Sinful (WICKED #2) | ✓

16

THE FIRST TIME SHE met Sam it felt like the world revolved around him. He was like the sun in a way, with how easily he started conversations and how his laugh danced across the room like golden rays of silk. In a way she was surprised to see she had fallen for Levi with how little they had in common, even their violence was so different, every part of them clashing like fire and ice. She supposed that perhaps had been exactly the reason she liked Levi. He washed the bitter taste of the friendship she had lost away simply by his presence, as calm as always.

Now all she could manage was a wry smile, the taste like pieces of glass between her teeth.

"I am," she said. She pointed at his eye, raising an eyebrow. "How about you? That will be a nasty bruise."

Sam shrugged, pushing his curls back with a hand as he carefully took a seat beside her. She wasn't surprised he had found her, not after all the years they had known each other. That's why she knew exactly what he felt too, even if he swallowed it all down.

"I somehow feel like I'm the cause of your fight with Levi," he began, almost cautiously.

"You aren't," she said," I am the only one who can take responsibility for my actions." A sharp remark slipped out after, cutting the silence. "Still, don't tell me you have come here to gloat."

"Of course not," he said as he slowly shook his head," I still love you, Nora, but that's also exactly why I would never want to see you unhappy. I'm sorry for saying all those things, you're right. It wasn't my place."

She was about to reply when he continued, voice soft.

"Hey Nora, do you remember our first date?"

"What?" she frowned, confused at the sudden jump to a different subject.

"We went to watch a movie," he said, nostalgia warming his eyes," you picked out a horror movie and I didn't want to tell you how terrified I was, so instead I tried to stay cool."

"You started screaming before the movie even started," she chuckled," how exactly were you playing it cool?"

"The trailers were unnecessary scary, you can't deny that," he frowned," I have a zero-tolerance policy towards clowns."

Ella stared at him with raised eyebrows until the both of them burst out in laughter simultaneously. The atmosphere had warmed, golden days tangling in the branches above like ribbons. She wanted to decorate the whole garden with them until everything felt simpler again.

"You were the first one who I truly saw as my girlfriend," he said then, words so soft she almost didn't catch them," I didn't really know what to do. You were so perfect - I was in love."

She didn't miss the past tense, but it didn't hurt as she thought it would. When she looked up at the trees around her, she could almost see the ribbons untying and flying away in the wind. He stood up then, that infatuation for her which he had started carrying almost as a shield gone now.

"You still are," he said," and Levi is a damn lucky guy to be able to be with you. I'm sorry for involving myself, I thought I could change your mind, make you see -" He swallowed his almost fervent words, continuing quietly. "It wasn't my choice to make. Not for a while now."

"I loved you too, Sam," she said, the words taking flight, far away from the pressing feeling they had given her these last years. "You deserve all the love you give."

A weight seemed lifted off his shoulders when he smiled, in that carefree way he always had.

"Levi really cares about you," he said, hand brushing over his bruised knuckles," and fuck, the guy can throw a punch. I see what you see in him."