If you're feeling dedicated, you might want to give chapter 18 of WCHB a quick read as this carries on from the very end of that chapter, it kinda sets the tone for this one so its worth doing, I promise! Anyway, hope you like this, feedback is always welcome...thanks to everyone who has been lovely enough to review so far, you seriously don't know how much it means! xxx
Allie smiled against Pete's mouth as they crashed down the stairs from the rooftop and into the living area of his flat. A huge part of her felt bad for just abandoning the dinner which he had obviously worked hard on but then she felt his hands slide up under the skirt of her short red dress and realise she really didn't care that much after all.
She felt something vibrating against her leg and immediately giggled, pulling away from Pete and giving him a strange look.
"Fuck," he mumbled, shaking his head and retrieving his phone out of his jeans.
Leaning back against the wall, Allie gestured for him to answer it while she happily occupied herself with the task of unbuttoning his shirt.
Pete muttered something under his breath as he saw Bovver's number flash up on the screen and flipped the phone opening, trying to keep his voice under control as Allie started pressing kisses against his chest.
"She said yes," he muttered, laughing briefly as he heard the roar of happy shouts coming from the other end of the phone before he flipped it shut again and threw it across the room, narrowly missing taking out one of the lamps.
"The boys knew?" Allie raised an eyebrow as Pete instantly pulled her back into his arms, picking her up and pushing her harder against the wall.
"So did Lara," he grinned, leaning in and running his tongue along her collarbone. "And your Dad, your brothers, my brother, my mum…"
"Jesus!" she laughed and pulled his head up so that she could look into his eyes. "You sneaky sod," she bit her lip. "So you really would have been screwed if I'd said no, wouldn't you?"
"I had an escape plan," he joked, pulling her away from the wall and carrying her towards his bedroom. "Why else did you think I'd arranged for us to have dinner on the roof? It had nothing to do with fucking romance, it was all about convenience. You said no…I jumped, that was the plan."
"Romantic and practical?" Allie grinned, leaning down and nipping his earlobe. "God help me, I've landed the perfect gentleman,"
Pete kicked the door open and laughed against her shoulder, not willing to let himself think about the fact that this was the last time they would be in here for two months…
"Bollocks," he muttered, smiling softly when he felt her laugh against his neck.
"What?" she asked, pushing a strand of hair out of her eyes as her legs tightened around his waist.
"I uh," he sighed. "I forgot to make the bed,"
Allie twisted slightly in his arms so she could look over her shoulder at the unkempt bed from last night. She shook her head and laughed; as if she cared about that right now…Jesus, he'd just broken out the worlds greatest seduction line ever of 'will you marry me?' and he thought she cared about the state of the bed? All she wanted was him out of these clothes in the next 30 seconds at the most…
"I was gonna do all that rose petal shit," he told her. "Y'know, candles…flowers…"
"Pete?" Allie slid out of his arms and placed both her feet on the floor. "Baby, I'll let you in on a secret. Most of the guys who pull those stunts…" she leant forward and lowered her voice to a whisper. "They're shit in bed,"
Pete laughed and raised an eyebrow at her. "You reckon?"
"Yeah," she snorted. "Why else do they need to go to those kinds of lengths to get their girlfriends to have sex with them?" kicking off her shoes, Allie quickly shimmied out of her jeans and pulled her shimmering gold speckled halter neck over her head so that she was standing in front of him in nothing but her deep purple lace lingerie.
"I don't need you to do any of that," she shrugged, climbing onto the bed and sitting up on her knees, pulling him to her by his open shirt. "I just…" she smiled and leant forward, brushing her lips over his. "I just need you
Not needing to be told twice, Pete threw his own shirt to the floor and crashed his mouth down onto hers, pulling her body up so that she was plastered against him before lowering them both down until Allie was lying flat on her back beneath him on the bed.
"I need you," he whispered back, his hands tracing over the curves he knew so well and hissing as she pushed his jeans and boxers down his legs. "Fuck, Allie,"
"I know," she whispered in his ear, knowing how close he was to losing it. She was the same way, but then it had always been like this with them.
"I love you," Pete told her, his blue eyes set on hers, so open and so honest that Allie actually felt tears stinging her own eyes. "I love you so much,"
"I know," she smiled, tracing her fingers down his spine. "I love you, too,"
Leaning down, Pete kissed her lips softly, reaching for her hands and pinning them above her head before moving down to suck on her pulse point, his body going into overdrive as she moaned his name loudly and pressed her hips to meet his. Grabbing hold of her hips, Pete rolled onto his back and pulled her on top of him, laughing against her mouth when she squeaked in surprise.
