AN: It's been a month. I'm sorry. Thank you to everyone who continues to support this story. I love you all more than I can say, really. Since I'm such fail, this chapter is almost 11K words long. It should have been two, but I couldn't find a place I liked to break it up. Plus, I'm all about spreading the love today.
Thank you to my betas LaraIsAwkward and lreganb. Without them, the ending of this chapter would have most likely made you want to throw tomatoes at your screen. Now, I'm hoping it'll have a very different reaction.
~Bella~
As soon as the door to Bunk Seven slammed behind us, Alice was all over me. Literally. Small arms were flung around my waist as my pocket-sized best friend burrowed her head into my shoulder.
"I was so worried about you, LB." She pulled her head back and scowled at me before throwing a small punch to the top of my arm. "Don't you ever do that again! Good God, what's wrong with you? How many times have we been lectured about going out during a storm? You didn't know if there was going to be thunder or lightning or not! What if you had been hit? What if a tree had fallen on you? You'd be crushed and dead!"
I rolled my eyes and continued walking back up the hill towards the dining hall. "Alice, you're being ridiculous. I didn't get crushed by a tree or hit by lightning. I'm perfectly fine."
"Okay," she pressed, "but you weren't okay if you were hiding at The Point. So, do you want to tell me what's going on?"
I shrugged, still unsure of where my head was. I'd confessed to Edward that I'd been in love with him when I was thirteen, and he'd seemingly had a non-reaction. I wished I could jump inside his head and figure what was going on in there. Because although he hadn't had an immediate reaction, he had said the words "…just one more thing I love about you." Did that mean that he loved me? I had no fucking clue. But, damn, I hoped so.
"Fine, don't tell me," Alice whined.
"I promise I'm okay now," I said emphatically. "I'm more than okay, Al. I just took a shower with Edward and laid in bed in only a towel with him. I'm great. I'm ecstatic, even."
"Yeah," she snickered, all traces of her previous annoyance gone. "I saw that. How in the hell did that one come about? Didn't you guys just get together, like, just a few days ago? And now you're jumping into bed with him? Shame on you, LB. Shame." She elongated the word as she shook her index finger at me in reprehension, but the smile on her face told me otherwise.
My eyes rolled of their own volition as Alice's arm wrapped around my waist, and she leaned in and whispered, "So, does this mean you finally got a glance of the goods?"
"Wouldn't you like to know?" A small smile tugged on the corner or my mouth as I waved her off and headed into the dining hall to get an early start on setting my table.
Inside, Jake had already taken care of our place settings and was flirting up a storm with Nancy, one of British secretaries from the main office. Instead of calling him out on his game and usual man-whorishness, I sat down on my small bench at the foot of the table and rested my head on my folded arms.
I hadn't even noticed my eyes had closed until I felt a small tickle on the back of my ear. It was nice and soft and warm, and for a second, I thought I might be dreaming—until I heard Edward's breathy whisper in my ear.
"I know you're awake, my Bella." His lips were so close to my ear that I realized the small tickle I'd been feeling was actually a combination of their light touch and his heated breath.
I swallowed thickly, still refusing to open my eyes.
His mouth pressed a soft kiss on the sensitive skin just behind my ear, causing a small whimpering noise to escape from me. God damn it. My boy had skills. Just when I thought I couldn't feel better, he raked his fingers through my hair, his short nails scratching lightly at the nape of my neck to the middle of my scalp.
"LB, I can see you smiling all the way from here," Jake called out from the head of the table, all of maybe six feet away. "Rise and shine, princess. We have campers to feed."
"Not yet," I mumbled, lacing my fingers with Edward's in their fantastic movement in my hair. "This is good." I sighed, relaxing my upper body into the table, my neck becoming as pliable as Play-Doh under his skilled touch.
"Oh, I see how it is," Edward chuckled. He removed my hand from his and continued his ministrations. "You just want me for my fingers."
I bit my lip, holding back a moan, as I remembered exactly what those fingers had done to me just the night before. Blood rushed to my cheeks, counteracting my repressed moan, and Jake's raucous laughter let me know that he knew exactly what was going on.
I was going to reply cheekily, perhaps with some quippy response about all the things his fingers could do, when I heard the pitter-patter and squeaking of wet sneakers on the dining hall floor.
