After I posted a story yesterday I realised that was story number 49. So today I decided to write number 50! And in honour of this number I chose to write 50 key things, sentences, and habits that are so Wilson… and I had to use all of it in this story that covers four wedding anniversaries, see the bold words/text.
Sonny's POV
(…2024…)
"Ten years… can you believe it?"
We are both enjoying our intimate afterglow after we have just made love in the early hours before dawn. I am lying on my back and Will is curled up next to me, drawing invisible patterns on my chest. His hair tickles in my neck and I feel his breath on my skin every time he breathes out. I feel him smile when he answers:
"Actually I can… It is hard to remember my life before you…"
I just pull him closer against me and he presses a soft kiss against my chest. I look down and ask:
"So of all ten years… what is your best memory?"
I see him frown and when our eyes meet he shrugs:
"Don't know… I guess there are many good ones…"
"I am sure you have a favourite one…"
After a little while of silence he leans up while resting his head in his hand:
"OK… one of my favourite ones is New Year's Eve, when I read your resolution. It made me realise how long you had been waiting for me, and that was the moment I sort of realised how lucky I was…"
His blue eyes sparkle and I cannot look away from their transparent depth. His hand comes up to gently touch my jaw, slowly tracing the outline of my chin:
"So what is yours?"
I smile and just stare at him a little while longer. His cheeks become slightly darker red and I just purse my lips, waiting for him to lean down and kiss me. I don't need to beg and he quickly catches my lips in a sweet, soft kiss. When he lets go I almost immediately feel a second peck and I smile happily realising how we have both become accustomed to our double kiss habit.
"So… what is it?"
I remember that it is my turn to come up with a favourite memory and after a while I answer:
"Remember the time I had the boxes with Halloween stuff send to my home? You came over and we talked about so many things… Unfortunately your father messed it up…"
We both laugh and he shakes his head:
"Yeah… Looking back, we had quite a few interruptions to deal with when we were dating…"
I nod:
"But even so… I loved talking with you about growing up and stuff like that…"
He leans down again and his head finds its previous position on my chest:
"Me too…"
He takes a breath as though he wants to say something and when it remains quiet I ask:
"What?"
"Nothing…"
"Common…"
"OK… I was just thinking about our first time… which was just perfect… and Gabi only interrupted after… you know…"
I cannot help but laugh out loud:
"I know."
"Sonny?"
"Hmmm."
"Even after ten years, every time I am with you it feels as good as the first time…"
He looks up and the open honesty radiates towards me. I swallow a lump in my throat and can only whisper:
"Perfect is the word…"
He smiles and then with a sigh he pushes himself up, and while he is walking to our bathroom he says over his shoulder:
"I'll get the water warm… I expect to see you in three minutes…"
Although this bed is nice and comfortable, I have no difficulty getting out to follow my husband of ten years to the shower. The water is already running and he is looking at me while I undress. There is no embarrassment or shyness in his stare, only pride and love. Without hesitation I walk straight into his arms and let him mess up my hair while the water streams down on us. And while he holds me in a tight hug, he mumbles in my ear:
"I like showering together… reality is even better than the dream…"
"What?"
I lean back and the sudden blush on his cheeks tells me he did not intend to say those words out loud. He shakes his head:
"Never mind…"
He reaches for the shampoo but I pull his arm back and hold his wrist while demanding:
"Tell me."
He bites his bottom lip and the water dripping down his face onto his perfect chest almost makes me forget about everything else, but then he says:
"I got that IPod and I thought you wanted to get back together. So I got myself ready to go and see you and I took a shower. And I just missed you so much and I was just wishing you were with me…"
His eyes avoid mine and I just feel an overwhelming love for the man in front of me. My hands lock around his neck and with a gentle pull I make sure he is flush against me. His hands wander down until they find their favourite position and rest on my butt. Our tongues find each other in a sweet kiss, and when he starts trailing wet kisses on my skin he whispers:
"You are the best thing that could have ever happened to me…"
Will's POV
(…2034…)
"So what is your surprise?"
I still hate surprises, even when Sonny is the one organising them. He just smiles and shakes his head:
"I'm not telling… you'll see…"
I look at the clock and realise I am going to have to wait at least another three hours until we are leaving. So I decide to use all my ammunition. While I bite my bottom lip I walk over to him and whisper seductively:
"Tell me, and I'll do anything…"
"Anything?"
Before I can kiss him he pushes me backwards:
"This is not going to work… I am not going to tell you…"
I frown and mumble:
"Twenty years of marriage has changed you… in our early years you would not have ignored my promise to do anything."
