Love Is All You Need

I was lying in my bed and I couldn’t stop thinking about Carlos. I thought about the way he smiles, how he smells like vanilla, his dark eyes that show all of his emotion, how sweet and thoughtful he is, and the way his cheeks turn pink when he gets embarrassed. But most of all I was thinking about how much I truly have feelings for him.

As I laid there immersed in all of these thoughts, a memory came back to me. When I was younger and needed to think, I walked down to the lake that was on my family’s property and thought there because the water calmed me.

I got up and grabbed some shoes before tip-toeing out of the house and down to the lake. When I got there I started skipping rocks, thinking and talking to myself.

“Maybe I should just tell him how I feel,” I said out loud to the dark still air as the only sound that filled the air was the soft slapping of the rocks hitting the glassy water. “But then if he doesn’t feel the same he’s going to think it’s weird and then it’ll always be awkward between us.”

I threw another rock, causing the still water to ripple as the rock skipped across. It lost its momentum eventually and fell to the bottom.

“But if he does like me, then it’d all work out,” I said while throwing another stone. “I think I should probably keep this to myself.”

I let out a small sigh before tossing my stones, one by one across the lake. I stood there for what seemed like seconds, but in reality was probably closer to an hour before someone’s voice came.

“What are you doing out here?” Carlos’s voice spoke.

“I should ask you the same thing,” I softly laughed as he came and stood next to me.

“I woke up and went down to get a glass of water but I noticed that the door was open a little, so I came out to see if someone was out here,” He explained.

“Oh,” I stated, not knowing what else to say.

“Kirstie, you’re not wearing a coat?” Carlos asked while gently placing his warm hand on my bare arm since I was wearing a tank top. “It’s cold.”

At that moment, I realized that I was pretty cold but Carlos quickly took his sweatshirt off and slipped it on me. Do you see what he does to me!?

“You never answered my question,” He said after a while as he took a stone out of my hand and skipped it across the lake himself.

“What was that?”

“What are you doing out here at night?” Carlos asked softly.

“I was just thinking,” I plainly replied.

“About what?”

“Just some feelings,” I replied.

“What kind of feelings?” He prodded.

“The feelings that I have for you,” I told him a voice above a whisper.

In that moment I decided something. I had to know, either way I had to know if he liked me or not. So I gathered my courage and spoke.

“Carlos, I… like you, I like you a lot and I need to know if you feel the same way about me,” I spoke while turning to look at him in the eyes. “If you don’t like me, that’s okay but I need to know. I feel like sometimes you do and sometimes you don’t and I don’t want you to lead me on or make me think that you might have feelings for me so I just need to know, either way.”

“Kirstie,” He softly started. “I would never lead you on if I didn’t mean it. I would never want to hurt you.”

“So you’re saying…” I trailed off.

“I really like you,” Carlos smiled brightly while cupping my cheek with his hand. “I’ve had a crush on you since the day I saw you. You are the prettiest girl I’ve ever met and by far the most charismatic and wonderful. The more I got to know you, the more I liked you because everything about you is so great…. I was just too nervous to say anything because I never thought a girl like you would like me.”

“Carlos you are too sweet,” I cooed while hugging him. “You are amazing and what girl wouldn’t like you; you’re sweet, fun, adorable, thoughtful, hilarious and so kind. You’re an amazing man and I’ve never met anyone like you and I know I never will.”

“I have really strong feelings for you and right now I really want to kiss you and ask you to be my girlfriend,” He whispered in my ear.

“I have really strong feelings for you and I really want you to kiss me and ask me to be your girlfriend,” I whispered back.

Carlos smiled before taking my hands in his and looking into my eyes saying, “Kirsten Schmidt, will you be my girlfriend?”

“Carlos Pena Jr., I would love to,” I beamed.

He smiled even brighter than he was earlier before he wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me up against his chest as we connected our lips. The kiss that I shared with him was the best kiss I’ve ever had. A feeling of euphoria engulfed me as I was in his arms, kissing him.

When we parted, both of us were beaming and breathless but we went back for another kiss. Once we parted for a second time, Carlos took my hand in his and led me back towards the house. I zipped up his sweatshirt and cuddled up closer to him. You know what even proves that we were meant to be together more? I’m 5’5 and Carlos is 5’6 so we’re close to the same height so it’s the perfect kissing and hugging height! And it’s just super cute that he’s short.

Carlos led me up on the deck of the house where he got into the hammock that was there. I let out a soft giggle before climbing in with him. His warm strong arms coiled around me and mine went around him. I laid my head on his chest as we cuddled together in the hammock underneath the stars. Can it really be better than this?

“Goodnight Kirstie,” Carlos softly said while leaving a kiss on the top of my head.

“Goodnight Carlos,” I gently replied before closing my eyes and drifting to sleep…. In the arms of my boyfriend…