Hello ladies:
Thanks for stopping by for yet another week of this, lol.
Many thanks to my beta Songster for her help in making me look like I know what I'm doing here. For realz.
I don't own Twilight.
And let's see...
O~o~O~LB~O~o~O
'Stars'
Left.
Right.
Left.
Right.
With my eyes closed, I feel warm lips alternating between my left and right shoulder as they move back and forth, traveling down my chest. Her tongue sometimes licks and her teeth nip, and I can almost feel her smiling against me, trying to make me move.
I don't want to let her win, but who am I kidding? Trying to keep still is an impossibility when it comes to her. Just the feel of her mouth on places that she's visited before, and her breath fanning over my skin is enough to make me want to jump and continue last night's activities.
Pretending to be asleep was doomed from the start.
"I know you're awake," she murmurs against my stomach, continuing to kiss me.
I smile and, without opening my eyes, move my hands to touch her. I feel her wild locks between my fingers and the image of how they got that way makes me grin this time: her body underneath me, sweating and stretching; her mouth open, moaning my name and what she wants me to do.
Yeah, I'm grinning and I don't care if that gives me away.
"You're so freaking smug. Why am I with you?" Her lips now take a detour and she starts kissing her way up. My hands start touching everything they can reach as she slowly inches closer and closer to my face.
When she stills, I open my eyes and I find her face directly above mine, her arms on each side of my head and her hair falling in front of her, caging us. My hands are now tracing little circles on her hips and I feel her squirm slightly when I do it.
"Because you love me, Bella Swan, and I kinda love you too."
She rolls her eyes and lowers herself to meet my lips. I take the opportunity to bring her flush to me, and I move my hands to her back and press her closer. She doesn't mind at all, if the laugh that accompanies her kiss says anything.
With her legs straddling me, and her body on top molding to mine, we kiss. Her mouth is hot and soft and if I could kiss her all day, I so would. The fact that I can actually do that if I want to makes me kiss her more strongly.
Ever since the first time we slept together, I can't keep my hands off of her, which is saying a lot since I touched her constantly before that. Now even kissing has gone from addictive to pretty much vital at this point.
I feel her hands scratching my head as her hair tickles my cheeks and her breasts press to my chest, and when I hear her tiny moans, I swallow them with my kiss.
My hands move on her back, touching and groping, up and down. We've spent many times like this, naked in bed, so even with my eyes closed, I can just picture how her body moves against my palms. But before I get to take things much further, she breaks the kiss, leans back and moves her hair to her right side.
I can't deny that I pout when I feel the air hit my lips.
Since the windows are on her left side, I tilt my head over that shoulder and see how her naked body shines under the lights of the morning. The curtains are wide open, so the entire room is bathed in light, which lets me see her addictive body with no restrictions.
I love mornings.
"What are you doing?" Bella asks as she innocently kicks her legs and wriggles on top of me a little down my body, hitting a not so innocent spot.
I moan.
"More like what are you doing?" Of course I don't stop her, but it's very distracting.
"I'm just letting my boyfriend check me out." She folds her arms on top of my chest and rests her chin on top of her hands.
I look down at her as I fold my arms at the back of my head. I love Bella in the mornings. Well, I love her all day, but it's usually times like this that she looks so much more beautiful than any other time, with her sleepy smile, no make-up, wild hair and naked body. It's just her and me.
"Well, your boyfriend loves to check you out. Maybe you should stay like this all day long." I tease, but not really.
"You really want me to spend the entire weekend here at the house naked and not go outside?" Now she's the one who gets to pout.
She knows it gets to me every time. So I close my eyes.
She's right though, we came here to my parents' house to rest, but also to actually go outside and see the town.
It's been two weeks since the Gala and we were finally able to clear our schedules to take some time off and come here to Eygalières, in the south of France.
I really needed this time away from everything, and it's nice not to have to think about hemlines and cuts and colors. My brain needs a rest. Also, I wanted to take the chance to take Bella away from her own worries.
