I'm Yours
Chapter 7: Darlin', It's Not So Better Down Where It's Wetter, Under the Sea
"I'm really excited for this! I've always wanted to do one of these things," Rufus said as they got ready for the day. It was their second full day of their honeymoon, and today's excursion was the submarine tour that he had booked them. "I've been wanting to do one of these tours ever since I was a kid."
Lily smirked at him, and raised an eyebrow. "Seriously?"
Rufus nodded. "Seriously!"
"It doesn't strike me as something you would have liked back then," Lily said. She grabbed her perfume, and rolled some down the sides of her neck.
Rufus hugged her from behind. "You didn't even know me when I was a kid."
She smiled, and turned around, resting her arms over his shoulders. "True, but it doesn't seem like something you would have liked when we met."
"Well, it was, and still is! I'm telling you, Lil, I am so excited for this!" Rufus kissed her quickly on the lips.
She grinned. "Well, if it is going to make you this happy, then I'm looking forward to it too."
Rufus grinned back at her, then they kissed again.
They then headed down to get some breakfast before heading over to their excursion.
"This is such a pretty little place!" Lily said as she and Rufus sat down to eat.
There were fresh orchids on each table, and a beautiful beach scenery painted all over the walls. The room smelled so nice and fresh. It reminded Lily of the way ocean perfumes smelled. Their tables were round, and covered with beautiful, ocean blue tablecloths.
Rufus smiled and nodded. "Yeah, it is!" he agreed.
Their waiter, who was actually Hawaiian, came up to them with a smile, displaying perfect white teeth. He was wearing khaki shorts, a white and green Hawaiian shirt, and brown flip flops. "Aloha! My name is Akoni, and I will be your server today! What would you two beautiful people like to drink?"
Rufus motioned for Lily to go first.
Lily smiled. "I will have a pineapple juice please."
"And I will have a coffee and an orange juice, please!" Rufus asked.
"Of course! I will be right back with those." Akoni then left to get their drinks.
"Finally, a genuine Hawaiian!" Rufus said.
Lily laughed. "I know, right?"
Rufus; eyes got wide. "Look, Lil! They've got pineapple flavored waffles here! And you can have them add coconut if you'd like!"
Lily grinned. "It doesn't take much to please you, Rufus, does it?"
Rufus shook his head, and licked his lips. "I've got my waffles, and I got my wife. What more could I ask for?"
Lily smirked. "I'll try not to take it personally that you listed your waffles first."
Rufus smiled. "You know you're my number one always, Lil." He took her left hand from across the table, and kissed it.
Lily smiled at him, and gently squeezed his hand. "As you are mine." She kissed his right hand in return.
Akoni returned with their drinks then. "Have you decided what you'd like to order for breakfast?" he asked with a smile.
Lily smiled. "Yes! I will have the piña colada pancakes with a side of turkey bacon and scrambled eggs, please."
Akoni nodded, and wrote it down. "Yes, Ma'am!" He looked at Rufus. "Do you know what you want?" He grinned.
Rufus nodded. "Yes! I will have the pineapple and coconut waffles!" he said excitedly.
Lily rolled her eyes, then looked at Akoni. "He has an obsession over waffles," she explained.
Akoni nodded. "I see." He looked over at Rufus. "You've come to the right place then, Sir! Waffles are our specialty here."
"My mouth is watering already!" Rufus said, rubbing his stomach.
"I can see that!" Akoni said. He picked up Rufus' napkin and handed it to him.
The three of them laughed at his joke.
Akoni smiled. "I'll go put that order right in!" He winked at them, then went off to do just that. He then came back a minute later. He looked at Lily. "I just wanted to make sure, you said turkey bacon, not regular, right?"
Lily nodded and smiled. "Right!"
Akoni smiled too. "Thank you, Miss!"
"That's Misses," Rufus corrected. He grinned at Akoni. "We're on a belated honeymoon."
"Well, congratulations!" Akoni said, looking at both of them. "How long have you been married for?"
"Two years!" Rufus and Lily proudly said in unison.
Akoni grinned widely. "Wonderful! Have you ever been to Hawaii before?"
Lily shook her head. "No, this is our first time."
"How are you enjoying it so far?" Akoni asked.
"Well, it started off shaky, but it's about to get better. We're going on a submarine tour today. I've been wanting to do one of those ever since I was a kid!" Rufus told him.
