Chapter 18 Honesty and Happiness

After some minutes which felt like an eternity to Holly, their lips parted, and she landed back down at her heels after being on tiptoes the whole time.
She slowly looked up at George's face through her lashes and smiled at him.

He grinned down at her and moved in again, kissing her once more, starting a little gentler this time, less passionate.
Holly liked that as well, but she couldn't seem to hold back her longing right now, so she deepened the kiss again, pushing her up against him once more, her fingers immediately back in his hair.

Merlin, it felt so right!
She couldn't believe it.

Her whole body tingled, the fire still burning inside her, and she was so glad when his hands slid underneath her jumper and up her bare back. A gasp escaped her lips when his hands touched her soft skin, traced her naked waist, fuelled the burning sensation inside her some more.

Holly wanted to touch his skin just the same and her hands moved down the front of his jumper and then underneath it. His skin seemed to react to her touch, making her fingertips tingle while she felt up his torso, the skin so incredibly smooth on top of the solid muscles at his stomach and chest

It was George's turn now to moan and he couldn't help it, he had to touch her some more. Even though it wasn't what one would call a warm night, he had to feel her on his bare skin, the way it would have been last week...

He let go of her for a moment, yet without breaking the kiss, and reached up to the collar of his jumper to pull it over his head, pausing right there. George was afraid that he would scare her off by stripping half-naked in front of her, but as soon as she realized what he was doing, she helped him pulling the garment over his head.

Their lips broke apart for a second as the jumper left his body. Holly stepped back, and took in the sight of him, her eyes wandered hungrily over his naked torso. She had seen him like that before, not only last week but also several times during the past years of playing Quidditch at each other' sides and also at the burrow the Weasley boys would often run around shirtless at summer.
But now… It was different. Back then she had never noticed just how beautifully built he was, tall, yet not as tall as Ron or as lanky, but with broader shoulders. His chest and arms were strong from swinging the bat as a Beater. His skin was pale, like hers, and looked ever so magical in the moonlight.

Unintentionally she had come closer again and her hands moved back to his skin, gliding over his torso, tracing the shape of those hard muscles, drawing invisible lines and patterns onto his skin, making shivers run down his complete body.
He had closed his eyes at her touch and sighed now, not able to keep his hands off her.

One hand moved up to her face and tucked her hair behind her ear. He let it linger for a second before he let his fingers follow the line of her jaw, pausing at the chin and slightly lifting it up so he could take in the whole beauty of her face.
George bent down to her and kissed the tip of her nose. Then her forehead, tiny kissed along her temples, cheekbones and jaw until their lips found each other's again.

Holly felt so incredibly valuable under his touch, her body started feeling wobbly, as if she was slowly dissolving in his hands. She put her arms around his hips and gently placed them at the top of his buttocks while he held her at her hips as well, drawing her closer against him. His wonderful scent filled her nose and made her head spin. She couldn't believe the way his lips felt against hers, never would she have expected something as powerful as this sensation…

She pressed the length of her slim figure against him and his hands finally went back to her ass and he grabbed it, lifting her off the ground easily.

"Damnit, Holly" she heard him sigh again as she wrapped her legs around his waist, locking him in between their embrace. She liked the way he reacted to her doings and wanted to hear this husky voice of his again.

George turned around, so Holly could lean against the trunk of the willow and let his mouth wander over her skin once more, this time down to her neck and he heard her grasp as he kissed the delicate skin just where her neck hit her shoulder. He began to cover the whole of her neck in sloppy kisses and revelled in the reactions he would get from her while doing so, the way she would inhale sharply when he sucked at her skin ever so slightly or faint moans would leave her lips when he nibbled at her shoulder…
He could happily spend the rest of his life doing exactly this: kissing all of her body, exploring her different reactions and drawing all those amazing sounds from her.

Damn, the way she felt in his arms, the way she moved while he kissed her, her legs wrapped tightly around him… It took all his strength not to explode right away.
He wondered if she felt his erection against her and how she would feel about it. He didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable.
Yet, if she felt his dick, she didn't let anything on about it, or at least she didn't seem to be uncomfortable right now, rather the opposite.

Holly's hips curled involuntarily every now and then when George happened upon a particular sensitive spot on her skin and she felt something brush against her inner thigh, something quite big and hard to tell the truth.
She had often imagined that to happen, especially whenever she touched herself, but now to feel it, to know it was because of her…
It made her feel so powerful and desirable, she could never have imagined to feel like this.

Holly's hips moved more and more, and George grit his teeth, trying to hold back.
Then, it became too hard [no pun intended xD] and he softly dropped Holly back to her feet while he backed away a few steps.
She looked at him, irritated at the sudden change in his behaviour and he came back nearer, not wanting to hurt her but neither wanting to fucking come into his jeans.

He sat down on the grass, breathing heavily and patted the space next to him, for her to join him. Slowly, she pulled away from the willow's trunk and sat down next to him, facing him.

"George… did I… Did I do something wrong?"

Her big eyes were even rounder now that she looked at him. Her lips were pink and slightly swollen from his kisses and her cheeks were equally flushed. He wondered what he looked like right now, then shook his head.

"Don't worry, you didn't do anything wrong, just about the opposite actually. I… need some moments to calm down a little, you see?"

His eyes twinkled, and he gave her one of those lop-sided smiles, but not even someone like him could stay all cool at those words and he felt heat creep up his cheeks.

Holly listened carefully while George blushed ever so perfectly and slowly understood what he had just said. She blushed herself now, and looked away, but not without glancing onto George's crotch for a moment. It was clearly dented.