Last week, she received a call from the people she met at the Gala and they want to see her next week. She's been nervous ever since, double checking everything before that meeting. It doesn't help that there has been good press since the party and Fashion Week. My studio gets calls all the time and Bella does as well, asking for designs and meetings. It's great, but at the moment it only adds more pressure to her to be better.
I smile thinking about how happy and relaxed she looked when she saw this house last night.
My Mom's family comes from this region, but all my cousins and aunt moved to other places in time, so now this is the only thing left tying us here. Mom would never give this up.
My grandfather built it for my grandmother as a wedding gift over fifty years ago, and she lived here until the day she died, long after grandpa died of a heart attack. The house was left to my Mom and my aunt Sophie after that, but she didn't care for it, so Mom bought her share and started remodeling it.
It's actually a pretty cozy place: two stories high with four bedrooms, vines covering some of the walls of the house and a big garden surrounding it. The property is lined with walls covered in even thicker vines, except for the front portion, where there is actually a white picket fence with flowers adorning the entrance.
We would argue with Mom that the place needs a more secure entrance. Someone could easily break in, but the town is so small and everybody knows everybody, that the chances of someone coming here and going unnoticed are pretty slim.
That's what we love about it actually, the feel of a secluded village in the French countryside. It's just us down here.
We got here last night, on Friday, and we're going back to Paris Monday night. With only three days available, I'm planning on spending as much of that time naked with Bella as possible. But I guess she's right about going outside after all.
"Yeah, I guess you're right." I sigh and open my eyes once again.
"Don't look so pained," she laughs and I feel her shake above me. "It should be fun and besides, there will be plenty of time to do all of that."
I groan; I know she's right, but I want to spend my time just with her. I'm greedy.
She lifts her left hand and moves it to my forehead, gently smoothing the skin there. I smile when I see the small charm dangling from her bracelet in front of my eyes. Ever since I gave her the bracelet, she rarely takes it off. I don't mind at all, since that is often the only thing she wears.
"This is fading away," she whispers.
"What is? My forehead?" I give her a small laugh and that makes her smile wide.
"This crease in your forehead." She keeps passing her fingers over my forehead. "It was always there when we met, you were constantly frowning without even noticing."
"I was?" I knew I smiled very little, but always frowning?
"Yeah, maybe that's why your designers were afraid to approach you." She does this soft little laugh. She's right to laugh; the picture she's painting makes me look like an ogre.
"But now." She softly moves her hand from my forehead to the corner of my right eye. "Now these little crinkles here are becoming more apparent."
I close my eyes and let her keep touching me.
"You smile more often than you frown. I like these smile lines around your eyes rather than the ones in your forehead."
Her fingertips make soft touches to my face, each one making me shiver slightly before they touch me again. How does she do that? How can she turn simple touching of my face into more? She's taking notice of something that I didn't even know about myself.
I can see what she's saying. It's true. There was little reason for me to smile before meeting her, except during my time with Rose and Marie.
I move my right hand from the back of my head and place it over the one she's using to touch my face. I open my eyes then and slowly lift her hand and bring it to my mouth, kissing every finger and her palm.
"It's all you, you know?" It's always her. "You're the one making me all wrinkled around the eyes, Bella Swan."
"Ass." She laughs and hides her face in my chest.
"Why am I the ass? You're the one marring this beautiful face."
"Maybe you need a little marring, you're too pretty." Bella peers at me after she rests her cheek on top of the hand she hasn't moved from my chest.
"I'm not pretty. I'm manly and handsome and rough around the edges." I let her see my profile. The urge to laugh at this ridiculousness is strong.
From the corner of my eye, I see her shoulders shaking with laughter and her face is again buried in my chest. I just can't resist any longer and I join her in laughing. She does this to me all the time, makes me laugh at myself.
