As I begin to wake, the first thing that I become aware of is the warmth pillowed beneath me. Toned muscle, latent under tanned skin, a gymnast's body undeniably, even viewed in this picture of repose. I flick my gaze to her face. She's lost in though, her whiskey brown eyes gazing unseeing at some point distant.
"Hey," I say.
"Hey back," she replies. It's cute how she does that. Without flowery words or gestures, she can make me smile by just being her.
"What were you thinking about so hard? I saw the smoke coming out of your ears." I grin saucily at her. That earns me a quick smack on the ass. Just hard enough to notice it. She doesn't hurt me. Despite her badass persona, I know she would never hurt me.
She answers the question though. "You."
"And what about me?" I want to know. She says the sweetest things, but that's not why I love this game. When she's talking about how she feels about me, she just gets this glint in her eyes that's only for me and it makes me feel like I can do anything, just because she loves me.
"How perfect you are. How perfect this is. How I wish it would stay." Uh-oh. This again.
"And why can't it stay this way?" I don't want to have this conversation.
"Because Torr. It's like that poem says 'nothing gold can stay'. Eventually the rest of the world is going to intrude on our little idyll." I know she's right, but I don't have to like it.
"Why can't we cross that bridge when we come to it?" I ask plaintively. I know I'm whining, but I don't really care. She pulls me into her lap, wrapping herself protectively around me. She always makes me feel safe. Laying my head against her shoulder, I realize that we are both still completely naked. I love this. She is beautiful yes, but I like the fact that she can be completely bare to me and still be comfortable, when she is defensive with all others.
"I wish we could love, but one of these days my brother is going to decide to wake up before noon and I don't think he'd take well to finding his girlfriend naked in bed with his little sister. Or someone from the squad is going to walk into one of our 'planning sessions' and see that at least Courtney and Whitney were right on one count about me."
God… Cliff. I really never meant to hurt him in all this. He was great, he got me over Aaron and made me feel like I could do what I needed to do with the squad, but I'm not in love with him. I'm in love with Missy and that's going to kill him. Courtney and Whitney can kiss my ass.
I sigh. She probably thinks that I'm scared of what people will think if they know that we are together. What I'm truly scared of is that we won't be able to hold it together if everyone knows. We've secreted this away and it remains in stasis until we are together again on our terms. But I'm going to college in the fall, and she has one more year. The fact is, making it will be a lot easier if people know why I miss her so much. So I make a decision. "So we tell them. Cliff today, the squad tomorrow at practice, and then my parents at dinner tomorrow night."
"Your parents?" she asks.
"Yeah my parents. Is that not okay?" Does she not want this? Doubt creeps in.
"It's not that Torr. I just never figured I'd be the kind of girl you would want to take home to mom and dad." I love how she reassures me without me needing to ask for it. I realize what she just said and I giggle.
"I never figured I'd be bringing a girl home to mom and dad. Things change." Isn't that the truth?
I look up and gaze into her eyes. "You know I love you right?" I ask. Love seems like a paltry offering in the face of this goddess who lets me bask in the light from her beauty and her strength.
"I love you too." Her words speak volumes.
Enough of this seriousness. "Now that that's settled it's time for other business."
"Other business?" she feigns ignorance. Smartass.
"Shut up and kiss me," I say with a mock glare.
Seeing no other reasonable alternative, she does.
I love the way her lips feel on mine. The way her skin feels beneath my hands. I love to hear her laugh. I live to make her smile. I love the way my hand fits into hers, and I want everyone to know it.