"I promise you can use me and my fingers later," Edward whispered, brushing a soft kiss against my earlobe before pulling away quickly, his obvious innuendo leaving me breathless and flustered as campers filed in, completely unaware.
I didn't know who had picked the menu for the evening, but it seemed as if it had been designed solely with the purpose of taunting me. I watched in awe as Edward picked up square after square of watermelon with his long fingers and plopped them into his mouth, carefully cleaning off the excess juice from dripping down the back of his hand with swipes of his perfectly pink tongue.
Shudder.
My breathing picked up as my thighs clenched, as if trying to trap his fingers there. And my head tilted away from him, craving his mouth's attention, letting it wander down my body. I'd been so distracted with thoughts of Edward's fingers and now tongue that I barely touched my own food, managing to swallow only a few bites of my mac and cheese before it turned completely cold.
Needing some air, I headed out to the front porch immediately after the campers were dismissed, not wanting to wait around for Edward then possibly spontaneously combust in public.
Emmett and Rosalie were perched on the highest step, leaning into one another and whispering softly. I felt a little bad intruding on whatever moment they were having, but I plopped down in front of them anyway, leaning back in the space between Emmett's knees.
I felt his chin press onto the top of my head and his arms wrap around my shoulders, making me feel calm and safe in his arms.
"I hate rainy days," Emmett complained. "And apparently tomorrow's going to be hot as balls. Shouldn't it be the other way around? I thought storms were supposed to bring in cold fronts or some shit like that."
I craned my neck around, giggling softly as I saw my pseudo-big brother's face contort into one of disbelief and annoyance.
"Em, we're in Maine. The weather never does what it's supposed to."
At that, Rosalie smacked my shoulder. "Are you serious right now? I feel like I haven't seen you in four hundred years, and you're going to sit here talking about the weather?"
"Um, yes?" Emmett and I answered simultaneously.
"You guys are so lame." Rosalie tried to act annoyed, but I saw her snuggle in further to Emmett's side. The bitch couldn't fool me for a second.
"Well then, Miss Popularity, what are you up to tonight?" he asked, moving one of his arms from around my shoulder to wrap around Rose's waist.
"Rehearsal," she grumbled back at Emmett before turning to me. "You?"
"Don't we all?" I asked, nodding my head in the direction of the theater.
How had it been merely hours since my freak out at the theater?
I still couldn't believe how had gone wrong. Apparently, I couldn't read Edward at all. It was just so fucking hard, though. I'd never felt like this—this unbearable need to touch someone and be touched by them…all the fucking time. I'd felt like I was going insane earlier when Edward had run off immediately with Jasper, rejected and thrown away. I'd wondered if I'd done something wrong or something to make me undesirable. The overwhelming doubt had crushed me and sent me running. I knew I needed to stop running away from him, but everything was so new, and I really had no idea how to do any of this. All I knew was how Edward made me feel. And I guessed for now, that would have to do.
Suddenly, someone snapped in front of my face and pulled me from my spot on the stair. "Hello, Bella? Earth to Bella? It's time for rehearsal." Rosalie stood directly in front of my face, shaking me out of whatever dark hole my mind had wandered off to. I definitely needed to thank her later.
"Sorry." I shook my head and steadied myself.
"Where'd you just go right now?" she asked quietly, clutching my hand tightly as we began our descent down the still-wet stairs.
I opened my mouth, ready to confess my insecurities to Rose, but promptly closed it as I felt Emmett's warm body slide between us, linking our arms together.
"Laaaadies," he drawled, leading the way. "Love this little threesome we've got going on. We should do this more often."
"Not gonna happen, Em," I snorted, elbowing him in the ribs playfully.
Once in the theater, Maria pulled me directly on stage, placing me in the middle of the floor as she began her spiel about what was on our agenda for the evening. First, we'd stage "The Girl Gets Around," a number with me and all the boys—minus Edward, unfortunately.
But then, they were going to work on the staging for Edward's solo number, "I Can't Stand Still," before ending with the Reverend's songs, "Heaven Help Me" and "I Confess," meaning that I would be out of rehearsal fairly early. Or, at least, I hoped.