Having only gone 3 in the afternoon, they had a good few hours before Allie had to be at the airport, which meant they had another while to pretend that she wasn't leaving, another few hours of just being with each other before the harsh reality of it all would come crashing down.
"I have to admit," Allie mumbled sleepily, snuggling deeper into the mused up covers on Pete's bed and smiling when she felt his lips press against the back of her neck. "I'm feeling more than a little guilty right now."
"What?" Pete frowned, pulling back from her and laying on his side so that he was facing her, his eyes tracing the patterns that the late afternoon sunlight was drawing on her naked back. "Why?"
"All that food up there," she gestured lazily towards the roof, not bothering to open her eyes. "We never actually got to eat any of it,"
"It'll keep," he told her, smiling as her fingertips traced over a small scar on his stomach. How was it that she knew where it was even with her eyes closed?
"Actually, I'd say its more likely that there's a hoard of shitty pigeons up there who've hit the jackpot," she giggled and then opened her eyes, the bright green orbs taking a moment to get used to the amount of light in the room. "Trust me to screw everything up,"
"Again," Pete laughed and leant over her body, kissing her lips softly and then making his way down her neck.
"What'd you mean, 'again'?" she frowned. "When did I screw up before?"
Pete grinned against her collar bone, almost not wanting to tell her this, knowing how bad it would make her feel. Ignoring her, he kissed further down her body until he got to the taut surface of her stomach and happily stayed there, working on the love bite he's given her earlier. It would serve as a reminder when she left for New York.
"Oi, Dunham," she giggled and rubbed the back of his neck. "Spill it,"
Grinning more to himself than to her, Pete pressed one last kiss against her stomach and then crawled back up her body, his arms resting either side of her head. Looking down at her, he felt his breath catch in his throat; her skin was still glowing from their earlier activity, her eyes glittering playfully as she bit her lip. Fuck, she was gorgeous.
"Remember that night about two weeks ago when we had dinner here?" he asked, unable to help himself from leaning down and running his tongue along one of the pink marks on her neck.
"Yeah," she sighed. "The night we had the fight about me leaving…"
Pete nodded against her skin and then heard her gasp loudly a second later; apparently the penny had dropped.
"Oh Jesus," she cried. "Tell me that wasn't the night you were first going to…"
"I had the whole lot planned," he laughed, sitting up so that his back was against the headboard and pulling her with him, brushing her hair out of her shocked eyes. "When you walked in I was actually giving myself a fucking pep talk so I wouldn't back out of it,"
"And then I…" Allie shook her head. And then she had proceeded to tell him that she was leaving the country and triggered possibly the biggest fight they'd ever had. "Pete, I'm so sorry," she shook her head, her hands coming up to cup his face as she leant her forehead against his.
"S'alright," he smirked. "It went a lot better today anyway,"
"I found the ring by accident and then tried to run away," Allie frowned. "You're telling me that's how it went in your head?"
"Nah," Pete laughed. "But the way it happened was perfect for us…if I could go back to that moment…" he shook his head. "I wouldn't have it happen any other way,"
"Smooth talker," she giggled and kissed him painstakingly slowly, knowing that it always drove him crazy. "And here I was feeling bad about it all,"
Smirking mischievously at her, Pete nipped the skin on her throat and pulled her closer, liking the small noises she was making.
"Well, I didn't say I'd completely forgiven you," he whispered. "You should probably make it up to me,"
"Oh really?" Allie laughed, raising an eyebrow and bringing his mouth back to hers. "Well, I'm an imaginative girl," she whispered against his lips, her eyes trained on his which seemed to be darkening by the second as lust took over. "I'm sure I'll think of something,"
Kissing him deeply, Allie used his shoulders as leverage and pushed herself upwards slightly, feeling the familiar but never tiresome wave of pleasure sweep through her as his body joined with hers.
"Oh, Jesus," she cried, throwing her head back and feeling Pete moved in, his lips attacking the skin.
Groaning at the feel of her, Pete pulled her head back down to his, recognising the slight daze was in as she reached desperately for him and locked her arms around his neck. Their lips met and Allie whimpered against him as their pace quickened, both of them so caught up in the intensity of it all that for those few minutes it seemed like nothing else existed and they could both pretend that the passport and boarding pass on the nightstand weren't even real.
"Fuck," Pete hissed, his hands tightening on her hips. "Allie, I love you," he whispered, leaning his forehead against hers.
