What the Tide Brings

Chapter 23 - Liam - Breakthrough

The white sand seemed to glow in the moonlight as Liam and Kaelin strolled down the beach. The water was gentle tonight, the waves rolling in lazily. The sound as each new set rippled in was calming. It helped ease Liam's nerves for what he was about to do.

However, before he could speak, she jumped in front of him and said, "I don't wish to speak to you unless you have an answer." This was a change from the sweet, shy girl who he'd just had dinner with. But it wasn't unwarranted. "I cannot go on this way. I refuse to be treated like a child. Do you know how it made me feel, to be talked down to as if I were an idiot?"

"It was..." he tried to start.

But she cut him off, answering the question for him: "I was angry, and hurt, and embarrassed."

"I understand," Liam lifted his hands to stroke her arms. Her skin was silky smooth. "And it was stupid of me to second guess you, I know. It won't happen again."

She continued on as if he hadn't spoken, "You made me feel like it was wrong for me to want you."

She took a long pause, but something told him that he should keep his mouth shut for the moment. She had turned her eyes to the ground, twisting her fingers together, nervously. "Is that why?" Her voice barely audible. "Do you think it's wrong because I am not—" she swallowed hard "—because I'm not really a human?"

"Not at all." Liam stepped even closer to take her face between his hand, making it impossible for her not to look at him. He needed her to see that he meant what he said. "I wanted you, too. I still do."

As the wind picked up speed, it stirred up her silvery hair, whipping her dress around her legs, and causing his shirt to billow. Even the waves sounded like they were growing stronger. The crash of the water against the shore got louder and closer together.

"Your answer, then?" She sounded hopeful.

"I love you," he told her, without a moment's pause.

He moved in, quickly, to press his lips to hers, to show her that he meant it. He flashed back to the memory of them dancing in the water, and he felt her lips curve upwards against his.

When he looked at her face again, she wore a wide, beautiful smile.

"What?" he asked.

"That's when it happened for me, as well." she said. "It was surprising, I must admit."

He reached up to tuck her hair behind her ear as he stared at her, taking in every inch of her perfect face. "Surprising, yeah, definitely. And, also, for some reason, it scared me." he confessed.

Her pale brows shot up high on her forehead in confusion. "You're scared of me?" She placed a hand on her chest. "Why?"

He chuckled, leaning in to kiss her forehead. "Not of you. Of the feelings I have for you."

"I thought love was supposed to make people happy. That's what happened to everyone in the movies we watched."

"Real life is a lot more complicated than the plot of a ninety minute rom-com." He took her hand in his and started walking again. They were already over halfway to the lighthouse, which was where he had planned to declare his feelings. He thought doing it in the lantern room would make it more special—with the lights of the boardwalk shining on one side and the moonlight over the water on the other. But that was before she demanded an answer.