Chapter 18: Opening Up...but not completely

Laura opened her eyes slowly, blinking and looking up, the sunlight shining through the car windows. She turned her head to see Paul still right beside her, she was in the same position she was in last night, not that there was much room to move anyway. But this time, both of Pauls arms were around her, holding on tonight as if she were falling, her head still rested on his shirt on his chest.

She titled her head up looking at the man who was still asleep, his head was tilted down, rested lightly on the top of her head. She smiled, if only he knew how gorgeous he looked when he was asleep, but of course he always looked unbelievable. She didn't bother waking him up, she wanted to stay like this, in his arms for as long as she could.

She laid there for a few minutes, until Paul finally opened his eyes, looking down at her, his arms still around here.

Laura tilted her head up again looking up into his eyes, as he looked down into hers and smiled, still half asleep.

"Morning…" Paul mumbled taking one of his arms out from around her and stretching. She instantly smiled and kept looking up at him. "Morning." She finally replied.

Paul sat up, one of his arms still around her. "Time to get back to driving?" He asked while yawning.

Laura shook her head. "I'll drive, but first, lets go get some coffee and something to eat." She said finally sitting up.

He moved his other arm from around her and nodded. "Sounds like a plan."

Paul opened the car door, as Laura got out. He got out after her, shutting it closed.

"And where are we going?" Laura laughed looking around.

Paul pointed "Theres a sign pointing to a few stores down the road, dunkin donuts, delis and more." He smiled.

Laura nodded. "Awesome." She laughed as Paul started to run. "Wait up." She yelled.

Paul kept running. "I'll race ya."

"No fair, you got a headstart." She yelled still standing there, taking his coat off of her and holding it up.

"I'll throw this in the mud." She threatened still holding the coat.

Paul stopped and turned around. "You better not." He let out a small chuckle and ran back to her. She handed him the coat and began running.

"Cheater!" Paul shouted and ran after her, catching up to her, they ran side by side. Laura reached the area and jumped up and down a couple times. "I won!"



Paul pouted. "Cheater." He repeated.

Laura laughed. "You cheated first, I'm just smart and got you to come back so I could be a cheater like you."

He laughed. "Fine, I'll let you get away with it this time."

The two walked into Dunkin Donuts, both ordering a small coffee and a bagel with egg, cheese and bacon in it.

They sat down at a table by the window, across from each other.

Paul bit into his bagel and looked at Laura. "So." He said really not knowing what to talk about, they had been talking for hours during the car ride and there wasn't much left to talk about. Well, maybe their feelings for one another. But that wasn't exactly easy, and neither of them were sure of how they felt, let alone of how one another felt.

Laura took a sip of her coffee and twisted her mouth. "Can I ask you something?" She finally replied, breaking the silence.

Paul nodded putting his bagel down and taking a sip of his coffee. She put her coffee down and continued. "I was just wondering what you meant when you thanked me last night, I haven't exactly done anything for you and I just was wondering…" She replied, she found herself looking away not really knowing what else to say, hoping he would reply quickly.

He took another sip of his coffee while looking at her and finally putting it back down. "You've done a lot for me, actually. Offering to take me to your house and look after me when we've only known each other for what? A week or two? That's not what normal everyday people do. You've made the past day one of the greatest days I've had in a long time, so I guess I meant thank you for offering and thank you for taking me into your arm, thank you for making my life…easier."

She looked at him, feeling surprised, emotional and just all kinds of feelings she could not describe. Her eyes started to fill with tears as she looked at him and looked down not wanting to cry in front of him. What he just said, meant the world to her and at that moment, she knew her feelings for him were real.

He looked down and reached his hand out, lifting her chin up. "Was it something I said? Are you alright?" He asked a bit concerned.

"No." She grabbed a napkin wiping the tears away. "Sorry…" She laughed in between crying. "That just honesty meant a lot to me. You've been so good to me."

Paul smiled pushing his hair behind his ears, which made Laura giggle for some odd reason. He looked at her and laughed. "Did I say something funny?"

She shook her head and giggled again. "Sorry, it's just too cute when you do that, pushing your hair behind your ears…call me weird, but yeah.." She laughed as Paul grinned and then cheesed, pushing his hair behind his ears again trying to make her laugh.



She giggled. "Pauly, you're doing that on purpose now."

They both broke into laughter at the same time and took a bite of their bagels. They both didn't feel like eating anymore. Paul got up and Laura did the same, putting her purse around her shoulder.

Somewhere while walking back to the car, her hand found his, or his found hers, who really knows, but they were holding hands.

She looked down at her hand in his and found herself smiling uncontrollably. Paul finally let go of her hand as they got to the car. They didn't really talk about it though, seems they were both too shy to really talk much about it.

After fighting for the keys for about 20 minutes…

"Paul, come on, first not using your crutches, now driving a lot, your leg needs rest." Laura grumbled trying to get the keys back. "Give it back." She pouted trying to open Pauls hand.

He shook his head. "Nope." He laughed and stuck his tongue out. She tickled him and he giggled, "Ha. You're ticklish, that works." She kept tickling underneath his arms as he finally dropped the keys. She picked them up and quickly got into the rental as Paul got into the passenger seat. "Good job." He laughed. "Looks like we're as stubborn as one another."

Laura turned the key, starting the engine, and the second half of their trip back to New York was just about to begin.