The first number was a duet, sung by Jasper, who played the bad boy, Chuck Cranston—my character's soon to be ex-boyfriend, and me. The song was fun, and it was more than hilarious to see Jasper try and be the badass as he insulted my character.
"Well, she'd like you to think she was born yesterday with her innocent looks and her little town ways.
When she's smiling at me she's got angels in her eyes.
But I've seen how she moves, and this girl really cooks.
She's taught me some tricks you can't learn in books, and I'm starting to think she's the devil in disguise."
Maria helped place us on the stage, a steady progression of Jasper and I approaching each other as the insults became more heated.
"Yeah, he likes to pretend he's a man among men, but with his hands in his pockets he can't count to ten.
Don't worry, baby, your secret's safe with me.
And he bores me to tears with his beers and his bikes, but I keep around 'cause when temptation strikes, I've got the motor, he's got the key."
By this point, Maria had moved us as close as we could, so we were essentially singing only inches apart from one another at the climax of the song.
"Jasper, I want you to wrap your arm around LB's waist, and LB, I want you to wrap both your arms around his neck," Maria explained. "Chuck and Ariel's relationship works because of their animosity for one another. This part of the song needs to show exactly how much fire there is between them and how explosive it can be."
Jasper and I looked at each other dumbly, not particularly wanting to get any closer. Sure, I'd hugged Jasper, but that was a little different. It wasn't like he'd been hugging me with his knee between my legs. This was awkward at best. Jasper grimaced as he took a miniature step towards me, clearly no more anxious to get close to me as I was to him.
"Oh, come on, you two. This isn't the end of the world. Get closer, please." Maria placed a hand on the smalls of our backs and pushed us closer together, so our hips were touching, our bodies nearly intertwined.
Behind me, there was a loud snap and a low, "shit," followed by a near complete silence. My head swung around in the direction of the sound, only to see a very flustered Edward, trying to reattach the bottom of the wooden railing to the side bleachers.
"S-sorry," he stuttered, seeing the dropped mouths of everyone around him. "I-I'll grab some superglue."
With that, he spun on his heel and headed straight towards the scene shop, his eyes plastered to the ground as he sped by. Jasper's hold on my waist tightened, digging into my sides, and I snapped my head back, ready to ream him out, until I saw the laughter in his eyes.
"Well," Maria interrupted, trying to regain some semblance of control again. "Since Edward is, uh…detained…why don't we move onto the Reverend's numbers next?" She looked around for Billy, our softball counselor, who had been cast as the reverend.
Before I could make it off the stage, Maria grabbed my hand and pulled me aside, telling me that I should head up to the costume room to look for a pair of red cowboy boots instead of heading out of the theater. As if I'd have gone anywhere without Edward, anyway.
I slowly trudged up the rickety stairs to the back of the theater where the costume room was. I fucking hated this room. It gave me nightmares because it looked like the rooms in horror films or investigative television shows where people were murdered and hidden amongst the clutter, not found until their stench permeated the building. I stepped into the room, the low ceiling and crowded clothes racks making me feel claustrophobic immediately, and when I felt a pair of hands slide around my waist, I nearly lost my shit.
"Shhh," Edward breathed into my ear, attempting to pin down my flailing arms at my sides.
My heartbeat pounded in my ears as I spun around in his arms and leaned into his chest, trying to catch my breath.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," he murmured into the top of my hair.
"S'okay. I think I just need to…sit…"
Edward led me to the closest, well only, thing to sit on—a small table at the back of the room where all the tape measures and safety pins were stored. Happy to take a load off my shaky legs, I scooted back towards the wall and leaned back on the palms of my hands, tilting my head towards the dim fluorescent light above us.
The tips of his fingers slid up my bare thighs to play with the hem of my shorts, doing nothing to calm my breathing. I could feel him leaning in closer, but I kept my eyes closed.
"Look at me, Bella," he all but growled, causing my eyes to fly open. He was much closer than I thought he was, his perfect lips within kissing distance if I pushed myself forward just the slightest bit.
And so I did.
I craned my neck towards him, closing the small space between us. Our lips brushed gently at first before picking up pace immediately. My head knocked back against the wall and my legs widened, making room for him to stand between them as we continued to kiss.
His mouth trailed down my neck, and I clutched onto his hair, keeping him as close as possible. The moan I'd suppressed earlier came tearing out of my mouth as his teeth scraped lightly against my collarbone.