After our laughter dies, we stay in bed like that. She tells me stories about her friends and things she likes and I tell her stories about summers in this house or vacations with my family in Chicago. She smiles or laughs or listens with rapt attention to my stories. All the while, I'm still holding one of her hands in mine, playing with her fingers. She wiggles them or tickles my palm or tries to squeeze my hand, attempting to prove that she's stronger than I am.
As we keep talking, I often have to force myself to focus on her words, since every little movement, even the ones she doesn't realize she's making, are very distracting. Her other hand, the one resting on my chest, scratches me when she curls her fingers from time to time; her knees moving at the sides of my legs, rubbing the soft skin of her thighs against my own; or the way her hair falls to the side of my body, tickling me when she laughs.
"You've changed so much," she says later on when we've grown silent.
We're both staring at our joined hands, and the sun peeking from the window makes the tiny hairs on our arms shine. It also makes her bracelet glow.
"I know."
"You never would've joked like this or even admitted that you're changing. You simply wouldn't have seen it." She's right; it took other people to start pointing out the change for me to see it.
"You don't even have to be asleep anymore to let your guard down." She says and I frown.
"What do you mean?"
"Remember that day you were sick and I went to take care of you?" I nod. "Well, apparently the medicine you took was a little strong for you." She smiles, like she has a secret and can't wait to tell me.
"Well, you sort of admitted that you had feelings for me that day. You just didn't notice you were saying it."
I try to recall that day. It's kind of foggy, and I remember thinking that I liked her touch and that she belonged with me, but surely- Wait.
"I said those things out loud?" Shit. What else did I say?
"Yes." Now she laughs. "But don't worry, you didn't say anything bad. Just that you liked me to touch you and that you… already started falling for me." She looks a little sheepish with that last one.
"Why didn't you say anything before now?"
"Because you were sick and it was something in the moment, I didn't think you'd remember. And most importantly, you weren't ready to admit it. What would you have done if I had said something the next day?"
Freak out, that's what.
"Your face says it all, right now." She leans forward and kisses me. "You weren't ready and honestly, I barely was too. I knew I had strong feelings for you, but I was so scared for the both of us." She takes a deep breath.
"But we're not them anymore. You're not afraid to say you love me, to show me that. And now sick and whiny Edward makes his appearance more often." I scowl and she laughs.
"I was not whiny." It's not lost on me that at this moment I am sounding whiny.
"I love you, Edward. The guy I met months ago, so freaking lost and scared, and the one here in this bed, making jokes and touching me without fear."
I feel like an asshole sometimes for needing her to say the words, for needing her to tell me that she loves me. I know she does, but sometimes those old doubts come back and leave me thinking that she could do so much better. But the thing is, that doesn't make want to leave and let her find that guy, on the contrary, it makes me want to be that guy for her. No over-thinking every step and no mistakes.
And I think I'm getting there.
I always shake those bad thoughts as quickly as they come though, and enjoy what we have now, what we could be. I can't go and doubt her because of other people's actions. She's never given me reasons for me to doubt her.
I stop staring at our hands and turn to her. What I find in her eyes is familiar after so many times together like this. She's looking at me with her eyes and her heart wide open, without fear that I might retreat or deny what she's saying. How could I? It's the truth.
She doesn't have to walk on eggshells around me when she wants to say something anymore; she doesn't have to gauge when I'm ready for her to share her feelings.
She trusts me and she loves me.
"Not anymore," I say. "No more doubts."
I move from my position and sit up, helping her to sit on my lap.
The room is brighter since we woke up a while ago. It's now early November and clouds are more often seen than not, so I revel in this little sunshine that will surely not last that long. Clouds will cover the sun soon enough and going outside our little bubble already makes me shiver.
The room is warm though and the windows are already a little foggy, but I don't care about that at the moment, All I can think about is about how she feels against me and kissing her lips again.
We should never stop.
My hands settle on her hips, bringing her closer. She moans at the combination of feeling me hard underneath her and the calluses of my fingers on her skin. I love it when she shivers from those. She says she likes to feel the contrast of them on her. She all but threatened my life when I offered not to touch her that much if I was too rough.
