Author's Note: If you're getting confused, you are not alone, dear. "14,600 Meals" is sort of a sequel to "Halfway Valentine". If you want to check out the story, you can simply Google "Halfway Valentine". Cheers!


PROLOGUE

La, la, la,

La, la, la, la, la

Kylie Minogue's "Can't Get You Out of My Head" blasted out of the portable speakers nearby waking me with a start. Facing me was a huge inflatable T-Rex holding up a piece of paper that said GET UP! RAWR…BRRREAKFAST!

"Rawrrr! Rawrrr!" Someone roared loudly, mimicking the sounds made by that of a dinosaur. "Gerrrrrup—!"

"Okay, okay!" I moaned at it. "Fucking hell." Since when did bloody dinosaurs do wake-up calls?

The green dinosaur disappeared and Halo and Panda's playful smirks and snickering greeted me right away.

"You two are unbelievable!" I rasped out, flippantly scowling at them and rubbing sleep off my eyes at the same time, and they laughed all the more.

"Karen just threw up on Sean's foot," Panda perkily announced, clutching the dinosaur with both arms.

I couldn't help but slant my brows. "And so?"

Halo snatched the dinosaur from the Swede. "And so you should see the blended chunks of graham crackers and diced carrots. It's like a whole new level of artistry." She laughingly pointed at somewhere I didn't follow with my eyes as the mere thought grossed me out.

"Ugh. Go away, please," I groaned, and the two rowdy girls did. Jeez, I wonder where they got all that energy. Maybe from the incredibly vivacious, irritatingly contagious Aussie pop song playing.

La, la, la,

La, la, la, la, la

"And kindly turn down the music, Heaven. I can't get it out of my head for real," I whined again whilst clutching my head in annoyance, and luckily Halo did as she was told once more.

I took that peaceful moment to observe and feel everything: I was lying on my back on a grassy patch of hill that overlooked the sandy beach that was strewn with bits of revelry: beer cans, popped beach balls, vodka bottles and sweatshirts, discarded boxes of graham crackers and blobs of half-eaten marshmallows left over from the three AM attempt at making s'mores. All along the beach and grass were occupied tents and sleeping bag-covered bodies and—amidst all this debris—me.

February morning. Australian summer. 20°C. An hour south of Sydney. Glorious.

I gazed sleepily at the wide, misty sky. It's the kind of morning that starts off chilly and misty and then, suddenly, breaks into a hot, sunny day. But right now, I was tucked into my purple sleeping bag which was lined with plaid flannel. And since I was feeling groggy and shoeless, I could feel the worn material on my toes and I closed my eyes again.

Moments later, when I turned my head to my right and opened my eyes, I was greeted with a warm, adoring smile by none other than Naomi Campbell. My beautiful girlfriend. And the most amazing woman in the entire galaxy.

As we were both on our backs and with our heads turned in, facing each other, it was like nothing else existed except us and the soft sound of the waves on the shore.

"Hey, Sleeping Beauty," she whispered to me, her eyes still half sleep-closed. I studied her for a moment. Her blond hair was cascading down around her shoulders, elegantly unruly—and her stunning jawline and flawless face visible underneath said hair spillage.

"Hey back," I said, running a loving finger along her exposed forearm. This stirred her up a little.

"Sorry, I took pictures of you while you were sleeping. Again," Naomi said, gesturing at the iPad tablet tucked under her arm. "Couldn't resist it."

I smiled at this. "You can take all the photos of me you want, babe."

Her response was a sweet kiss on my lips, and I couldn't help but smile all the more.

I looked over at something hard I hit with my foot. A Frisbee disc was halfway buried in the sand. I grimaced at this. "Last night was . . ." I started then stopped, gazing at the overcast skies above us. It was as hazy as my head—alcohol seemed to have flooded my entire skull.

Naomi bit her lip, smiling at the crazy memories. "Insert adjective here: (a) fun (b) sheer madness (c) a combination of the two."

"I'll take C for five hundred," I said, yawning. "Or can I phone a friend?"

My girlfriend snorted a laugh. "You're totally mixing game shows here, missy," she said, and I rolled my head back so we're looking at each other again.

With sneaky fingers that crept into my unzipped sleeping bag, reached the loose hem of my Roxy shortie boardshorts, and traced circular figures on my bare leg, the blonde suddenly wiggled her brows seductively as if suggesting we do something smutty while most of the people were still knocked out.

"Give me a break; it's not even seven in the morning," I told her off in a whisper in spite of the tingles I just felt, and Naomi made a face and let out a groan at this. Then I switched gears. "Anyway, do you remember trying to eat a s'more with no hands last night?"

My girlfriend nodded. "God, yes. That is exactly why you got some marshmallow in your hair, darling." She reached out to pluck a sticky long one from my hair. "It's funny how I often see you sporting this hairstyle."