"I guess you have lost your touch…"
I know he is teasing and yet I feel offended:
"Take that back…"
He must feel guilty because he quickly does:
"Sorry honey… you have nothing to worry about when it comes to that…"
"You promise?"
He nods and tries to pull me in for a hug, but instead I hold out my pinkie and smile:
"I need you to pinkie swear on this…"
His brown eyes sparkle while he curls his pinkie around mine. When we let go I am quickly in his arms enjoying some sweet kisses. Then he lets me go and starts making some coffee. I sit down and start guessing:
"Are you taking me climbing?"
He just laughs and mumbles:
"Sure, because that worked out very well the first time…"
"Do I hear sarcasm?"
"No honey… of course not."
"Oh… I know… you are taking me ice skating…"
This time he turns towards me and shakes his head:
"Despite the lessons you have had you still skate worse than my grandmother…"
"Are you trying to hurt me?"
He walks over and gives me a soft kiss on my cheek:
"Never…"
I smile and sigh:
"I guess my climbing and skating skills are not the reason you fell in love with me."
"Well, if they were I don't think we would have made it to our twentieth anniversary…"
He pours both of us some coffee and hands me one of the cups:
"Don't worry, you will like it."
In one of the cupboard he finds the brownies he baked yesterday and I happily take two out of the box. He shakes his head and mumbles:
"You eat too much of this stuff…"
We both sit down on the couch and before I know it I hook my leg over his. I lean into his side and enjoy the comfortable silence between us. His hand soon rests on my thigh and after a while he says:
"When I first kissed you I never could have guessed we would end up right here…"
"What do you mean…? That was a nice kiss…"
"No… not that one… you are thinking about the one outside the pub…"
It takes a second for me to remember the other first kiss that I always try to forget about as I am ashamed about how I acted. He squeezes my thigh and says sweetly:
"It's OK honey, you just needed some time to come out and… you know… be out."
"Yeah… sorry…"
"No… don't say that…"
"OK… I'll remind us of some other kisses then…"
He raises his eyebrows and I remember:
"The ones around New Year's Eve… the one after we decided to go home and spend some time together… and the one a year later when we were at the club…"
He nods and agrees:
"Yeah, good choices…"
He reaches over and intertwines our fingers, and I happily look down on how we are holding hands. While he takes the last sip of his coffee I decide to go back to our original topic:
"So what is my surprise…?"
"Even after all these years… I am dating an infant…"
"Sonny, I hate surprises… you know that."
He shrugs and while he stands up he just smiles:
"Then I guess you are going to have a few terrible hours."
But suddenly he stops in his tracks and turns around towards me:
"Perhaps you have to consider some good surprises that you actually enjoyed…"
"And which ones would that be…?"
"Let's see… the IPod I gave you on Valentine's Day…"
"OK… one good surprise in my whole life…"
"Oh… and what about when your father brought Snuffie for Ari to play with…"
I smile and he remembers another one:
"And what about my free-coffee-for-life card?"
My smile widens and I reach in my pocket. I open my wallet and while I stand up I wave something in the air. He soon recognises it:
"You still have it…"
"Of course…"
He leans in for a sweet soft kiss, followed by a quick second kiss. He gives me back my card and I carefully put it back in my wallet. He watches me and then says:
"So I guess you do like surprises…"
I sigh:
"I guess… sometimes…"
He flashes me a full million-watt-Sonny-smile and I decide to let it go. And while I sit back down on the couch I mumble:
"Just two and a half hours to go…"
Sonny's POV
(…2044…)
We walk home after a nice celebration dinner. Our arms are curved around each other's waist, and our bodies are aligned at the hip. When I look at him from aside I feel a slight tingling of happiness when I see the blue scarf around his neck. Even after all these years, he is still wearing it. I just squeeze him against me and he smiles:
"What is that for…?"
I shrug:
"I love you."
He looks at me:
"I love you too…"
We soon arrive home and we take of our coats. I find a bottle of wine and hand him a glass. He smiles with a twinkle in his eyes:
"Can I actually drink some of this or are you going to take it away in a second…"
I smile, remembering his early home coming after his writing trip, and our happy celebration. I lean back down on the couch and wrap my arm around his shoulder:
"You can have some of it… but I cannot promise you will have it all before I take it away."
He pulls on his tie and pulls it over his head. I cannot help but see flashbacks to happy memories featuring ties: the time I tied his bowtie, the time I tied his tie when we were heading to court, and the time he straightened out my bowtie. He catches my staring eyes and mumbles:
"What…"
I shake my head and smile:
"Nothing… just a few nice memories."
"Son?"
"Hmmm."