"Pete," she whispered back, smiling against his mouth. "God, baby I love you, too,"
Closing her eyes tightly, she let the pleasure hit her as Pete took one of her hands in his and tangled his fingers with hers, moaning her name loudly and falling back against the headboard, keeping her hand locked in his. Resting in the curve of his shoulder, Allie breathed in the scent of his skin, trying to soak it up, to remember it as best she could. A part of her knew that she was being stupid, that there were couples out there who spend time apart and lived to tell the tale.
But she and Pete were different…what they had was something that most people could only dream of having. It was like he had said to her once, 'It wasn't every day you got to fall in love with your best mate'.
Running his hand down her back, Pete slid down so that he was lying down again and smiled as she snuggled into his side and sighed. Looking down at their hands, he brought hers up to his mouth and kissed her fingertips, grinning and shaking his head at the ring on her finger.
"How could you think I'd say no?" she mumbled, smiling dreamily at him, opening her eyes and lifting her head to let it rest on his chest.
"Just the laws of nature," he laughed. "The night we met was pure luck, so I figured everything after fell into the same category,"
"It wasn't luck," Allie shook her head and met his eyes firmly. "It was…"
"Don't say fate," he laughed. "You know blokes don't believe in any of that bollocks, don't you? It's a bird thing,"
"I could have gotten on any train," Allie pushed herself onto her stomach and looked at him, raising one eyebrow. "I didn't…I got on yours. Mikey didn't have to come and harass me…but he did and you stepped into save me. You didn't have to give me your jacket…but you did and that's what got me to go to the Abbey two weeks later," she grinned. "You really think that's all down to luck?"
"What's your theory then?" Pete smirked at her.
"Personally," she pursed her lips for a second. "Yeah, I think it was fate. I never had any say in falling for you, Dunham," she grinned. "It just happened…" she kissed his neck lightly. "It was the best thing that ever happened to me,"
"You reckon?" Pete snorted. The girl had a heart of gold, but she didn't half talk out of her arse when it came to stuff like this. The life she'd led and he was supposed to believe that he was the best thing that ever happened to her?
"Without a doubt," she smiled, rolling onto her back and pulling him on top of her. "And it doesn't matter if you don't believe me," she smiled as he leant down and kissed her nose. "Because I've got the rest of my life to prove you wrong,"
Allie stared into the bathroom mirror and applied a tiny bit more concealer under her eyes, trying to banish some of the redness there and hide the fact that she'd been crying for the past ten solid minutes. An old woman at the sink next to her gave her a sympathetic look in the mirror and Allie smiled back, putting the cap back on her concealer pen and chucking it into her bag along with her passport and boarding pass. Her flight was in twenty minutes which meant she's have to go through to the waiting lounge now…and that meant leaving Pete. Shaking her head, she took a deep breath and pushed through the door, smiling when she saw him sitting on the bench just outside, staring down at his hands.
Allie had been telling herself that two months would go quickly, and that between e-mails and phone calls it would feel as though they weren't event that far apart. As though there wasn't an entire fucking ocean and an 11 hour flight between them.
"Alright?" he asked her, standing up and taking her hand. He could see that she'd been crying, but chose not to ask her about it. Both of them had been trying so hard to keep it together this morning and he wasn't about to fall apart now. He couldn't.
"Yeah," she nodded, squeezing his hand a little bit harder.
"They um, they called your flight number while you were in there," he gestured towards the gates where there the last of the passengers were filtering through. "You better get moving or you'll miss it."
"Yeah, I should." She nodded, but made no attempt to move, instead looking down at the floor and this time not even bothering to wipe at her eyes as tears started streaming from them. A sob escaped her throat and Pete felt his chest tighten, reaching down to lift her face up to his, he brushed away a few of her tears with the pad of his thumb.
"Oi," he whispered. "I thought we agreed there'd be none of this."
"I can't," she shook her head. "Fuck, this is so hard,"
"I know, baby," he pulled her to him and hugged her as hard as he could without actually hurting her.
"I don't want to go," she mumbled against his chest and inhaling his smell, trying to memorise it. She'd stolen one of his jumpers to take with her, but she was worried that after a week or so, the smell would start to fade.
"Believe me, I don't fucking want you to go," he kissed her hair. "But I know seven weeks sounds like a long time, but…"
Because it is, his brain finished for him. Seven weeks without her there to wake up next to, without her there to kiss or touch him, without her there to make him laugh when she came in ranting about work or to just smile at him and make everything else disappear.