Edward pulled back, his eyes piercing into mine as he warned, "You're going to have to be quiet if we're going to do this."
"D-do what?"
"Do you know how hard it was for me to watch you on stage with Jasper?" he sighed, his hands tightening their grip on my thighs.
I shook my head side to side, never breaking our intense stare.
"Hard?" I squeaked.
"Very."
His hips pressed against my thigh, showing me just exactly how hard it was for him. My hand went to reach for him, expecting some resistance, but there was none. And once my hand was, uh, on him…I realized that I had no idea what I was supposed to do. I really should have thought this through more, but I was being propelled by hormones and adrenaline—which was probably not the best combination for attempting my first real hand job. Experimentally, I moved my hand across his shorts, finding the outline of his—come on, Bella, you can say it—cock.
A weird half groan, half whimper escaped Edward's lips as his forehead fell to my shoulder.
"Is this okay?" I whispered, not knowing if the sound was a good or a bad one...or if he was going to shut me down completely again.
"Yeah," he breathed quietly, his voice barely a whisper over the sounds of piano now echoing throughout the theater. "Just…" He looked up, his eyes apologetic as he inhaled and exhaled slowly. "Give me…a second?"
I nodded silently, not wanting to push my luck. I mean, I was touching him. Over his shorts and boxers, but still, I was touching him.
After the longest second in the history of the world, his mouth lowered to mine again, but this time, his hand started moving in small circles towards my inner thigh. Simultaneously, his other hand tentatively moved up the inside of my shirt, his thumb rubbing lightly across my skin. Slowly, torturously, his hands moved closer to their respective destinations. Not knowing exactly how to cope with the sensory overload I was currently experiencing, I slowed down our kisses, prolonging each languid stroke of my tongue against his, relishing in the faint traces of watermelon and mint still sticking to his lips.
And then, it happened. My body started tingling…everywhere. My nipples strained against my bra, reaching for his fingers which were barely out of reach as, down below, one finger and then two inched up past the hem of my shorts and over my underwear. And although Edward had just dried them, I was fairly certain they were soaked through again—only this time, not because of water.
Fuck, I was a lucky girl to call the man attached to these fingers, mine.
As his finger swept directly over the fabric covering my clit, my hand clenched around him, the muscles contracting without my consent, causing him to jerk his head back quickly and yelp like a puppy whose foot had just been stepped on.
"Oh my God, Edward, I'm sorry…I…I…" Embarrassment flooded through my body and my nerves skyrocketed. Why the hell would Edward ever want to be with me? Someone so inexperienced I couldn't even give a fucking hand job without maiming him.
"It's okay. This is what, uh, this is for." I looked up at him inquisitively, having no idea where he was going yet again. "Practice, right?" My mind reeled with the implications of that single word and continued to as he laced his fingers with my own.
"Here," he explained, flattening my hand beneath his. I gulped as he applied pressure to our hands, pressing them firmly—but not too hard—against his shorts. His cock strained against the fabric, getting harder with each firm motion of our hands.
"Like that?" I asked, needing confirmation.
Edward nodded, keeping his hand over mine, as the other continued to sweep over my clit, making the tingles return in full force.
A strangled, "Fuck," escaped my lips as he pushed aside the fabric of my underwear and slid his index finger into me. I must have been ten times wetter today than I had been last night, although I wasn't really sure how that was humanly possible, because Edward's finger moved inside me with ease. Suddenly, he moved his thumb underneath the underwear, too, to rub directly over my clit, causing my entire body to arch towards him. My legs struggled to close back up, but Edward's stance between them made that impossible. His fingers were seriously doing the craziest things to my body, but I wasn't going to try and fight it.
Instead, my free hand—the one that wasn't still being guided by him—flew up to the back of his neck, pulling his mouth to mine. I wasn't so much kissing him as breathing hard into his mouth, but it worked to effectively hush the loud moans that wanted to echo throughout the theater.
Our hands worked together over the crotch of his pants, rubbing as he thrust gently against them. The noises coming from his mouth made me feel more than accomplished. But, I was glad to have his guidance; his own fingers inside me were more of a distraction than I could really bear.
