AN: Hello, all! I hope you're all doing fantastic! I'm sorry for posting a little late like this, I've been a busy bee lately, so apologies for that. Thank you all for still reading this story, I really hope you're enjoying it. I like this part and I hope you do too! I'd love to get some feedback from you all on these new parts, so if you wanna leave a review go ahead. I'd enjoy reading it!
"You know, that was really sweet of you." I tell Paul once we're back on the road and I seem him smile.
"Ta, love. It was of you too." he replies and I smile at him even though he was the real hero of that moment and he switches on the radio again as we make our short ride home.
"What do you wanna do until six o'clock?" he questions when we plop down on the couch after we had gotten home and he had let Graham outside on this early afternoon of July 30th.
"What's at six?" I inquire and he looks to me with an innocent look with his eyebrows raised.
"Uh, dinner with the lads and everybody." he comments with this smug smile.
"Can I ask where?"
"You can certainly ask, but I'm sorry because I can't tell you that, it's confidential information." he replies and I laugh and lay my hand on his thigh over his loose jeans.
"And why is that, huh?" I query.
"Oh just because I know if I do tell ya you'll not wanna go there." he responds.
I open my mouth to ask him another question, but I don't see it having any point in the end if I was to, so I just nod my head.
After we relaxed on the couch there together watching an episode of a program we got back to talking since it bugs the both of us when either of us starts talking while the show plays.
"It's only three-forty right now, darling, so what do you reckon we do to take up the next two and a half hours?," Paul turns to me with the question and he looks into my eyes while I do the same and he traces the outline of my jaw for the moment. "It's all up to you, dear." he finishes in a soft voice while I see his eyes flit to my mouth and mine do the same to his and he lifts my chin by his finger before leaning in slowly to kiss me passionately for more than a few minutes.
"Well I suppose that took up about an hour of our time. That definitely was worth it though." Paul comments as he sits up in his bed shirtless and I turn around to face the naked fellow and I grin, one thing led to another on the couch downstairs and we moved it up to his bed and you know.
"I agree." I comment and he lays back down and pushes my now down hair off of my cheek.
"Now we're down to an hour and like twenty minutes I suppose, but we'll need time to get ready before dinner, so honestly, Mads, what do you want to do?" Paul comments as our eyes are locked on the other.
"We could go to the zoo, get a massage if you like, go on a picnic, to the beach, or whichever you would like, darling." he suggests and I purse my lips whilst thinking.
"A massage sounds amazing, but I don't think that'd be such a gear idea. Hmm..." I trail off as I think aloud and he begins to play with my hair while I run through my thoughts, what could we do for fun in an hour and not even a half?
"Can we get ice cream?" I ask after a silent minute of him fiddling with my hair and his eyes flit to me and he grins slightly.
"Yeah, sure. Ice creams sounds fab right now." he replies and we get out of his bed to get our clothes back on and I braided my hair again while he used the loo then we left.
I played with my new necklace on the drive there since I now love this ruby necklace that Paul got for me, I love jewelry even if it's the simplest.
"What flavor do you think you're going to get?" I ask Paul as we stand at the end of the short line at the ice cream shop we went to on our first official date together in the fall.
"I dunno, maybe that mint chocolate chip that's a new one. It sounds good to me, how about you, darling?" he answers as we both wear our sunglasses on this rather bright day that's rare for London and I look back to the short menu.
"Hmm, i like all of the flavors in Neapolitan so I'm choosing that flavor." I reply and he nods his head with a small smirk and we step forward to the counter when the line moves enough for it to be our turn.
"One mint chocolate chip and one Neapolitan too." Paul states when the employee at the window asks us and the kind gentlemen he is, he pays for both of ours.
We walk over to the area with wooden chairs to sit down and we find one where the green chairs are connected by a table part in the middle of them. We sit down and I cross my legs as Paul looks out at the road where the traffic passes on by. When our order is called I volunteer to go get them for us and a girl around my age hands them to me and I recognize her.
"Zoey?" I question and a smile comes onto her face.
"Madison, is that you?" she replies and I remove my sunglasses and we both laugh with smiles.
"It's been years!" she exclaims and I nod my head while she stands behind the cut out door with a baseball cap on over her bright blonde hair, she's always been a tomboy.
"How have you been? What have you been doing the past four years?" one of my best friends from high school questions as I hold the ice cream cones.
"I've been really good, thanks. And I haven't been up to much, just working and hanging out with my boyfriend." I reply as she grins.
"Good, and since when have you lived in London?"
"Last October, how about you?" I answer while another customer orders on the other side of me.
"Last summer I got a great paying job and I started school here to be a teacher. Are you going to university?" she queries and I shake my head side to side.
"Remember our old days playing tennis on the team and chatting at lunch with Lee and Nick?" she reminisces aloud and I nod my head, we had quite the time in high school.
She had to go back to work and I understood and told her we should get together soon and she sounded up to it. I walked back to Paul who was fiddling with a loose thread on his jeans and I handed him his cone after I sat down.