I wouldn't have stopped anyway.
Her chest is pressed to mine and her arms wrap around my neck. I take the opportunity to kiss her neck and whisper words that I know drive her crazy. I've learned so much about her and what makes her respond this past month. I'm always learning though, and she always surprises me with what she discovers about me. Half the time I didn't know myself.
Like that little nibble she does to the shell of my ear while she hums. Damn vibrations drive me crazy.
My hands move higher and higher until they hold her breasts; her hands move lower and lower until they scrape my abs. It's a mixture of pain and pleasure and I touch the soft skin of her breasts in the same rhythm that her hands are moving over me.
Her skin is heated and she starts rocking on my lap, creating friction that makes me wonder why am I not taking her right now.
My hands start moving from her chest, to her ribs to her back as my mouth kisses across her chest. I lick and give her little bites that make her giggle, squirm or moan. I can't decide which one of those three I like the most.
Who am I kidding? I like them all.
Her right hand moves to my shoulder as she slowly starts lifting herself up and brings her other one down to grab me. Before I know it, those little moans from before are short gasps as she lowers herself once again, taking me inside.
"Edward." She breathes and pleads at the same time.
I have to stop from kissing her and bury my face in her neck. Every single time I'm inside her, it's like flames spread all over my skin. Hell, every touch she gives me, feels the same.
We don't move for a few seconds, I just breathe her in and relish the feeling of being inside her, until it becomes too much and soon we're setting our own pace and the world outside this bed disappears.
I love this position; like this, I can see her expressions and feel her so deep and have her skin close to mine. The heat is everywhere: on my shoulders where her hands are resting, on my palms as they slide on her sweaty skin, in the friction of her breasts against my chest.
Only pants and skin on skin can be heard as my hands on her backside push her closer against me; as her legs lift her right before she sinks down again and again. It doesn't take long until we're both letting go and I feel the tensing of my muscles, the shake of her body and our names fall loud from each other's lips, mingling with other meaningless words into the air.
I wrap my arms around her and lean back on the bed, bringing her with me. We're sweaty and tired and nothing can erase the smile off our faces.
I kiss her neck and taste her salty skin, feeling her fast heartbeat against my lips. Her breath is hot above my heart and we both try to catch our breaths, but are unwilling to separate.
"I love you." I kiss her neck. "Je t'aime." Her jaw. "Te amo." Her cheeks. "Ich liebe dich." Her lips.
"You're so cheesy," she says pressed to my lips doing that curious little moan-giggle that I find so damn sexy.
"Meh." I shrug.
I continue to give her light kisses and I decide that now is time to use my tongue when I find a spot especially enticing that causes her to make some unexpected noise. A giggle? A moan? I have no idea. In between, I continue to whisper words both in English and in French, doing a weird little mix.
Two hours later, and after round two of this morning, I'm resting my cheek on her stomach as she runs her hand through my hair. I know we need to shower and eat and actually move from this spot, but every time she tries to move, I stop her.
"We're gonna have to leave this bed sometime, Edward. It's almost time for lunch and I don't think I'll be able to stand up at this rate."
I look up and wiggle my eyebrows.
"I meant because of lack of food, not our activities." She laughs, but I know it's also because of what we've been doing.
Her head moves to the side and she closes her eyes as a faint ray of sunshine comes through the windows. I was right, clouds have been covering the sky for the past hour or so, not that we've been taking much notice. So Bella enjoys what little bit we get and smiles as gold and red streaks shine in her hair.
Now I'm the one looking up at her, resting on her stomach. I notice a few more freckles on her chin that I didn't before and now I have to start all over again to count those marks on her body. The number keeps changing since a few are only visible under the sun. Bella doesn't mind when I have to start again, I think she likes my tongue doing all the work.
I move up until I'm hovering above her. Her face turns to me and she opens her eyes.