For the next few minutes, all that could be heard was our heavy breathing, the sound of rustling fabric, and Billy's tenor singing through his solo.
It wasn't perfect. I mean, I was still awkward as fuck, and we were groping one another in the costume room—not the most romantic setting by any means, cloaked in the scent of mothballs and dust—but as we both reached our precipices, freezing and then shuddering as our lips met, it felt just like that…perfect.
"Um, how mad do we think Maria would be if I cleaned up with a costume?" Edward laughed, pulling his fingers from inside me, trying his hardest not to drip on himself or anywhere else.
Gag me. Okay, I admit it. Sex is dirty and often not in a good way.
"I think I saw some paper towels up here, actually…" I trailed off, swinging my head in the direction of the tall shelves with cleaning supplies on the walls.
"Oh, shit."
My head snapped back towards Edward, and I couldn't help but break into hysterical giggles. His face was aghast with horror as a blob of sticky whiteness fell from the balled up t-shirt in his hand. Apparently, In trying to clean himself off, he'd gotten not only my but also his, uh, bodily fluids on his shorts.
"I can't go back down there like this," he whined, attempting to brush the grossness off his shorts, but really only succeeding in spreading it further.
"Stop, please," I giggled as I hopped off the desk and went in search of some shorts. I rummaged through the boys section and found a pair of red basketball shorts that looked like the approximate right size. "These?" I held them up for him, and he grimaced before sliding off his current pair of navy-colored ones. He balled them up quickly before eyeing me carefully.
"Uhh, can you turn around for a second?" he asked nervously as he stood there in his black boxer-briefs. "I kinda need to…" Awkwardly, he motioned towards the wet spot on his crotch, and I couldn't help but flush with pride at the thought that I'd put it there.
Happy to oblige and minimize any awkwardness that I could actually control, I turned around and went in search of the red cowboy boots that had brought me up to the room to begin with. I found them almost immediately, sitting on a box merely three feet away from the doorway. Oops. Let's hope Maria didn't know that's where those were.
As I picked them up in my arms, Edward came up behind me, placing a soft kiss behind my ear.
"That was better, right?"
I mumbled my agreement, unable to think of much other than the feel of Edward's body radiating heat into my back.
"Has anyone seen Edward?" Maria shouted out suddenly.
"Here!" He returned her yell and ran down the stairs, taking them two at a time.
I walked down the rickety stairs at a normal pace, not wanting to fall face first in a heap of limbs at the bottom; my legs weren't fully functional yet.
As soon as I got to the bottom of the stairs, I was met with prying eyes, who clearly knew that Edward and I had been up to no good. My stomach clenched as I glanced at Emmett. His mouth dropped as his eyes shifted back and forth between me, still at the bottom of the stairs, and Edward, who was talking animatedly with Maria by the piano.
"Wait a second!" he bellowed, making me cringe. "Wasn't Edward wearing navy shorts like thirty minutes ago?"
The entire room quieted down, which, thank God, was only about ten people by now. Most everyone else had cleared out, having finished their own numbers.
Edward shook his head sternly, trying to articulate that now was not the best time to address this, but Emmett had picked now to be infuriated, for some reason.
"She is my baby sister, dude! How could you…how could—"
Seeing Emmett's impending explosion, Rosalie put her arm on his bicep and whispered something into his ear, distracting him momentarily. Before I could escape, though, Edward was next to me again.
"Do you want to go to the main office with me?" he whispered.
"Don't you—" I began. He had rehearsal for the rest of the night. His number was the only one that hadn't been staged yet.
"Maria is letting us go early since she has the senior showcase to deal with for the next week. Come on, please hurry." He put his hand on the small of my back, leading me out the door and through the mist towards the main house where all the administration was housed. "I'll get killed by Emmett later. Now isn't the time."
Giggling, I leaned into his side and let him lead us through the counselor lounge and up the stairs to the main office. Three secretaries were still on duty, playing solitaire at the computer. As soon as one looked up and caught Edward's eye, she blushed and grinned, making me hate her automatically, despite the fact that she was a portly redhead, who was probably sixteen at the oldest.
"Grace," he crooned. "How are you doing tonight?"
"Very well," she smiled, and I could hear faint traces of an Irish accent on her tongue. Whore. "What can I do fer ya?"