Akoni grinned big. "Ah, a submarine tour, huh? I went on one of those only once. I was excited like you were, but, once I got on the submarine, and it started to descend underneath the water, I started to get that claustrophobic feeling. You know? I just kept thinking about all the things that could go wrong, like the submarine getting a leak, or running out of oxygen. Another thought was it could come up too fast or, depressurize, and we'd all get crushed. Then there was the idea of getting hit by another submarine or terrorized by a shark. Needless to say, when they told us that we were now at a hundred feet below the water, I kind of panicked. I had to close my eyes, and tune out the guide. Boy was I glad when we finally resurfaced!"
Lily paled.
"Chances are, it was all just paranoia," Akoni said, apparently noticing Lily's newly paled face. "I should have just put my fears away and just enjoyed the tour." He smiled weakly. "I'll go confirm the turkey bacon." He then took off, leaving Lily alone with Rufus again.
"What's wrong, Lil?" Rufus asked, gently squeezing her hands from across the table again.
Lily swallowed hard. "He kind of made me nervous, telling us all the things that could go wrong with a submarine."
Rufus smiled. "He was just overly paranoid, Lil. There's no reason to worry! They wouldn't have a tour like that if it wasn't a hundred percent safe. They do those tours every day, and I don't remember hearing about any tragic reports of something having gone terribly wrong."
Lily nodded. "Yeah, you haven't heard of any. It doesn't mean there weren't any."
Rufus squeezed her hands again. "Lil, you'll be fine! Don't even worry about it."
Lily sighed. It was easier said than done.
"Man those waffles were delicious!" Rufus said, rubbing his stomach with his hand that wasn't holding Lily's hand as they arrived at the tour.
Lily rolled her eyes. "So I've heard twenty times already."
"Oh, come on! I haven't said it that many times," Rufus said,
Lily grinned. "All right. Maybe only nineteen," she teased. She kissed the tip of his nose.
"That's better!" Rufus joked.
"I'm still a little nervous about this," Lily said as they got ready to board the submarine.
"Lil, relax! Akoni never should have said anything. There is absolutely nothing to worry about!" He removed his hand from hers, and placed his hand around her waist instead.
They go to the ticket taker, and he took Rufus' ticket, then Lily's.
"Excuse me, Sir, but this isn't a tour that purposely freaks the passengers out for fun, is it? Like, pretending we're gonna crash or something?" Lily asked the ticket taker.
He grinned at her. "No, Ma'am! The Hell of a Tour helicopter tours is the only tour that does that!"
Lily sighed with relief. "Good!"
"See? Nothing to worry about," Rufus said, gently leading her onto the submarine.
"Yeah. This time, if they say we're going to crash, I know we will be!" Lily quipped. "Even he knew about the helicopter tour. Too bad no one sent us the memo before we got on it."
"It's over, we're alive, let's just forget about it," Rufus said, a little annoyed, as they sat down in front of their windows. He understood that it had been traumatizing. It had been just as traumatizing for him as it had been for Lily, but and he wasn't going on and on about it. He wished Lily would forget about it and move on already. He already felt bad enough about it without her reminding him over and over how scared she had been.
About five minutes later, everyone was boarded. There were about forty-six other passengers besides them.
"Aloha, everyone! Welcome to The Atlantis Submarine Tours! My name is Keanu—yes, like Keanu Reeves," a good-looking blonde guy who looked to be in his mid-thirties said to them.
A few of the passengers giggled.
"I will be your tour guide for the day!" Keanu told them.
Rufus gently nudged Lily. "An American this time," Rufus he whispered to her.
Lily rolled her eyes. "Hawaii is still considered America, Dufus!"
Rufus narrowed his eyes at her. He didn't much like being called a dufus. However, it was their honeymoon, so he decided to let it slide. "You know what I mean."
"Today we will be seeing the coral reefs, along with the native fish and other marine life. If you're lucky, you might even see some whales since it is the season for it!" Keanu winked at everyone. "Headsets translating in Japanese are available if you need them. Now, is everyone ready to go down into the water?"
Lily sighed. "Like I have a choice," she said underneath her breath.
Rufus chose to ignore her.
"All right! Since everyone is here, let's shut the doors, and get to it!" Keanu said.
Lily winced at the sound of the doors shutting and locking tightly.
Rufus looked over at Lily as Keanu started telling them about the reef. He noted how Lily cringed every time Keanu told them how many feet down they were.
He gently squeezed her hand. "Just don't think about it," he told her.
She looked at him. "It's kind of hard to when I can see right out the window." She nodded toward the window.