I see other little freckles on her nose and a few closer to her eyes. She looks so young with those there: no worries or scars brought from her past. Anyone who doesn't know her would see only a smiling young girl, and not the strong woman I've grown to love. And just to prove that, the lines on her face paint a different story. Unlike me before, she doesn't have a deep crease on her forehead. Her most noticeable lines are on the sides of her face: her eyes and mouth. She smiles and laughs and jokes all the time, always trying to move forward and not clinging on what can't be changed.
"You're right, crinkles around the eyes are much better." And there they are again when she smiles back.
I lower to kiss her, but before I get to her lips, she places her hands on my chest and pushes me back.
"No, no, no, Monsieur Cullen. You're not starting round three, I'm hungry."
She gets up from bed and I have no idea if she's still talking. All I see is her naked body moving to retreive her robe: the curve of her waist, the dip at her bottom, the arch of her back.
I'm a lucky guy.
"What do you-" She takes the robe and turns before putting it on.
"What?" With big restraint, I take my eyes away from her body to look up to her smirking face.
"Never mind."
After a second of hesitation, she lets the robe fall from her shoulders to the floor and moves to the bedroom door.
"What are you doing, Bella?" I croak.
"It's a little hot inside the house. I don't think I need the robe anymore." She's resting her hip against the threshold with her arms above her head as she pulls her hair back.
"Um..." I can't stop staring at her chest and stomach and legs and-
"Good. What do you think about home made pizza?" And with a nod, she turns and walks out the door.
I move on the bed, following her with my eyes until there is no more Bella to watch and no more bed to move around and all I feel is the hard floor against the side of my shoulder.
The little minx laughs all the way down to the kitchen.
O~o~O~LB~O~o~O
"Bonjour, Madam Moreau." I greet our neighbor who's just walking towards her house.
"Edward?" She has to do a double take before returning my smile and coming to where I'm standing, by the front fence of the house.
"One and the same."
It's so nice to see her after so long. She always had the best cookies and would spoil us rotten whenever we came here with my parents.
Before she says anything more, she's right in front of me, hugging the hell out my waist. She's tiny.
"It's been so long, too long." I hear against my sweater and put my arms around her.
I smile; her English has gotten much better over the years.
I remember her trading some of her treats for lessons when Rose and I were teenagers. It seemed she had been corresponding to a 'gentleman caller', as she called him, in England at the time and wanted to say what she could in his native language. We knew she was a widow at the time and it was weird to think of her as 'dating', or whatever that thing was.
Rose and I would often tease her about it and sometimes tried to trick her with a few words, but she saw right through us. After a few times, she got a dictionary and threatened to cut off our cookie supply.
That put a stop to the teasing.
It was fun to see her all angry, but not really, not with us.
I helped her with translation and Rose helped her with more romantic words. I never knew what to say anyway.
"Yes, it has." We separate and now she's appraising me. Checking me out in detail from head to toe.
"You're too skinny." Now she's squeezing my arms and shaking her head in disapproval.
"Join the club. Mom said the same thing a while ago."
"Well, she's right, that mother of yours." She looks a little angry and her French accent is stronger when she's like this. I smile and picture her just cursing in French, forgetting all English words.
"Okay then. And I see your English is much better, Madam Moreau. Had any more opportunities to practice?" I tease her, but I know the answer. When she squeezed the hell out of my arms, I felt a wedding band on her finger.
"Yes, you could say that." Is she blushing? "It helps that now I get to live with Robert and don't just exchange mail anymore."
"Oh, so it's not Madam Moreau anymore?"
"No, no. It's Madam Wilkinson now." She shakes her head. "I know, it sounds weird, but I refuse to use Mrs. Wilkinson. I'm French, for crying out loud, I'm a Madam."
I'm about to talk again when I hear my name being called from the house. Bella must've woken up and now she's looking for me.
We sadly had to put on some clothes earlier to cook. Hot things close to naked bodies is simply not the best. While the pizza was in the oven, we went to take a shower; a shower that lasted longer than anticipated and we almost burned our lunch.