Edward grinned, clearly turning on the charm for this poor, unsuspecting receptionist, and cleared his throat. "Well, I was hoping it's not too late to put in a request for an early evening off tomorrow?"
"No, darlin'. Not fer you, o' course." She blushed and shuffled through some papers on the clipboard beside her.
"And for my friend, Bella, here? I'd love for her to accompany me, if that's okay."
The girl blushed again and grabbed a pen, the pink hue spreading down her neck and to her ears. As she scribbled down our names on the sheet of paper in front of her, Edward's hand wrapped further around my waist, keeping me flush against his side. As if I were going to run off anywhere.
"There ya go," she said sweetly, showing us the new lines at the bottom of the 'Early Evening Off' sheet. "Now, you've got the night out. And Edward, I know you've done this before, but don't forget if you're not going ta return 'til mornin', you've gotta find someone to cover Miss Bella's bunk."
She blushed even further at the mention of staying the entire night out, and I wondered how often Edward had spent the night out with a girl if the receptionist knew about it. Feeling particularly confident, though, I pushed my insecurities aside and just enjoyed the fact that I now had an early evening off with Edward tomorrow.
"Thanks, Grace," he said, leaning down to kiss her cheek. "You're the best."
"Yer welcome, Edward," she called out, but I was too busy staring at him to really care.
The night had finally cleared up, the stars poking through the damp clouds, and I could feel the impending heat wave. All of a sudden, it sounded like a pretty good idea to head out of camp early.
"So, what are we doing tomorrow night?" I asked.
Edward gripped my waist and looked at me embarrassed. "Uhh, I thought I could actually take you out on a date. You know, dinner…a movie?"
"An official date?" I was glowing. Maybe it was because I was still post-coital, but I was pretty sure it was because Edward fucking Cullen was asking me out on a date. I retained my squeal for a time in private and simply smiled when he nodded his acquiescence.
"You didn't have anything else planned, did you? Fuck, I should have asked…I know I'm really bad at—"
My feet arched upwards, propelling myself to stand on my toes as I shut Edward up with a firm kiss.
"No, nothing else planned. And I can't wait to go out with you."
An easy smile spread across his face, and he released a soft sigh. "Well, that's good. I have no idea what's in theaters right now, but I'm sure we can find something acceptable."
"Sounds perfect." I paused, seeing that Edward had walked me all the way back to the head of campus—as far as he could take me back to my bunk.
We said our goodbyes and kissed sweetly, trying to ignore the prying eyes of the head of night duty. I walked quickly back to my bunk, thoroughly exhausted from the drama of the day. I couldn't wait until tomorrow. I had a feeling our first date would be extremely memorable. With thoughts of musky costumes, earth shattering orgasms, and first dates, I drifted off into dreamland, anxious for the next day to come.
x-x-x
"I don't think I've ever been this sweaty," Jasper complained as he stood in front of our weak ass fan with his arms spread. "And I lived in the South for four years." He groaned and ran his hands through his hair, pulling it away from his neck, and I could see that the underside was completely drenched with sweat.
I walked over to him slowly, trying not to muster up any unnecessary effort in the oppressive heat. "J-Town, you know I heart you, but your hair is seriously the grossest thing I've ever seen."
I nearly gagged as a few more beads of sweat rolled down the back of his neck.
To be fair, the day had started off in the low nineties and had now approached nearly one hundred five, plus humidity, so I'm sure I didn't look or smell like a peach either, but what was it about boys? They just sweat so fucking much.
"Don't look at me like that, Bella." He scowled at me…with his eyes closed. I didn't even know that was possible.
"You can't even see my face, douche."
He chuckled. "Oh, I know the face." Then, his eyes opened and slid towards me. "And it shouldn't be on your face when you actually have the means to get us out of this heat and into some air conditioning."
"But Seth—"
Jasper's eyes lit up, and a sly grin spread across his face, stopping me mid-sentence. "Seth is right there, heading back towards his bunk."
I followed Jasper's line of vision where Seth was, indeed, headed back towards his bunk.
"Fuck it." I needed to get out of the heat, and seeing my boyfriend wasn't the worst idea either. "Let's go."
Looking like a complete buffoon, Jasper punched his fist into the air and did a little skip-hop move. Clearly, he'd been hanging out with Alice too much.