"Sorry about the wait. I ran into an old friend from high school." I apologize while he licks at his cone.
"It's fine, love. What'd you chat about?" he inquires and I fix the napkin wrapped around the waffle cone.
"Oh just what we've been up to since graduating and she mentioned going to university here to get her teaching degree." I reply without a smile and he stops with his ice cream and devotes his attention to me.
"Do you wish you were attending school too, like she is?"
"Kind of but then again not really. It just seems like what I should be doing since its what so many people my age are doing, and I almost feel like I missed out since I didn't go." I remark and his shoulders fall when he sighs randomly.
"You still have time to go, darling, if you'd like. I never went, and maybe there is something we've missed out on, but I don't regret the decision I made," he remarks and his words cease when he sits up in the tilted back chair. "The thing is that I don't want you regretting it in a few years or something, you know? I'd support you without a doubt if you decided to go down that route, I want you to know that, love."
I nod at his words and my eyes flit to the wet looking ice cream as the colors of brown, pink and white attempt to mix together.
"Thanks, Paul, but I couldn't afford it anyways." I softly respond and he fixes his sunglasses that were coming down further on his nose.
"There's scholarships and that kind of thing, dear," he brings up while I still absently look at my melting ice cream. "But if you found something you really wanted to go to uni for, something you're really set on, then I could help you." he pipes in and I immediately look to his waiting eyes.
"I'd feel bad and it's so much money, and plus I have no idea what I'd go for anyways." I ramble and his spare hand takes mine and he gives it a soft squeeze and I calm down.
"Remember, love, you don't have to go down that road of uni that some people do, it's all your choice. Think about it, and if you really want to, then let me know and I won't mind helping with the tuition." he soothes me and I shoot him a smile that he returns.
"Thanks, Paul." I state sincerely and he nods his black haired head with that charismatic smile of his I find so often on this kissable lips of his.
"Welcome, darling." he replies and he kisses my hand after lifting our joined hands and we go on to eat our yummy ice cream cones before going back to the car to return to the house to just hang out.
"Come on outside with me, it's beautiful out." Paul suggests as I get myself a glass of water while we stands in the open back doorway as Graham runs around on the grass.
"Okay." I agree and I join him outside where he laid down a blanket on the green grass and we laid on it to look at the blue sky dotted with clouds different shapes.
Paul wrapped his arm around me when we first laid down on the quilted blanket and I scoot over to rest my head on his chest with my hand on his chest as we stare at the wondrous sky.
"That lass at the restaurant earlier was just a doll." Paul comments out of the blue while my eyes are set on a particular puffy cloud that looks like a frog.
"She sure was, she was adorable." I remark and he moves his legs and my eyes flit to Graham close to the foot of the blanket who paws at a toy of his.
A small silence that isn't awkward falls over us and my eyes leave the cloud full sky to Paul who gazes up ahead and I smile to myself as my green eyes run over his gorgeous pair that the sun plays on beautifully. He notices me looking at him and moves his shadeless pair to me and smiles, I return it.
"Mads, there's something you should know." he states while our eyes are still on each other and my brow slightly falls.
"Yeah Paul, what is it?" I ask nervously and he takes a breath before answering.
"I'm in love with you, like a lot in love with you." he reveals and I breathe a sigh of relief that it's not something bad and my cheeks flush with color, I smile. It's definitely something good.
"You are?" I ask and he nods his head, even though it's really not a shock to me, but still hearing him say those words is so great to hear.
"Yeah I am. Even though you're not perfect and some things you do annoy me, I love everything about you." he comments while I still smile. He gets annoyed when I tap my foot, am self conscious, am crabby, etc.
"I'm in love with you too, a whole bunch." I remark and I sit up to kiss him as his hands grip my back and my pair sit on his cheeks. I sure do love this guy.
We part and our smiles return to our pink lips and we turn to lay on our sides, forgetting about those magical clouds and instead getting lost in the others eyes. We're in love alright. I reckon a stranger from twenty feet away could see it with how affectionate we are. We don't exactly hide it, but you never should hide that you love somebody. Of course there are limits.
We're adults who sometimes can act like five year olds with our jokes, but our smiles and echoing laughs show that we're enjoying it and having ourselves a great time. There's nothing I regret that has happened with Paul. Yeah we fight just like all couples do, but we get through it and hopefully we always will. I sure am glad that I found that ad in the paper at the time I did and that I decided to buy that certain paper at the store that day. Just to think that if I hadn't I probably wouldn't be with Paul, our memories wouldn't exist, and I wouldn't be as incredibly happy I am because of us dating, is almost scary. If I hadn't gotten the courage to call about the spare room and agreed to move in my life would be drastically different I bet, and Paul's too. We never would've met and whatever future we may or may not have together wouldn't be there, it's almost trippy to think. I think it was indeed fate and as cheesy as it may sound it was in the cards for me, and Paul, it's what was supposed to happen. Thank you, Fate.
AN: Too mushy or nah? Let me know what you think!