"Oh shut it," I said, half-smiling and half-scowling at the gooey bits and strands of confection.

"Aww, poor little baby." Grinning teasingly, Naomi suddenly hooked her fingers at the back of my neck, tugged me toward her and kissed me again, her warm smooth tongue sliding slowly between my lips. Our breathing picked up. I felt the familiar rush low in my guts.

I clung tight onto the blonde's back, kicking the blanket off me. "God, I love Australia," I murmured, sucking the soft hollow between my girlfriend's neck and shoulder. "Especially the people."

This made Naomi giggle. "Oh do you, really?" Her grip around my neck tightened as my kisses grew wilder.

"Mmm . . . Mm-hmm," I murmured against the smooth skin of her cheek. Then I drew back, my brows together. "Is it my fucked-up imagination or did people skinny-dip while singing 'It's a Small World'? The details of last night are—um—a little fuzzy."

Naomi, with a lift of her chin, gestured at a knocked out Cook's pale butt on display a few metres away. I made a face at this ghastly sight. Eurgh.

Naomi laughed quietly and shook her head. "It's one of those acid trips that make total sense at the time, but when you remember it later it's like, Why the fuck were we singing that? And what was so fucking appealing about getting naked in the frigid Pacific?" Sitting up, she put her sunglasses on. Then she started stretching her arms and I thought my girlfriend looked so sexy. Especially her outfit. The blonde was clad in a grey Hamada University fleece hoodie and hidden underneath is a sexy two-piece black string bikini.

I sat up as well and reached for a bottle of mineral water to relieve my parched throat. Sighing happily, I wiggled my toes in the beige-coloured sand, loving the feel of the rough grain grating against my skin. "Great weather and view, eh? Makes you want to write poems in your head." I tore my eyes away from Naomi and fixed my gaze on the horizon line. After a long sip of water, I cleared my throat and began reciting: "Naomi's a dark silhouette against the sun. Bright around the edges and an eternal mystery."

"Naomi's a dark silhouette against the sun. Bright around the edges and an eternal mystery," Naomi repeated in a musing tone, looking back at me. "I like that. You're really so romamtic, Em. But it's not very long for a poem, is it?"

"It's a haiku, babe."

Naomi removed her sunglasses and wiped them with her hoodie. "A haiku? And how, exactly, would you define a haiku again?" she asked, replacing the sunglasses in its case. "I forgot. I hated Jap lit class. It was boring as fuck."

I stared at a nearby odd-looking mound of sand that was supposed to look like Taj Mahal or something. I wasn't so sure. A highly-intoxicated Karen and Katie built it last night. "A haiku is usually characterised by short, elegant, and very descriptive phrases," I answered.

Naomi's eyes lit up as it came over her. "Ah yea! The one that uses imagistic language and whatnots. . ."

Squeals from a running Panda and Halo caught our attention. Naomi held her iPad up and set it on video mode, zooming in on the two loud, hyper girls some distance away. In music videos, women never clenched their fists and pumped their arms when they ran along a beach. Their arms hung loose and sort of swayed around their bodies.

Panda's arms refused to sway. They swung like dead weights instead, whapping her thighs which Naomi and I thought looked ridiculously cute, awkward, and hilarious.

"Short, elegant, descriptive phrases, you say?" Naomi, fighting off hysterical laughter, pursed her lips as if in deep thought. "Panda moves like a fucking bird. A big clumsy turkey, to be exact."

I burst out laughing. "God, I love you so much. Can I get a kiss for that brilliance?" I reached out for the blonde, and she willingly dropped back into my arms as she went on recording videos.

"You can get all the kisses you want from me, babe," Naomi said with a wink, borrowing my words and immediately I craned my neck forward to give her a kiss on the another one on her cheek. Then one last on her left eyebrow. This made Naomi smile, red tinting her cheeks.

We sat there melded, laughing together and enjoying the warm rays of sun that bathed us in a soft light, my arms wrapped around Naomi's waist and my head resting on her shoulder as the blonde got busy taking photos of the Pacific surf, the exposed tidal rock pool, and the fascinating rock formations with her iPad.

God, I could kiss this woman for an eternity, I thought as I dreamily watched the movement of her soft lashes and marveled at the fullness of her lips. How did people deal with this kind of love? Were people ever as content as this? Or were normal people capable of feeling what I'm feeling right now?

And I wonder if I can prove the strength of my feelings and my worth to Naomi's family, in particular. Naomi's family. Eeek. I was shitting bricks, to be honest. I was about to meet some of the most important people in my girlfriend's life. The thought made me swallow hard.

I knew Naomi noticed that I'd gone quiet all of a sudden because she straightened up and put her iPad down.

The blonde turned around to face me with worried eyes. "Hey." She gently cupped my face in her hand and gazed into my eyes. "What's worrying my little Ranga?"

I looked down, yet nuzzled into her palm. "I just—" I forced out of my clogged throat, "I'm just really nervous about meeting your family. I think they'd be disappointed with me."

