Ashton on the shoulder. Ashton grins in reply. I look around and find our friends standing together not too far away. They're all grinning ear to ear.
'Told you he wasn't all bad,' Miles mouths as he and Grace give each other a high five. I shake my head and chuckle.
"Let's go over to the pool," a girl calls.
Everyone howls and follows her out.
Ashton turns his gaze from the crowd to me. "Still afraid of water?"
I snort. "What was it? I can't hear you."
Grace pushes past everyone and shoves Ashton to the side making him groan.
But Grace ignores him and links our arms. "You can fuck the loverboy later," she says, which earns her a glare from me and chuckle from Ashton. "Let's go to the pool, I heard the pool here is cooler than yours."
"Really? Looks like my pool got some competition," I joke and let her lead us out.
Ten minutes later, we all gathered around the pool. I stand with Grace and Payton as the boys throw their shirts away and jump in the pool.
"Ready?" Ashton says coming from behind me.
"Ready for what?"
"This," he says and pushes me in the pool, while I'm still fully dressed.
I scream and fall in the semi-cold water. I panic but manage to balance my body in the water.
"I hate you so much Ashton Fucking Olive Fellan!" I splash him with water. I can feel the chlorine inside my mouth.
Everyone else laughs as they watch the exchange between us. I ignore them and drag Ashton with me in the water.
Instead of getting mad, he closes the distance between us and wraps an arm around my waist. He uses the other hand to bring our mouth close.
As our lips meet, I hear him whispering against my lips, "Love you zillion times more Snow White."
ð¸
~(s)~
The end of one great journey,
but the beginning of many others.
~(s)(s)(s)~
Did you really think I would've let the ship sink? ð
The last cover reveal^^^^
Thank you -Tura- for making the most amazing cover, this is my most favorite one and I'm planning to keep this one.
Still, as this book is dedicated to all my readers, I'll let you guys choose one from below:
(Comment the number of the one you choose)