Rufus shrugged. "Don't look out the window then! I really wish you would though. I don't want the money I paid for this to go to waste. Also, I know you'll love it if you just learn to relax."
Lily sighed, and looked out the window.
Rufus kissed her cheek, and gave her hand another squeeze. "Good girl!"
"Okay! We've made it to over a hundred feet beneath the surface now. As you can see on the left, there is the artificial reef that was created in December of 2005. That ship you see right there is the Carthaginian, which is a replica of a nineteenth century supply vessel. It is in need of major repairs, and would have just been left floating around and destroyed at sea. However, here at Atlantis, we decided to turn it into an artificial reef. We chained it down to the sandy ocean bottom, where it now rests as a habitat for all the domestic fish, coral, and other marine life. "
Kelly looked, and even took a few pictures. Rufus did too. He hoped she was calming down now.
"Those reefs you're seeing all around us now are natural reefs. Of course you can also see more of the fish, coral, and other marine life," Keanu explained.
Lily took a few more pictures, then that was it. She thought Akoni said it was only a hundred feet down! She had no idea they were going to surpass a hundred feet! She wondered exactly how many feet past a hundred they were, trapped under the water. Actually, she figured it was probably better she didn't know how many more feet down they were.
She tried to keep her mind off of it, but, every time she would see some fish, or see the sandy bottom, she would realize that this was real. They were in the ocean. She could actually see the bottom of it outside of her window.
Suddenly, she started to shake, and her hands started to sweat. Soon, she was full-on trembling. "Rufus," she whispered.
Rufus looked over at her. "It's pretty cool, huh?" he asked her.
She looked over at him. "No, it is not cool!"
Rufus looked confused. "Lil, are you freaking out again?"
"Oh, I'm pretty sure I've gone beyond freaking out, Rufus. In fact, I think I'm having a panic attack!" Lily put the heels of her sandals up on the seat with her, and wrapped her arms around her knees. She began to rock back and forth.
Rufus sighed. "Lil, relax! You weren't afraid until that waiter said something. Besides, nothing happened to him. He was worried over nothing, just as I know you are."
"Rufus, I can't help how I feel! I want off of this thing now!" Lily said.
Again, Rufus sighed. "We're soon done. We've seen everything there is to see pretty much."
"Pretty much isn't good enough, Rufus," Lily said.
Rufus didn't know what to do. He was kind of embarrassed, actually. He hoped no one had noticed her panic attack. At least she was speaking quietly. Still, he didn't want his wife being freaked out. He felt bad. Once again, he had chosen an excursion that she wasn't happy with. Couldn't he ever get it right? At least she had liked the zipline. That seemed to be all she liked other than their lovemaking, which of course she'd loved. He smiled to himself.
"Rufus, stop smiling, and get me off of here!" Lily said, loudly this time.
The other passengers looked over at them, and Rufus blushed.
Keanu walked over to her, and put a hand on her shoulder. "Getting the underwater claustrophobia, huh?" he asked.
Kelly looked up at him and nodded. "Please take me back up."
Keanu rubbed her shoulder. "Don't worry. We're already headed back up now anyway. We can't go too fast up for safety reasons, but we're on our way. Just think about it. With every second that passes, we're getting closer and closer to the surface."
Lily nodded, calming own a bit.
Keanu pressed gently down on her shoulder. "Don't feel bad. You're definitely not the first one to get scared, and I'm sure you won't be the last. One time, we had one of those body builder guys on here, and he was balling like a baby, saying he wanted to go back to the surface. The thing is, we were only ten feet under at the time!" He smiled at her and winked.
Lily giggled. "Really?"
Keanu crossed his right index finger over his heart. "Cross my heart and hope to—" He cut himself off. "Cross my heart," he said with a big grin.
Lily found herself grinning in return, suddenly feeling no fear.
"See? There's nothing to be afraid of! His wife told him that there was no way they were going to waste time bringing the sub back up for him, and to suck it up and stop being a baby. It worked! He calmed down eventually," Keanu explained. "It was just funny, this big body builder needing his wife to tell him to suck it up and stop being such a big baby."
Lily smiled. "I guess maybe I am worrying over nothing."
Keanu nodded. "You are, I assure you. But, don't feel bad. Everyone gets scared once in a while. To tell you the truth, I was a little scared my first couple times down here. But, after a bit, being scared started to not even be a thought in my mind. It's no different from being on land to me now."
