A/N: Here's a small one-shot. Enjoy. :)
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Not the characters. zilch. zip. nada. They all belong to their respective owners. (Not me)
Carve
She could feel his tender touch on her, the ghostly traces he left behind, his hot breath on her neck as she lay on her stomach with eyes closed. His calloused rough fingers roamed her body gently; he stopped at her lower back and started drawing with his fingertips sweet nothings onto her skin. She could feel him shift closer to her, his lips brushing her ear as his breath tickled it as he whispered to her.
"Let me carve my love into your skin."
She shivered, not only from his touch but from his silent promise, a promise she wasn't ready for.
She turned to lie on her side and when she opened her eyes they met the darkness of her room. She let out a deep sigh as she let herself fall backwards into her bed. It was always like this, those memories interrupting her sleep, mocking her, telling her that she slept alone now. She turned her head to the side where he would usually be and for a second she could feel him there. She closed her eyes and turned her head back to face the ceiling, all her thoughts on him. She missed his touch, his body heat, his dimpled chin, bottom line she missed him.
Her thoughts took her back to that time a few weeks ago where she asked for space, one she didn't really want but was asked for by her fear.
They were sitting on his couch, snuggled up close watching the credits roll on the TV. He moved to get the remote of the coffee table as he addressed her.
"What do you want to watch next?"
She took in a breath to calm her nerves and said, "I think you should just turn off the TV. I need to speak to you about something."
Her turned it off without hesitation then went turned his body to face her. Her stomach clenched when she saw the glint of worry in his eyes that went away as quickly as it had come. He knew.
She cleared her throat then looked into his eyes as she spoke, "I think that we should stop doing this thing."
Hurt flashed across his face but he managed to mask it. He furrowed his eyebrows and appeared to be thinking about her proposal. She could see that he wanted to fight her, to question her and make her see what he saw.
He wasn't going to though; he knew that it was something that she needed to come to terms with on her own. The last thing he wanted was to make her feel cornered like a scared wounded animal, he was going to give her want she wanted. Isn't that what love is, when you know that the other person's interests and needs surpass your own. He was going to be patient, after all he knew his love for her had planted its seed, now it was time to let it bloom.
He cleared his throat before saying, "Is that what you want? To stop it?"
Her heart sunk at the thought of his unspoken words, for good.
No. "Yes."
He cast his eyes downward and whispered. "Ok"
She nodded then stood from the couch to collect her things, quietly. Once she reached the door she turned to him and her heart clenched as she spoke the next words. "Goodbye, Ollie." Her heart was begging her to stay but she couldn't because once again she let her insecurities get the best of her.
She walked out the door and closed it behind her while the next words spoken went unheard by her.
"You'll be back and I will be waiting."
She was a fool, she was scared to love him but the thing was she was in love with him long before she even thought about it. She threw the covers off of her got out of bed and walked to where her cell was grabbed it then scrolled down to his name. It had become a ritual to her yet not once did she press dial. She sighed and with phone in her hand went back to bed. She lay there for a while not knowing what to do.
A couple days after the split went by and she knew with no doubt that she loved him, that she wanted to be with him, her fears were crumbled by the embracement of his love.
What if it's too late? What if he doesn't love me anymore?
"That's it. This is pathetic." She got out of bed again but this time she put on her slippers her sweater and grabbed her keys as she headed towards the door. I have to tell him.
A few hours later she stood outside his penthouse, not knowing if she should knock or not she just pressed her hand against the door not knowing that he was on the other side.
He knew she was there, his cameras confirmed it. He pressed his hand against the door and sighed. Knock, come one Chloe. Just knock.
She removed her hand and made a move to knock but stopped. I can't do this. I can't. Yes, you can. Just do it! Knock.
She closed her eyes tightly and sighed deeply. Ok, I can do this. I can do this. She opened her eyes and as she fisted her hand and brought it up the door opened.
She was startled a bit, she was nervous and didn't know what to say so she blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "I was about to knock." He glanced at her hand that was mid-air, a small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. "Yeah, I noticed."
She noticed her hand was still mid-air so she brought it down. "I – uh- this was a mistake. I'm sorry." Coward! She turned away to start walking but he caught her by her arm and tugged her enough so that she would turn and look at him.
He looked down at her with an intensity that made her involuntary shiver. "No it wasn't, so tell me why you are here."
She bit her lip unsure of how to begin. The question in his eyes was unmaskable, do you love me too?
Screw it.
"I love you, Ollie. I- Why are you smirking?" She narrowed her eyes at him as he shrugged.
"I know."
She raised her eyebrows at him. "You know?"
"Yup, knew it all along, just wanted you to catch up with the rest of the class Professor." His smirk grew bigger if possible. She crossed her arms and shook her head at him.
"How you and that ego of yours manage to fit in your penthouse, I shall never understand." He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer to him. He lowered his face to whisper in her ear. 'You know you love me." She shivered at the feel of his breath on her skin. She could sense that smug smile on his face so she turned to face him. "Where'd you get that crazy idea?"
"Sorry no take backs." She rolled her eyes at him and before she could give him a witty response he kissed her, it wasn't deep and passionate or quick and full of desperation, no it was simple and to the point; an understanding kiss.
He pulled away and stared into her eyes, all joking aside. "I knew you'd come back."
She swallowed the emotion that was stuck in her throat as she looked into his eyes. "Thank you for waiting." He places his forehead on hers and whispered, "Always."
He pulled apart from her and tugged her into his apartment; they were going to let their simple touches carve those silent promises into their skin.