Our Ancient Love

Chapter 8: The L word

   "And just make sure that you answer that more thoroughly," I say looking up from Nick's workbook. I look up in front of me and see Rexy looking directly at me with his bone in his mouth as he's wagging his tail.
     "You scared me!" I say loudly.
     "He isn't THAT scary. You'll get used to him doing that," Nick says putting his workbook in his backpack.
     "Yeah right," I say walking over to Rexy. I grab the bone out of his mouth and toss it. He goes running. I look over and see Teddy getting off of his horse. He waves at me before going over to Larry. Larry is stepping down from the ladder. I look at the ledge of the balcony and it looks as good as new.
     "Hey don't you have a boyfriend to see?" Nick says.
     "Oh my gosh you're right!" I yell running towards Ahk's tomb. Once I get there I look inside of the tomb, but he isn't there. I slowly walk back to the front desk. I look at Nick and he's trying to hold in his laugh.
     "What are you laughing at?" I say crossing my arms as I lean against the desk.
     "Boo!" someone yells. I nearly fall over as I realize that the sound came from behind me.
I turn around and see Nick cracking up and Ahk is laughing too.
     "Ahk! Don't do that," I say as I playfully punch him in the arm. He laughs and wraps his arms around me to hug me. I hug him back.
     "You guys are no fun," Nick says as he walks away.
I stick my tongue out at him as he heads towards Larry and Teddy.
     "So..."Ahk says.
     "So..." I say back. We were both still hugging each other and were rocking back and forth as if we were dancing.
     "I missed you."
     "I missed you too."
We're both quiet for awhile until he breaks the silence.
     "I actually need to tell you something. It's important." I can hear the tone of his voice change.
I pull away and hold both of his hands. "What is it?" I ask. He looks around the museum.
     "It's best for us to we go somewhere more private. Maybe back to my tomb," he says as he points in the direction to where his tomb is located.
     "Uhm ok. Sure," I say with a confused tone in my voice.
We both walk to his tomb hand and hand. What does he need to tell me? A dozen scenarios pop up in my head about how this situation could end. Once we make it to his tomb, he leans against a wall. I stand next to him.
     "Alright so we're somewhere private so what do you want to tell me?" I look at him waiting for an answer and I can see the nervousness on his face. Oh no. This can't be good. He takes a deep breath before starting to talk.
     "I just wanted to tell you that...". He pauses. I raise my eyebrows at him waiting for him to answer.
He faces me and holds my hands. He gazes into my eyes and I can see a smile appear on his face. "I love you."
WHAT?! There's no way! How could he possibly love me?!
I stand there with my mouth open in shock.
     "Ahk...I-". I can barely get the words out of my mouth. "The L word is a really powerful word to use. Are you sure that you love me?"
     "Yes. I always have."
Always? I ignore that word and focus on the fact that he just said that he loves me.
     "Well, I uhm....I've fallen IN love with you, but I'm not really sure if I LOVE you. But I really really really really like you."
     "That's fair."
I smile and put my hand on his cheek. He suddenly takes my hand down from his face. I look at him confused. Is he mad at me? Does he hate me? But he doesn't seem mad because he's staring at me, as if in a daze.
Suddenly he cups my face in his hands and kisses me. I stand frozen with my eyes wide open. He's kissing me. He's kissing me! What do I do? Without a second thought I close my eyes and kiss him back. I put my arms around his neck and he puts his arms around my waist. For my first kiss, this definitely wasn't bad. It was very soft, yet passionate and powerful. We kiss for a few moments longer until we pull away from each other. We both breathe heavily as we try to catch our breaths. We look at each other and smile.
     "Wow," we say in unison.
That really just happened. I just had my first kiss AND with someone I really like. It's a win win for me.
I hug him tightly and he hugs me back. Soon the words slip out of my mouth like my brain decided to speak for itself.
    "I love you too," I say.