Naomi let out a snort. "Nonsense." She then lifted my chin with a tender finger and made me look at her. She gave me a reassuring smile. "They'll be ecstatic, Ems. I'll tell them we're madly in love with each other, that you could fix the best salad on this planet, that you're the peanut butter to my jelly, and that we've made whoopee in every place possible and our bodies fit together like a dream."

"You wouldn't dare tell them that!"

"Oh hunny, I would." She gave me a teasing wink.

"Will you tell them about my uselessness?"

"Oh, I've already warned them," the blonde said, smirking. "Aunt G's volunteered to be stationed at the grill."

That made me laugh so hard. "I love you. You're amazing," I said, looking at her fondly whilst my arms were still fixed around her, holding her close.

She tapped the tip of my nose with her index finger. "And you're embarrassing."

"Foul." I bit Naomi's playful finger that was still pointed at me then immediately pecked her on the lips before she could even react. Then I pecked her again, over and over, tightening my hold of her.

Giggling and a little breathless, Naomi turned around again to face the ocean. She leant back, melting against my chest and smiled sleepily at the comforting view in the distance. I loosened my embrace a little and let my hands rest on her tummy. It felt so wonderful to be with my girlfriend like this and to have ironed out the problems we had recently had. It was the first time since even before the long-distance drama that I had really been able to relax.

The peaceful scenery was beautified even more by the sound of waves crashing against the nearby shore. A sea breeze caressed us.

"Mmm." Naomi took a deep breath. "I don't think I could ever get tired of the smell of the ocean."

"I know what you mean," I agreed, absently running my fingers through her hair with one hand. "One good whiff and all your troubles seem to disappear." I, too, breathed deeply and lifted my face to the sky. "Mmm . . ."

Naomi nestled her head on my chest and clung to me like I was a pillow. "God, I can't wait to get to JJ's villa," she said. "And have you all to myself. Just you and me. And cuddle all day and you know . . ." She let out a yawn.

"Oh, I know," I murmured, stroking her hair.

She rubbed her cheek against my chest, murmuring content sounds as if she were breathing in my scent and enjoying the way I touched her hair. And I pressed my cheek against the crown of her head, holding her close and ever so tenderly. I felt her twitching very gently as sleep came over her.

Moments later, Naomi was still breathing slowly in front of me in her sleep so I took the moment in, holding on to her and watching her sleep. I touched Naomi's cheek very softly with my fingertips, fixated on her beauty. She looked so irresistible that I couldn't help it. I lightly licked the tip of her alluring narrow pointed nose.

Naomi jerked all of a sudden, opened her eyes and lifted her face to me. "Did you just lick my nose?" she asked, her voice high-pitched and cracking slightly.

I narrowed my eyes. My mouth hung open for a moment in pretend innocence. "Did I what?"

Naomi broke into a huge grin. "You did! You did just lick me!"

"I don't know what you're talking about, babe."

She threw her head back and laughed. "Don't give me that, you know exactly what I mean."

"I didn't lick your nose," I said, trying not to burst into laughter. "You don't have any evidence whatsoever to prove that."

"Whatever, sourpuss," Naomi muttered as she snuggled into me once more. "You and I both know you licked my nose." I watched her yawn for the nth time.

"Sure, babe," I murmured, gently stroking her hair again. "Just go back to sleep."

"I love you, Ranga," she mumbled sleepily and her eyes fluttered closed again. "My pretty princess."

After a few minutes, Naomi's breathing evened out. I grinned impishly, gave her nose a lick of my tongue, and whispered, "I love you back."

Yes, I loved the girl. Beyond my last breath. I didn't care right from the start what I'd have to live with for it. And I still think it was the best choice I've ever made.

I could smell her shampoo just under my chin where she rested, her pulse warming against my skin. I stayed ever so quiet and listened to her breathing, a sound which I never wanted to stop.

Feeling her in my arms, happy and content and safe, was one of the best feelings in the world. I never wanted it to go away.

No wonder I thought I could take on the world. With Naomi near to me and her love, no one can harm me.

Naomi Campbell had profoundly changed my perspective in life. See, I'd always been a realist. I never believed in love at first sight. I thought relationships were something you worked on over time, just like football skills.

But that didn't even begin to explain the way Naomi dropped into my life from out of the blue. I had never experienced the kind of feelings I had for her and not that fast. She had made me realise there's more to life.

And even more than that, she had changed my perspective on myself. Just the fact that she had made me feel like there must be something special about me.

When I was with Naomi, things were different. Just one smile from her, and all my anxieties fade away, and I feel like I am floating on air. Naomi Campbell had really changed me.

We sat there on the beach together and at that instant I had a flash of the two of us spending time just like this on a hundred different weekends in the future.

It was just a normal day, a day like any other. But best of all, it was a day in which all things were exactly where they should be.