chapter 15

She saw her house in sight and was prepared to say to the group goodnights, but before she could, Ash grabbed her arm. She blushed at the contact and looked up at Ash who had slightly pink cheeks.

"Hey Lillie, I have uh… something to show you at Kukui's place… yeah." He sounded like he was trying to convince himself that and she saw Mallow roll her eyes at him. She raised an eyebrow, she felt as if she'd done that a lot today, but his cute pleading eyes convince her to go with him.

"U-uh, okay." She nodded her head, questioning why he still had his hand on her arm. He noticed and quickly let go. While she was questioning it, she didn't want him to let go. She sighed sadly and Ash looked at her with a worriedly face. She shook her head signally she was fine.

They continued down the path before the roads split up.

"Well Kiawe is spending the night at my place tonite, so see ya!" She grabbed Kiawe who looked a bit alarmed hearing that he was spending the night at her place. Looks like he didn't know and Lillie giggled. Ash stared at them and her weirdly, she giggled again and continued down the road.

She realized that Mallow was going to have Kiawe spend the night at her house, on a school night. She shook her head and chuckled to herself, only Mallow would. She also wanted to spend the night at Kukui's but she knew better. They finally saw Kukui's house.

"So Ash… what did you want to show me?" She turned to Ash who looked to be thinking about something before he nodded. The sky had turned to night and she knew Hobbes was probably wondering where she was.

"Follow me." Was all he said.

He made his way towards the shack and walked up the porch. She'd probably thought they were going in, they weren't. He looked back at her and smirked, before he head his way towards the end of the porch and got up onto the railing. He looked back at her and she looked alarmed.

He had to duck his head before he then climbed the top of the roof of the porch and climbed up. He was on the roof of the house and he looked down, seeing Lillie still staring at where he climbed up.

"It's up here." He said with a goofy grin. Lillie's eyes widened at what he said.

"Um Ash…" Lillie started before she got interrupted.

"C'mon Lillie. Don't you trust me." He said giving her a smile. He hoped she get up her soon, all the blood was rushing towards his brain, making his head hurt. She sighed before she walked up to the railing and grabbed his hand.

She slowly got onto the railing, ducking her head, his hand still holding her before she tried to climb the roof. She was struggling before he pulled her up here all the way. Her breathing was slightly heavy and a bit erratic. He gave her a smile to calm down and she blushed.

"Look." Was the one word he said and he point to in a direction. She turned and softly gasped. They were looking at the ocean and the skies. The stars and the moon reflecting against the ocean's waters, making the scene look absolutely beautiful.

Ash had to thank Mallow for giving him the idea of taking Lillie to the roof to watch the stars. It was the perfect idea, as they were now alone, in what Mallow called a, 'romantic setting.' Lillie was still admiring the view, but she lightly shivered.

The nighttime was cool and crisp. Ash had seen enough movies to know that you were supposed to wrap your jacket or sweater around the girl, he'd unfortunately didn't have one. Instead he slowly put his arm around Lillie. She froze slightly at the contact but eased into him. She backed into him as they shared warmth. This was it.

"U-uh, um… L-Lillie?" He stammered out, he was in fact nervous. He was about to confess his feelings to blonde beauty, and as much as all the signs pointed to that she liked him, he was still feeling nervous that she didn't and that he might ruin their whole relationship. She looked towards him, her hair swishing back and forth after letting it down earlier.

"Yes?" She spoke so softly that he barely heard her. She spoke with a touch of nervousness. He took a deep breath to calm himself down and control his rapid heart beat. It was at that moment he realized, as cringy as it sounds, that all those thoughts and ideas that he had recently, was coming from his heart, not his brain.

"Lillie we've been getting closer and closer to each other over the weeks." He started out. His voice was barely steady but he kept talking. Lillie's eyes were all focused on him.

"And our friendship has developed to new heights." He looked into her eyes and saw a pang of sadness flash through her eyes with the word friendship, but she still kept her eyes on him.

"But throughout the past couple of weeks, something else has developed inside me." He gained a bit of confidence in his voice as he saw a bit of joy from Lillie's eyes, and a small, barely noticeable smile form on her face.

"At first I didn't understand what it was. I had weird thoughts from a part of myself that I'd never heard from." A smile slowly crept on his lips, and Lillie's facial feature did the same. She nodded to continue, hope now more noticeable in her eyes.

"I had someone told me what it was. What I was feeling. What I was feeling for you." His voice held confidence but it was a bit shaky. Lillie's eyes were gleaming. He took a deep breath and she did the same. Both were breathing erratically and she was waiting for the conclusion, and he was about to give it to her.

"I-I-I…" He stammered about to gets the words out before he was interrupted.

"I like you too." It was in that moment that she went up and finally, after being interrupted twice, did they kiss.

Her lips taste like berries and a pinch of salt. Probably the ocean. He did his best to show her through the kiss, the passion he had for her. Their lips moved in harmony with each other, his rough lips taking a hold of her soft and delicate ones.

Before he never understood the concept of kissing. When he was younger he thought it was gross, and before today he thought it was a tiny bit gross. Now, he wanted to do this forever. To taste her and feel her soft, delicate lips.

They broke away, his arms still holding Lillie, and they looked at each other. Both of their eyes exuberating love and joy for each other. Lillie had small, wistful smile as a blush took a hold of her face. He grinned at her, slowly rubbing her arms.

Tip

They looked to where a drop of water splashed on the side of the rood.

Tip

Another one.

Tip tip tip.

One landed on Lillie's nose. They looked up and saw dark clouds.

From zero to a hundred, the slight rain became a thunderstorm. Ash climbed down to the porch and helped Lillie down. They rushed inside and he jumped straight to the couch. Lillie shook her head at him, a smile ever so gracefully on her face. He admired her as she walked to him, he then remembered.

"Oh, I just remember. I have a gift for you." Those were the first words they spoke after the confession, and those words shocked Lillie, who still had a blush on her face. He dug into his pocket and pulled out the box.

"I know you have all the money in the world, but I wanted to give this to you." He opened the box and she gasped, seeing the beautiful jewelry in the box.

Lillie delicately lifted the necklace and held it in her hand, studying and admiring it. She put it down before she hugged Ash, burying her head into his shoulder. She slowly started crying and he wondered if he did something wrong.

"It's b-beautiful, so beautiful. I love it. Thank you!" Her words were full with happiness and Ash knew she was only crying tears of joy. He wrapped his arms around her before he slowly pushed her off him and he took the necklace. He motioned his finger to turn around. He wrapped the necklace around her neck and connected it. She looked absolutely stunning in his eyes, and no one was going to tell him otherwise.

Unbeknownst to them, Kukui was standing in the hallway, watching the whole thing. He heard the door open and saw them come in. He was about to greet them but saw the precious scene and he didn't want to interrupt, interested to see what happened, and he was glad he didn't. He gave a proud smile and walked away.

BOOM

Lillie jumped in fright into Ash from hearing the thunder. Ash smirked at her and wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly against his chest, soothing her like he did a couple of days prior. Today was just like the day before yesterday. A rainy, thunderous night. He only had one idea of what to do during this time.

"Want to watch a movie?"

Tip tip tip tip tip…

A rainy night, indeed.