Chosen (Damiano David & Victoria DeAngelis)

Chapter 43

She pulled away, suddenly feeling extremely guilty and anxious. Had she ruined everything? "Angel...I...I'm sorry, I didn't mean to overstep boundaries. Please forgive me...", she apologized, a slight quiver in her voice. Her heart broke a bit when she saw all the tears streaming down his face and she had to use all her emotional strength in order to not cry as well. He shook his head, digging his nails into the skin of her waist on which his hands were still resting. "No...No, it...it's not that. I...I liked it...I really did. But...I...Carla...she...she never kissed me...ever. Vic, I...I just don't know what to do and how to handle that and...I...I'm scared, I'm so fucking scared...", his voice was shaking so much and countless tears were now sparkling on his cheeks. Now she felt tears on her cheeks as well...she tried to hold them back but they slowly made their way down her face, leaving wet marks on her skin. She didn't know if they were tears of relief because she hadn't hurt him or tears of sadness and anger after hearing that. Without even thinking about it, she pulled him into a hug, closing every distance between them. She felt his bare skin on hers, his tears on her shoulder, her own tears on her face and the warm water surrounding them. Everything just seemed ten times more intense than usual. "It's okay to be scared, Angel...I am too.", her own voice was nothing more than a whisper shaken by the sobs she was so desperately trying to hold back. His whole body was trembling but after what she had said, she felt his embrace tighten. He didn't say anything though, probably not able to at the moment. She was just holding onto him caught between comforting him and searching for comfort herself. Had the kiss been a good thing? She didn't know. He didn't hate her now, so that was good...but he was also crying, so maybe it wasn't so good after all. Did that mean he liked her back? Or even more important: Did that mean she had actually developed romantic feelings for her best friend? Would they end up being in a relationship? Too many questions and no answers whatsoever.

Then, suddenly she did something she hadn't even thought about doing. It was like something was controlling her...telling her that this was the right thing to do even though she would have thought of it as the completely worst thing to do if she had actually thought about it beforehand. But she hadn't, so she pulled away from the hug and connected their lips again. As soon as she realized what she was doing she wanted to pull away and apologize for being so stupid and overwhelming him even more even though he had just told her how scared he was. But almost immediately, she realized that wasn't necessary at all. He had given in to the kiss, moving his lips parallel to hers which surprised her a lot. She could taste his tears on her lips so clearly and he could probably taste hers as well...and while most people probably would've found that disgusting, she somehow found comfort and beauty in it. This kiss was different than the first one...it was filled with emotions. Emotions only the two of them shared and wouldn't ever let anyone else see or be part of. This was their own way of saying:

"I am here for you, no matter what. And I find beauty in all of your scars and little imperfections because that's part of who you are and to me you are perfect."

Her heart was beating extremely irregularly and she was almost certain he could feel it because they were standing so close to each other but she also realized that it was no different for him when she placed one of her hands on his chest, feeling his heartbeat which was just as fast and irregular as her own. Their lips were moving slowly as if both of them wanted to take in every little second as much as possible. She was always cautious to do everything right: She was leading him because she had more experience but she also made sure she wasn't leading too much to give him more control over the situation. And it seemed to work. The tension was almost gone completely and even though he was still crying the tears got less and less. Again, she didn't dare to bring any tongue action in but it wasn't needed. It was beautiful and perfect just the way it was and there was no need to make it any more heated or passionate.

Eventually, she pulled away, blushing a bit. "Let's get out of the water, Angel...it's pretty late and we should probably start looking for the way back." And so they did. On their way through the woods they were holding hands, though neither of them dared to comment on it. She wasn't going to pressure him into anything. She didn't care if that kiss was the only one she'd ever get with him. It had been the most beautiful moment of her life...at least it seemed like it and she would probably remember that as the most special kiss until the day she died. Subconsciously, she was caressing the soft skin of his hand with her thumb while trying to find the way they had originally come from. That wasn't as easy as she had hoped it would be because when they had walked there she had blanked out completely. "Maybe we should just walk straight forward...I mean...we will have to reach the end of the forest eventually, right?", he suggested and she nodded, not wanting to admit that she was kinda scared. She had heard all kinds of horror stories about the woods...women being killed and raped and all those things. But she would never ever bring up the topic of rape in front of him unless he was ready to talk about it himself, so she kept quiet, just holding onto his hand a little tighter. Deep down she already knew that this whole situation between them would probably get complicated eventually. After all, he was depressed and traumatized which was never easy to handle...especially in combination with a relationship but whatever they would call this whole thing, she was sure they would be able to handle it somehow.

"See...I told you we would reach a street.", he snapped her out of her thoughts. Indeed, they had reached the street in front of the concert hall where they had started from. "Okay...well...I guess we will have to walk because I don't think the others waited for us.", only now she reached out to her phone. It was 11.45 already and she had about 50 missed calls from both Ethan and their manager. She decided to ignore it. The walk to their hotel would take at least another 30 to 45 minutes, so maybe that would give her the opportunity to finally try to get Damiano to talk about some things he had to go through.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Hey ;)

So...what do you think about their situation? Is it going to get easier or more complicated from here on? Do you think the second kiss was important for them to have? Let me know in the comments :)

Thanks for reading.

- Thalia