Chapter 15 Sweet beginnings
Stevie and Alex drove to Killarney. 'If you feel too tired, you don't have to come along you know. I'll bring you home.' Stevie looked aside and smiled. 'Alex, this is my Ute you're driving.' She had let Alex drive cause she wasn't too sure about herself. She hadn't really drunk that much but it seemed she started to feel a bit light in her head. 'Oh yeah, of course, forgot about that!' 'And I'm ok, I've seen my cottage way too much this week. So I'm glad I can visit your place.' She smirked at him, which made him took his eyes of the road. 'Well, don't look at the mess.'
Stevie and Alex had just settled down on the couch with some beers when Dave arrived home. 'Oy', he threw his keys on the table and stretched his arms. 'Yawn, I need my bed'. Stevie and Alex looked amused at their friend. 'You're sure you don't want a last drink?' Alex asked politely, though he'd rather see him go to bed immediately. 'No, no, that's friendly of you, but I'm gonna get some sleep now. Goodnight!' He already made his move to leave the room. 'Oh and Alex, can you clean this place a bit this weekend! It looks terrible'. Alex looked up at his housemate. 'You know you're better at that than me ... happily I have other qualities'. He smirked at Stevie.
If this was Alex his way to impress Stevie, he was definitely going to lose the bet, Dave thought when he still stood in the doorway. 'Yeah, like making the mess hey'. It made Stevie laugh. Well thanks Dave, Alex thought. Dave had left the room but returned quickly. 'Oh and whatever you guys are planning to do, please keep the noise down. I really need my sleep'. A huge grinning Dave left the room and a pillow, thrown by Alex, accompanied him.
That last comment of Dave had made the two sharing an awkward moment. 'Uhm, well Tess is calling everyday', Stevie said hoping to get past the moment, 'about the tiniest things'. Alex smiled. 'That's Tess, Nick has called once to tell they arrived and to make sure I had done all jobs he told me to do.' Fine, that awkwardness was gone.
Stevie had drunk a last beer and the alcohol had given her a dazed feeling sooner than usual. 'I think I really need a sleep at the moment'. Alex softly smiled at her. 'Yeah you look tired.' 'Well it's mostly the alcohol I guess, uhm let's see. I don't think it's a good idea for me to drive home'. 'I won't let yah', Alex replied fast. She definitely wasn't going to drive in this state. 'Well, I'm not sure it's a good idea that I'll bring you home either'. Though he wasn't feeling that much Alex didn't wanted to take the risk.
'You can stay here, if you want?' Stevie looked at him. 'I think that's the best way.' Alex nodded. 'Ok, you can sleep in my bed, wait a sec ...' Alex wanted to make up his bed. 'No no', Stevie said quickly. Alex looked questioning at her. 'You don't need to sleep next to me, I'll sleep on the couch'. Stevie wanted to suppress her laugh but didn't really succeed. The look on his face was too cute. 'No I don't mean that. I'll sleep on the couch. You can take the bed'. 'You're sure, cause I can ...' She had stood up and covered his mouth with her hand. 'I'll sleep on the couch!'. Well that was clear, Alex thought.
Alex got some blankets and an old shirt for Stevie to sleep in. 'Here you go!' Stevie kept looking at Alex, when he didn't seem to move. 'You're gonna stand here all night or what?' Alex looked surprised, just realizing he had been staring at her. 'Ow, yeah of course'. He made his move to the kitchen, while Stevie got changed. She lay down on the couch and tried to pull the blankets over her.
Stevie could hear Alex cough loudly and it make her smirk. 'Yeah you can come in Alex.' She saw him walking into the living room again, while she was still struggling with her blankets. Alex looked at the sight. 'Oh come let me do that'. He kneeled down in front of the couch to put the blankets right and tucked her in. Stevie had that constant smile on her face. Alex looked at the state of the blankets and was pleased with it.
'So do you need anything else?' Stevie shook her head in denial, though she could think of a lot of things, but she tried to ignore them. 'And you haven't drank too much hey?' Alex asked. 'No', she replied though her head was feeling light and it all seemed a bit of a blur. 'Good, cause if you feel sick, or you have to throw up ... ' Stevie wondered what he was babbling about. '... you ... you know where the bathroom is'. It made her smirk. 'I'm not going to throw up, Alex' 'Ow, so you could have shared the bed with me than'. Alex grinned. Stevie wanted to move her arms to poke him for the comment. 'No, no, let's not do that', Alex said when he noticed, 'think about the blankets'. Stevie couldn't made her hands free without messing up the blankets, so he was right about that and she could shake her head for it.
'Well, let's go to sleep now'. Alex came closer and bended over her, brushed away her hair softly and giving a soft kiss on her forehead. It made Stevie weak inside and with big eyes she looked at him when he moved away. His hand though was still caressing her hair and his face didn't seemed to take more distance. For a moment Stevie thought she was dreaming when she was still looking in his gentle eyes.
The temptation was just too big. He moved closer again looking at her lips, looking at her eyes right after before he gently placed a kiss on her lips. While everything else seemed to be a blur, this moment was totally clear to Stevie, and it made her even weaker inside, while butterflies had found the way to her stomach.
Did he just kiss her? Alex slowly moved away, curious looking at Stevie's reaction. Hopefully she wouldn't slap him or something, happily the blankets were so tight around her body she hardly could. Stevie's face hardly changed its expression, just flabbergasted by the moment, and just staring at him. 'Goodnight', Alex softly uttered. He stood up and walked to the door, giving a last look at Stevie before he went to his bedroom. His heart beat pretty fast and the kiss had made him long for more, but this felt save enough for him, it was just a goodnight kiss after all. Hopefully she had liked it too.
Stevie wanted to pinch herself to be sure it wasn't a dream, she tried to move her arm, and her fingers touched her lips. She could only think of the softness of his lips and it was a nice thought to fall asleep with.