After eating, we started talking on the couch and making plans for the rest of the day, until Bella fell asleep. We really barely slept last night. I couldn't take a nap though; I had too much energy to fall asleep next to her.
So, I went to get my sketchbook and while I was drawing, I spotted my neighbor walking to her house.
"Oh, I see you're not here alone."
"Yeah, that's Bella, my girlfriend."
"Well, then what are you doing here with me? Go along now, but you must come to dinner tonight. I'd like to meet this girl that's making you smile this big."
I laugh. I'm pretty sure she hasn't forgotten my teasing from years before. I'll never hear the end of it tonight.
"Okay, it's a date then. Maybe we can meet Mr. Wilkinson as well? You know, since I wrote to him all those years and all."
"I'd argue with that, but you and your sister did see all those letters. And yes, you'll meet him too."
We say goodbye, and when I open the door to the house, I see Bella coming from upstairs.
"I went to look for you in the bedroom. I woke up on the couch and you weren't here." She looks cute with her hair on a loose ponytail, kind of wild from so much time sleeping on the couch; her arms are hugging her middle and a lazy smile.
"Yeah, sorry, I went to say hi to my neighbor. You had a nice nap?" I wrap my arms around her, kissing her temple.
She hums and nods.
"She invited us to have dinner with her tonight. What do you think?"
"Yeah, that would be great."
After a strong cup of coffee, we head outside to town. We are bundled in our coats and scarves as we make our way through the streets, hand in hand. I like this.
I tell Bella stories about where I used to play with Rose and other kids or where we hid when we broke one of the front windows while playing catch. I told Rose the ball was too high, but she didn't listen.
It was fun coming here every summer for a few weeks, to actually go outside after being indoors much of the year. I had scrapes on my knees, dirt in my hair and a tan that only lasted while we were here.
As we walk, we encounter a few people and when they recognize me, they are not shy to say hi and talk for a bit. It's a bit uncomfortable at times, but all that goes away when we share stories of years past.
Bella nods and laughs, hearing the stories and every couple of steps, she stops and kisses me. She says she's proud of me; I just shake my head at her. I don't think there is much to be proud about listening to neighbors's stories, but it gets her to kiss me, so I let it go.
We stop at this small antique shop and browse around. Much like that time at the market, I can't take my eyes away from anything here. It gives me ideas upon ideas for new designs, and it's almost too much to bear.
Something catches my eye and I think it would be perfect for Marie. When I see that there is another one much like it, I think perhaps I can get one for Aimée.
"What do you think about these?" I hold them up for Bella to see.
They are two headbands with what seems to be crystal and pearl details on one side. The band might need some adjusting, but the crystal and pearls look fine.
"Those are so pretty. For Marie, right?" I nod. "I bet she'll love them."
"I was thinking about getting these two and maybe give one to Aimée? You know, since they're both friends and all. It wouldn't be too weird, right?" Now that I think about it, maybe it would be weird.
The week before the Gala, Rose took Marie to her first ballet lesson. It seemed that Marie was very much set on becoming a piano-player-ballerina and no one could change her mind.
Rose had mentioned this to Alice during one of their lunches, which I'm happy to find happens very often with Bella and sometimes Tanya as well. Alice all but squealed when she heard this. Apparently, Aimée had also started ballet lessons recently and they thought it would be the perfect opportunity for the two girls to meet.
From what I heard, on that first day they hit it off perfectly, working as partners whenever they got the chance and even when they were not supposed to. Aimée helped Marie with some of the steps she had learned a few weeks before and Marie helped Aimée with her timing.
So seeing these two headbands in my hands, I can't help but imagine them wearing them at one point, all pretty and dolled up. I also realize that they wouldn't wear them if all the rest of the girls didn't have them, but still, it's a nice image. I also know that as soon as Marie gets her hands on hers, she'll be wearing it to sleep and dancing all over the house.
She's already doing the latter.
"They'd both love them." I feel Bella's hand on top of mine. "And no, it's not weird at all. You're caring about your niece and her best friend. You're just that kind of guy."