Lily took in a deep breath, and slowly let it out. "Thanks, Keanu. You made me feel better."
Keanu smiled and winked at her. "I'm just glad I could help!"
Lily grinned, then turned back in her seat, and began to look our the window and take more pictures.
"Ah, look! There are the whales! I was hoping we'd see those!" Keanu said once they had resurfaced.
Rufus looked over at the whales, and took a few shots as the whales jumped in the air a few yards away from them, and then sliced back through the water.
Lily giggled with delight, and took pictures of them as well.
The other passengers were "oohing" and "awing." Rufus thought the whales were cute, but was a little too ticked off to be able to enjoy them as much as he otherwise might have. He didn't like it one bit how Lily didn't calm down when he told her there was nothing wrong, but she calmed right down right away when Keanu came over to her, placed a hand over her shoulder, and told her there was nothing to be afraid of.
He sighed. He wasn't angry with Lily—just a little annoyed. He was even more annoyed at Keanu though. What was with these guides not learning how to keep their paws off his wife? Of course, the first guide had been gay, but that was beside the point. Gay or straight, they all needed to learn not to touch things that were his. Or, in this case, someone who was his.
"All right! This concludes your Atlantic submarine tour! I hope you all enjoyed it, and have a wonderful stay in Hawaii, however long that might be," Keanu said.
"Can you please take a picture of my husband and I on the submarine before we get off it?" Lily asked Keanu, bringing her camera over to him.
Keanu smile at her. "Of course!"
Lily smiled too. "Thanks!"
Rufus smiled at her, and they kissed. Then, he placed his arm around her. His anger suddenly melted. It was nice that she was the one to initiate the picture.
He sighed. He knew she loved him. He just couldn't help but get insecure and jealous sometimes. He hated that he couldn't calm her down even though he was her husband, and that stupid Keanu (whom she had only just met) had calmed her down just like that. Then again, Keanu was the guide. Rufus guessed he could understand Lily feeling safer being told by the guide that the submarine was safe, than by him. He may be her husband, but he didn't know a thing about submarines other than the fact that they were cool, and went under water.
Keanu took the picture. "I should take another one of you kissing his cheek!" he said to Lily.
Lily grinned. "Good idea!" She move her lips to kiss Rufus' cheek.
Rufus turned his head at the last second, and made it so that she kissed him on the lips instead.
Keanu snapped the picture and laughed. "Perfect!" He handed the camera back to Lily. "I can tell you guys are in love."
Kelly placed an arm around Rufus' waist, and smiled adoringly up at him. "We are."
Rufus looked at her, his eyes lowered, and kissed her sweetly on the lips, all his anger and annoyance suddenly washed away.
"You guys are sweet! Have a good day!" Keanu said to them.
"Thanks. You too!" Rufus aid with a smile and a wave at him.
Kelly smiled at him and waved as well. "Thank you for being such a great guide, and calming me down."
"You're very welcome!" Keanu said to her. "Like I said, I was just happy to help."
And that was that. Rufus took his wife's hand, and they left the submarine, as well as the premises.
"Lil, I'm sorry I didn't know how to calm you down," Rufus said to her as they found a waiting cab, and got into it.
Lily smiled at him, and kissed his cheek. "Don't even worry about it. I'm sorry for freaking out on you."
"Don't even mention it!" Rufus said with a grin.
Lily grinned back, and they kissed.
"All right, where to?" the cab driver asked with a friendly smile at them in the rearview mirror.
Rufus looked at Lily. "Wanna eat some lunch?"
Lily shrugged. "I'm not quite hungry yet. Let's go back to the hotel first."
"You want to rest first?" Rufus asked her.
Lily shook her head, and gently squeezed his hand. "Not exactly." She smiled at him.
Rufus turned back to the cabdriver. "To the Piña Colada hotel please!"
Rufus and Lily grinned at each other, then continued holding each other's hand, both looking forward to getting back to their hotel, or rather, back to their bed.
The rest of their day went smoothly. After their lovemaking, they went for lunch, and then they did a little shopping for themselves, as well as for their family and friends. Rufus knew Jenny would kill him if he didn't bring her back something from Hawaii. He ended up getting her a beautiful necklace made entirely out of puka shells that were half white, half dyed a beautiful shade of purple. He also got her a beautiful purple and white Hawaiian dress to go with it.
Lily got Serena the same thing, only the necklace and Hawaiian dress was ocean blue and white instead of purple and white.