George moved up closer to her and cleared his throat.

"By the way, I'm glad you came down here tonight."

He looked at her at those words, all earnest again.

"Yeah, me too", Holly answered shyly after letting some moments pass by.

Now that they had stopped making out, it was kind of embarrassing to talk with George, like they usually would. Holly wasn't sure how to feel about that.

"Well, you didn't really leave me a choice, did you? This message in in those berries of the holly branch… That was really some extraordinary bit of magic, I simply had to know who was responsible for that", she smiled to herself, then continued more serious "And also, I…"

Holly bit her lip, unsure of how to say what she was thinking. If she should say that at all.

George leant her way and smiled encouragingly.

"George, can I be completely honest with you?"

She looked at him, deliberating if it was wise to be so open with anyone.
As if George knew what she was thinking, he moved closer once more, and now sat right by her side. He took her hand.

"Holly, I want you to always be honest with me. And before you go on with what you were about to say, please listen for a second:
I know there are things you might not want to talk about with me yet or might not be able to share with anyone at all. But whenever you want to tell me about something, I want it to be the truth. I want us both to be ourselves with each other… to be nothing but our truest selves."

He put her hand to his mouth at these words.

"And I understand, that it isn't easy for you to open up to anyone. And yet I want nothing more than for you to lean back against me, to dump all the things that stress you or pull you down onto me and let me be here for you.
And whenever you do feel like talking or need someone to listen to you, I want to be the person you think about first.
I want to be the person, that you feel most comfortable with. I want you to trust me, Holly, the way I trust you."

George still held her hand to his face, but he wasn't looking into her eyes but down to his knees. Holly felt really overwhelmed by this little speech of his and had to swallow a few times, before she spoke again.

"Thanks, George."

She now put a kiss onto the knuckles of his hand, just like he had done to her before. Then it was her turn to speak:

"I… want you to know, that you are that person to me already. I don't know how it happened, but ever since that night at headquarters, I feel this connection between us… Whenever I feel the need to talk or want to lean back, it's always you who pops up in my head first. That was really scary at first. Normally I don't feel like this about anyone, not even Ron or Hermione. I'd always rather go through things by my own, but lately… I seem to prefer your company to my own… I don't know."

Holly shook her head, feeling so stupid to be saying those things, to let them out after they had been trapped insider her head for all this time now.
When she dared to glance at George again, he was looking past her, at the Great Lake, but he nodded ever so slightly, a content expression visibly on his face.

"Don't be embarrassed, Holly, I want to hear this sort of things, you know?"

He grinned at her cheekily and she turned away her face. Even if he said she shouldn't be ashamed, it felt weird to talk to him like that. To be so… exposed.

"Holly, I feel it too. This connection. I thought I was going mad when I first noticed it, but I'm not and it really is there. And… I really like it, actually", George bit his lip gently "I like this electricity I can feel whenever I'm near you. And the way you make my skin tingle. The way you smile at me or stare at me with those beautiful, sparkling green eyes. I like this… longing for you as well. It makes me feel alive."

Holly watched him while he spoke. She saw that it wasn't easy for him to talk about this sort of things either and this circumstance eased her. If talking like that wasn't exactly simple for someone like George, she didn't have to feel too bad about being embarrassed by every word that left her lips. And if he still could be so blunt with her, she could at least try to do the same. Holly worked up all the courage she had and finally spoke from the bottom of her heart.

"I… tried to keep away from you ever since that night. I really wanted this… whatever it is to stop. And of course, you noticed the change in my behaviour, even back at headquarters. Then when you told me that you appreciate my trust and that I needn't be embarrassed around you, I felt like you really cared about me and I didn't know what to think about that possibility. Especially since I never thought you would like me … this way, you know?
And then of course, last week… I was so angry with myself for almost giving in to those stupid feelings and yet again couldn't stop thinking about it, wondering what it would have been like. You might have noticed me trying to avoid you, ignore you and failing at it entirely… I really had to talk to you, I guess. It couldn't go on like this last week. It can't go this way.
When you ignored me at Quidditch practice today I felt so… disappointed…"

Holly looked down through her lashes, she couldn't see his face while being so vulnerable, so exposed.

Suddenly, George's hand lifted her chin and she was forced to look into his stunning eyes.

"I didn't ignore you, not in the way you think I did anyway. I just couldn't stand being that close to you while you were avoiding me. The last week was fucking hell for me, Holly. I wasn't sure how to act towards you after we nearly kissed on Saturday and then you did everything you could to stay away, not even look at me. I thought you regretted it nearly happened. I thought you didn't want me the way I want… you."

He looked her straight into her eyes while he spoke, his breath hot against her cheek.
They were so close again, Holly could make out every single lash of his eyes, every tiny spot of green in this bright blue. Her heartbeat sped up once again and she felt her body instantly tensing, craving his touch once more.
Just when he had finished his last word, she put her lips onto his for a kiss. George immediately responded and put his hands back to her waist, touching her body once more as she was touching his.

After some time, they laid back onto the grass, their bodies still snugged together into a tight embrace and watched the night sky above them. George summoned two large blankets for them, one to lay upon and the other to wrap around them to stay warm in the night's chill.

Holly put her head on top of George's chest, locked into place by his strong arms.
Never, had she felt this safe. Never, had she been this happy.

I will try to update at least every other day, but can't promise anything since daily life will have me back by the morning -.-
Stay tuned,
- A