"I'll call you every day," he promised her. "I'll use Steve's phone though, fuck off am I paying for calls to New York, I'll just tell him I'm on the phone to Bovver." He grinned down at her. "He might get wise when I start asking what you're wearing though,"
Allie laughed through her tears and shook her head at him, pulling him down to her so that there foreheads were resting against one another's.
"We're going to be ok," he told her, lifting her hand up and smiling at the sight of her engagement ring. "Just don't go losing this or I might have to kill you,"
Letting out something which sounded like a combination of a sob and laughter, Allie tilted her head back and tried to get her heart rate back down. This actually physically hurt…the idea of leaving him right now was hurting her so much she thought she might have to lie down.
"I wish I didn't have to leave," she whispered to him. "I mean, we just got engaged for God sake and I'm leaving!" she laughed. "That's so not fucking fair!"
"I know," Pete mumbled against her forehead and then tilted her chin up so that he could look into her eyes. "But we can celebrate when you get back, you can start moving your stuff into my place," he winked. "It's all fun and games from here,"
The final boarding call sounded and Allie winced, knowing that it was now or never. Lifting her eyes to meet his, she smiled weakly at him.
"Ok," she sniffed and tried to remain strong. "Don't forget about me, don't live off take out just because I'm not there and for God sake don't let Swill and Ned try on my underwear when they're pissed again," she grimaced. "I thought I was going to have to burn that bra,"
"I'll do my best," Pete laughed and kissed her softly.
"Stay safe," she whispered as he pulled away. He knew what she meant, with her away he would inevitably fight more and the thought of something happening to him while she wasn't here…Allie shuddered, closing her eyes tightly when her boarding call sounded once again.
"I love you," she choked out.
Feeling his eyes starting to sting, Pete leant down and captured her lips with his, kissing her with everything he had in him. Straight away her arms were around his neck and he kissed her harder, pretty certain that given they were in public it was a bridging on inappropriate but when she moaned quietly against his mouth, he realised he really didn't give a fuck.
After a long moment, Pete forced himself to pull away taking a moment to look at her as she stood with her eyes still closed, tear tracks down her cheeks, licking the taste of him off of her lips. Fuck, she was gorgeous.
"You reckon I'd qualify as hand luggage?" he asked her, coaxing another laugh out of her and sighing at the feel of her soft hands gently stroking his face.
"I love you so much," he whispered against her lips, hearing her breath hitch as she tried to keep her tears under control. "You call me the second that fucking plane lands, ok?"
Nodding, she wiped her face with her sleeve and smiled gently at him, fighting the urge to rip up her boarding pass and calling Jack to tell him that she wasn't going. There was no point, it was a done deal now, and besides she wasn't exactly going to turn down a £100,000 job. She laughed remembering how Pete had actually choked on his mouthful of pizza when she'd told him how much she'd be getting paid.
"I better go," she told him, lifting her bag back onto her shoulder and leaning in to kiss him once more. Pulling away quickly, she refused to let herself look at him as she strode over to where the boarding gate was just letting the last of the passengers through. She sobbed harder with every step she took; feeling like her body was shutting down. Suddenly, she felt someone tug her hand and she spun around to see Pete standing there, barely having time to breathe before he picked her up and his mouth crashed back down onto hers. Allie kissed him back, closing her eyes tightly as he deepened the kiss, his tongue swiping at hers, his hands cupping her face. She wanted to pull away and tell him that money or not, she didn't care about the stupid job, that she would quite happily walk out of here with him right now and not look back.
"See you in seven weeks," he kissed her once more before giving her a gently push towards the gate. "Hurry or you'll miss it. I'll call you later, ok?" he called to her.
"I love you," she mouthed, handing the sympathetic looking woman her ticket and wiping her eyes with her sleeve.
"I love you," he mouthed back, watching as she walked through the terminal doors, throwing him a watery smile just before they shut behind her.
Taking a deep breath, Pete looked at the floor noticing his hands were shaking. Allie was gone; the only good thing he had in his life was gone. His eyes blurred and he cursed under his breath, jamming the heels of his palms into them and trying to keep his breathing under control.
It's only for seven fucking weeks, you twat, his brain shouted at him. It's not like she's never coming back.
But what…what if she didn't? What if she found some bloke out there? What if she got offered a permanent placement?
Great, his brain gave him a round of applause. Seven weeks of self torture and paranoia…nice.
Dropping his head into his hands, Pete groaned quietly, ignoring the sympathetic looks he was getting from passers by.
49 days.
1176 hours.
70560 minutes.
No matter what way he looked at it, no matter how small he made the numbers sound in his head to make himself feel better, he knew in reality that chances were the next seven weeks were going to kill him.