Oh yes, apparently, now Marie and Aimée are best friends.
I run my thumb over the skin of Bella's hand and I can almost picture a tiny little brown eyed girl pestering me about how her brother hid her tutu.
I buy the headbands and already plan on costumes for the girls.
O~o~O~LB~O~o~O
We buy several things in town and that night I finally get to meet Mr. Wilkinson. He's nothing like the person I imagined from the letters all those years ago, but I have no idea what I was expecting.
Madam Wilkinson swaps recipes with Bella and shares embarrassing stories about me, just like I thought. I don't think she forgave me for all those flowers I used to steal from her garden to give Mom.
Bella had been right; it was nice to go outside to see the town. So on Sunday, I make a plan to show her the towns near Eygalières and the countryside in general. We end up spending hours wandering the countryside, stopping whenever something caught our eye, to take pictures, buy something or enjoy the food at small places serving native dishes.
Safe to say, no one will tell me that I'm too skinny after this trip.
As I drive through the country side, holding her hand in mine, Bella looks out the window, gazing our surroundings as the car speeds: the hills and the trees and the small houses in the distance, and even a few animals walking lazily. We also pass a few meadows here and there and had it not been because it's getting darker and colder outside, I would've stopped at one of them. I wish I had brought her in springtime, where flowers would paint the green grass in bright colors.
"Did you know that Van Gogh lived in this area? He was inspired by the fields and trees and flowers all over the countryside." I tell her after a while.
She turns her head in my direction.
"Mom used to regale us with facts about painters who'd been in the area and stories about the towns we passed, all the way from Paris whenever we came here. It drove us crazy as kids." I chuckle remembering Mom talking and talking while Rose and I nodded.
"That sounds lovely," she says. "I used to love road trips with my parents. My Mom got so excited over them and my Dad would go along with whatever she wanted." She smiles and turns her head back to look outside.
I take her hand and kiss it, letting her enjoy the view and her memories.
In time for dinner, we get to Arles, by the Rhône. We eat at a small place and spend the rest of the time walking the maze of streets. One wrong turn and good luck finding us.
It's almost dusk and getting colder, but that only gives me the excuse to press myself closer to Bella. I never miss an opportunity.
"So, remember that I told you Van Gogh lived in this area?" She nods. "Well, he lived here in Arles. He rented a place in Place Lamartine." I motion with my arm to my right.
She looks at me sideways, quirking an eyebrow.
"I told you Mom talked our ears off all the way from Paris, but I also like to read." I shrug.
"But I want to show you something else." We keep walking towards the river. This actually works much better now that it's darker.
We keep walking and until we get to a waterside street, on the east side of the river. I search for a minute until I find the sign I'm looking for.
"Here." I bring her to my front, her body facing away from me, looking toward the river. Even though the sky has been covered in clouds most of the time we've been on this trip, tonight it looks clear enough to see some of the stars.
"This is supposed to be the exact same spot where Van Gogh painted 'Starry Night Over the Rhone'." We had been checking out an art book over at my parents' yesterday and when I saw this particular painting, I remembered this spot.
I guess a thank you to Mom might be in order after this trip.
"See the curve of the river and the effects of the lights over the water?" My mouth is close to her ear and I feel her shiver, without taking her eyes away from the view.
"Yes." I turn a little to watch her face. Her eyes are bright and the lights reflect in them.
"You know I'm a color freak, so I always liked the way he painted the night, it's hard to do. Even working with dark colors in designing is hard, you can lose some details in the dark background." I shrug. "I don't know, it always intrigues me when painters do this."
It's kind of nice to see an image of something that was also here over a hundred years ago, different of course, but still here. I wonder if my creations will pass the test of time.
Wrapping my arms around her, I rest my head on her shoulder and stay silent for a few minutes, just staring at the lights reflected in the water in front of us. I just let myself feel Bella in my arms.
Soon, even with heavier clothing, I start feeling the chilly air on my face and I see Bella shiver a little. I think we should leave soon.