For Eric, they chose a blue Hawaiian shirt with a beautiful beach scene on it. For Dan, they got a blue ukulele with a Hawaiian design on it. Finally, for Chuck, they got a Hawaiian coffee set and a plastic, yet authentic hula girl that did the hula when you poked her. They figured it was fitting for Chuck, even though it would be quite tacky for anyone else.
After their shopping, they went to a movie. True, they knew they could go to a movie anytime, but they just thought it would be cool to say they saw a movie in Hawaii.
After the movie, went to a magic show that included dinner. They had asked the man at the front desk of their hotel if he could recommend any good shows for them to see right there in Maui, and that was what he had recommended. Lily had been a little weary at first, going somewhere that was recommended by the hotel, but it had actually been very good! The food that came with it was delicious, and they even got to have cocktails and desserts. Lily was surprised that Rufus had agreed to pay for that package, but he had.
After the show, they found themselves still hungry...for each other. So of course they headed right back to their hotel.
"Wear another one of the lingerie that I picked out for you. Please?" Rufus asked, batting his eyelashes, and giving Lily the puppy dog eyes he knew she couldn't resist. He was sprawled out on the bed, his sandals kicked off.
Lily grinned at him from the doorway to the bathroom. "Just give me a minute."
"No more than a minute!" He told her. "Sixty Mississippi... Fifty-nine Mississippi..." he started counting backwards.
Lily giggled from the bathroom. "Stop that! I'll be ready! Just relax!"
Rufus grinned, then lay back on the bed, and flipped the television on. There was some old Don Ho special on. Since the guy had died in 2007, he knew it was more than a few years old. He shrugged, and watched it anyway.
"All right, here I come!" Lily said a very short while later.
Rufus looked over toward the direction of the bathroom. His mouth dropped open when he saw her in the black lace teddy that barely covered her breasts. It had cutouts at her sides, revealing her naked flesh. She had on black, sheer knee-high stockings with black guarders. On her feet were black pumps.
Without looking at the TV, Rufus blindly felt for the remote, and shut the TV off. His eyes never once left his wife's. He dropped the remote to the floor, and pulled his shirt off, letting that drop to the floor as well. He licked his lips, and held his hands out to her. "Come here."
She smiled, and walked over to him. She sat down in his lap, and they kissed.
She moved her hands to blindly undo his khaki shorts as they kissed. Once she had them undone, Rufus lay on his back, and allowed her to pull them off him.
She tossed them to the floor with the remote and his shirt.
He then pulled her down on top of him. "You're so beautiful," he said, his hands on her sides as he looked up into her beautiful face. Her blonde hair hung around her face. To Rufus, she looked like an angel.
She smiled down at him, and gently stroked his right cheek with the back of her hand. "And you're so handsome."
Rufus took her face between his hands, and kissed her deeply. "You're so incredibly sexy in that!"
She grinned. "I should hope you think so! You're the one who picked it out for me!"
He laughed. "Good point!" He kissed her again, then placed his hands over her shoulders, and slowly slipped the straps down while he moved his lips down to the side of her neck, where he gently nipped at it.
She moaned, and moved her head to the side, giving him better access.
He ran his hands up the outer sides of her thighs. "I wanna keep these on," he murmured into her ear. He took her earlobe gently between his teeth. "But the rest must go."
Lily sucked in a breath, and slowly let it out. "Sounds good to me," she whispered.
So, Rufus slipped off the lingerie, keeping on only the stockings and guarders. Of course, with nothing but the stockings to grip onto, the guarders hung limply from Lily's stockings. Rufus didn't mind though, because, to him, nothing could make her less sexy. In his opinion, she was as sexy as it got, and always would be.
They made love, her moans, along with her facial expressions and the way she tightened her grip around him, only encouraging him more. He loved giving her pleasure, and he loved knowing she was getting that pleasure because of him. He was her husband and he was the only one allowed to pleasure her. That was one of the things he loved best about being married—legal proof that she was his and his alone. Well, that, and the fact that he loved her more than his own life.
Later, after their lovemaking, they both lay in the dark in their bed, feeling so relaxed.
Rufus held Lily in his arms as she drifted off to sleep. He kissed her temple. "Goodnight, my beautiful wife. I love you," he whispered before drifting off to sleep himself.
Lily smiled, not quite asleep yet, as Rufus had thought she was. "Goodnight, my beautiful husband." She knew he was asleep, but she didn't care. She kissed his cheek, and snuggled deeper into his arms, her own arms wrapped tightly around him, then let sleep take her too.