"I want to dance with you…"
It only takes a few minutes and we are slowly dancing in our living room. His arms are secure around me and I can rest my head in the crook of his neck. I can smell his aftershave and even after thirty years of marriage I feel butterflies in my stomach. His body flush against mine feels so familiar and yet so terribly exciting.
His lips are against my skin and he whispers:
"I like dancing with you…"
I lean back and find his eyes. I take a step back, grab a hold of his wrists and pull him towards out bedroom. Our eyes don't let go of each other and slowly we find our way to our bed. He pushes me down and climbs on top of me. He stares down on my face and after a deep kiss he says softly:
"It is never just sex with us…"
For a moment it feels as if we are at the coffee house and he is pulling off my apron and asking me to go back to my place. He kisses me again:
"You have always been the one who makes wiser decisions than I do…"
I shake my head, unable to speak while his eyes look at me with an intensity I will never get used to.
"I am the one who brought all this baggage into our relationship…"
"Don't say that word… I hate that word…"
"I know… but I have always been afraid you would feel tied down at some point because of me and my… my stuff…"
"I'm not tied down."
He smiles and takes deep breath. While I let him kiss my neck I whisper:
"You are my anchor that doesn't weigh me down... remember?"
He lets go of my skin and I am sure his passion will be visible in my neck tomorrow. I softly continue:
"You know… when I shook your hand at the Town Square… it felt so right, so good…"
"All these years you never doubted whether this was what you wanted?"
I slowly shake my head and cup his face between my hands. After a soft kiss I murmur with my lips against his:
"This… I want this…"
Will's POV
(…2054…)
"Where did you find that?"
I look at the card in his hand and remember very vividly the moment I saw him holding this Valentine's Day card at the coffee house. He smiles and waves at a box in the corner of the closet:
"I found a box of things I wanted to keep…"
I lean down and pull the box towards me. I open the lid and start taking things out, curious about the things that mean something to the man I have been married to for forty years. There are only a few things in it and I am surprised to find a green shirt and a blue shirt. I look up and raise my eyebrows. He blushes and explains:
"We liked those shirts…"
I smile and point at the blue one:
"I liked the blue one… on you… I did not like the green one."
He shrugs:
"Well I did…"
I laugh and mumble suggestively:
"I know."
I also find a square piece of beige fabric. I hold it up and frown:
"What is this?"
His blush only deepens:
"That is a piece from the couch we had at the coffee house…"
"Why would you keep that?"
He puts the card down and takes it from me:
"We sat on this couch after you came out to me. We talked about finding that special someone…"
My eyes soften and I stand up to kiss him:
"You are sweet and romantic."
He laughs shyly and starts putting everything back in the box. Before he can though I take out one last item. It is a hospital gown and I just hold it, knowing how much impact it had on Sonny when I was shot. He takes it and folds it back into the box.
"You even kept that?"
He shrugs:
"I did."
"Why?"
He looks at me and softly explains:
"I looked at you for hours and hours while you were wearing that thing. You were just lying there quietly and all I could do was tell you how much I loved you…"
I pull him close for a hug and he leans against me with a deep sigh.
"So when you got dressed into your normal clothes I put it in my bag…"
His hands find their way under my shirt and I mumble:
"You are still better at getting me undressed though, aren't you…?"
He laughs a muffled laugh against my shoulder and we reluctantly let go. I point at the gown:
"The ketchup stain didn't vanish completely…"
His fingers softly stroke the fabric and he smiles fondly:
"Despite my efforts…"
I smile, remembering how he took his time to wipe it clean, letting his fingers touch me without haste. He bites his bottom lip and I know he is thinking about the same thing. With a smile he pushes everything back in the box:
"Let's have a cup of coffee…"
With some coffee we reminisce on our life together and I still enjoy reminding him of his list of everything I have done to piss him off:
"How long is it now… I mean after forty years it must be endless…"
He laughs:
"What if it is…?"
I raise my eyebrows:
"Is it?"
He shrugs and takes a sip of his coffee:
"I guess you will never know…"
I shake my head and frown:
"I am a bit worried about this…"
He puts his coffee cup down and stands up. He pulls me on my feet and pulls me in for a tight hug:
"Don't worry… remember my 2012 resolution?"
"Yeah…"
"Remember that I said that it was what I wanted all year? I can now say it is what I have wanted all forty years…"
I hold him close, happy to feel his heartbeat match mine.
"Don't worry baby… I am very much in love with you."
He squeezes me tight and asks shyly, almost insecure:
"Why… why are you in love with me… even after forty years?"
And all I can whisper is:
"It is everything about you…"
As always I hope you all like it. Thanks to everyone supporting me and thanks to everyone reading one, a few, or perhaps even all of my 50 stories. I love you all, and please let me know what you think about this one!