At the same time, I love moments like this with her.
"Thank you, you're always surprising me with things like this."
"I'm just happy you indulge me in my weirdness and come along." I joke.
And indulge me she does.
We've been spending time all over Paris this past month. She took me buying buttons at a flea market I never heard of, and I almost lost it with the amount they had on display. I have no idea what to do with so many of them, but I ended up buying a ridiculous amount.
Bella often takes me to small unknown stores. She says it's because she needs to save money and can't afford that many expensive things to work with. I often go crazy buying things for me and for her.
I, in turn, have been taking her to different places in Paris. Places I discovered while wandering the city to draw or just to walk: small hidden parks, lonely spots by the Seine or more touristy places like the top of La Tour Eiffel, where we took videos and pictures that are now adorning my apartment walls. More and more those walls are covered with memories and colors.
We seem to be following wherever the other leads, even when I take her this far from the city to show her where a painting was created.
"I guess I love you too much not to come along." And with a kiss to my cheek, she turns and leads me to our car.
That night, we take our time undressing each other, slowly and teasingly. I love seeing her without worries and if we had to move down here for her to relax, I would.
Once again, there is little sleep that night, and even less clothing, and when the morning comes, we spend it in bed with food on the bedspread, music playing softly and me taking pictures of her. She doesn't resist as much as before and now she's not so shy about them.
When I told her about the photos, she got up from bed and ran to the bathroom to get something on. She didn't want me to take naked pictures of her.
It didn't stop me from thinking about it and feeling more like a pervert.
In the end, the photos are of her in bed laughing, eating or resting by my side. A few are of us lying in bed, photos taken at an awkward angle, but it doesn't matter.
I rub her socked feet. I laughed when I saw her coming out of the bathroom wearing a white shirt and a pair of knee length wool socks with colored polka dots. That laughter died when I noticed the opening of her shirt, right above her breasts, and the fact that I could still see her body through the shirt. I think she said something right then, but I have no idea what.
It turns out, socks and my shirt are the only clothes she's wearing and I have no idea why is that so sexy. At some point I get the words 'alien baby' and I know I haven't been paying as much attention as I should've.
I amend that right away when I push her legs over my shoulders and pay her nothing but attention as I feel the burn of the wool on my back.
I had no idea I had a thing for wool socks.
There are also some words that I can't decipher coming out of her mouth and I just hum against her skin in agreement, loving that I have the same effect on her as she has on me.
I move up her body, bringing the shirt up and uncovering her, as I kiss every spot my lips find. I support myself on each side of her, teasing her with little touches I make as I lift the last of the shirt over her head. I might've grazed her breast on purpose. With this much sensory overload, she keeps mumbling more words I can't understand.
Ridding myself of the rest of my clothes, I continue to take my time with her and soon the room is filled with moans and pants and pleas that become louder than the music playing in the background. Our sounds and movements are desperate and simply not enough, never enough, reflecting what any other time with her means: Bella overrides everything around me, she becomes the only thing I think about.
Nothing else matters, no one else is this important.
And when I hold her after we both fall over the edge, trying to catch our breaths, I know that I want to keep her forever.
And there ya go. A weekend getaway. :-) Not much happened here, just little things here and there, lol. I promise the next chapter is much more ploty-er.
And yet again I kinda blocked ya with things. I only mention Marie and Aimée's meeting here, but I'll write a nice outtake for them so you'll see what the hell happened when they met. I figured Edward wouldn't show up at Marie's dance class, so I'll write something just for them.
You can find pics of the headband E bought as well as of 'Starry Night Over the Rhone' (the painting and how it looks today) here: s1083 (dot) photobucket (dot) com/albums/j400/choclover82/Little%20Buttons/
And that's it, pretty ladies. I'll see ya in two more weeks... I hope, I kinda ran out of pre-written chapters. Ahh! My OCD self (the one with the every Thursday posting) is not happy about this, but I do have half the next chapter already written. So that's something. Just know that I never drop what I start. ;-)