"What are you? A fucking Newsie?"
Seeing my expression, he simply shrugged and led the way to the shack. I followed quickly, not even bothering to lock up the fine arts room behind us. We'd be back soon anyway.
Upon reaching the door, Jasper stepped aside and signaled for me to knock. The boy was his roommate and one of his best friends, yet he needed me—the new girlfriend—to knock for him?
My knuckles rapped quickly on the door, which gave way immediately, a burst of cold air surrounding my body, making my skin, still damp with sweat, prickle with goose bumps.
Needing to collapse onto something, I closed my eyes and spread across the small wooden bench, lying down long-ways with my legs straddling it. The lacquered green surface felt cool against my sweat-covered back, and it was the closest thing to me, and it was a step up from lying across the floor, which had been my first inclination.
Suddenly, plush lips were pressed against mine, their minty taste letting me know exactly to whom they belonged. As he was pulling away, though, I couldn't resist wrapping my arms around his neck and deepening our kiss. He complied and pulled back with a chuckle, forcing me to open my eyes back up. I loved to see Edward smile.
"Well, that was a warm welcome…literally," he laughed melodically, wiping his thumb across my forehead, down to my temple, pushing away a stray bead of sweat. "PS, Jasper, you stink."
Edward stole a quick kiss before sitting back down in his rollie chair in front of his computer, pulling up his iTunes, and pressing shuffle. Obviously we were people who needed a soundtrack for every conversation.
Instead of responding, Jasper flicked Edward off and groaned. "You'd smell like shit, too, if you were working in over a hundred degree weather. And our studio barely has a window. It's like we're suffocating in there, to be honest."
"Yeah, and I now feel like I'm suffocating in here, thanks to your deathly scent." Edward mock-gagged, bringing a smile to my face at their easy banter.
"Hmm," Jasper shrugged. "You know, that'd be a good solution." He nodded his head towards the computer, and Edward nodded enthusiastically.
"Oh, yeah."
"What?" I asked, feeling completely out of the loop.
"The song, MB," Edward explained, his eyes growing darker as the lyrics rang out through the tiny space.
I forgot my shirt at the water's edge
The moon is low tonight
Nightswimming deserves a quiet night
"Nightswimming by REM. It's about skinny dipping," Jasper explained, looking fairly uncomfortable discussing any kind of nudity with me. Not that I could blame him. I didn't really want to continue the conversation with him either.
"Right, I got it. The lyrics were pretty forthcoming," I spoke distractedly, although I didn't miss the pointed look between Edward and Jasper. I shrugged, not knowing how to figure them out. Boys. "And on that note, we should probably get back before our next class starts."
I pushed myself to my elbows and swung my leg around to help me sit up. Everything in this heat was just too hard.
Edward reached out his hands to mine and pulled me into his arms. It didn't even matter that I was gross and sticky, I loved feeling his hands clasped at the small of my back. I tilted my chin up and smiled.
"I'll see you at five?" he said, gazing down at me with a small smile.
I gnawed at my bottom lip, wondering how I was going to be able to look cute in this hellish weather. I mean, it was our first date. I didn't want to be a sweaty mess on our first date.
"Stop that," Edward admonished, running his finger over my bottom lip, pulling it from my tooth's grasp.
"Why?"
I chewed on my lip often. It was a bad habit, I guessed, but at least it wasn't something worse like picking my nose or LARPing.
"Because then I can't do this." His finger slid from my bottom lip to my chin, drawing it up towards his face to meet his lips in a soft kiss.
Okay, best reason to stop biting my lip ever. Boyfriend for the win.
We both pulled back, flushed and smiling.
"I am going to gag with how precious that just was. I feel like I'm at the end of a romantic comedy. Please, let's go before I puke." Jasper held out his hand, gesturing towards the door.
"Yeah, okay," I laughed. "Because you and Alice aren't like that at all, right?"
"Stop arguing with me, Bella. And please? Let's just…" Jasper sighed loudly, and Edward shook his head, rolling back towards his computer to continue whatever it was that we had interrupted in the first place.
~Edward~
I was going to melt alive. I was sure of it. Maybe it was nerves or maybe it was the one hundred degree weather, but I had just taken a cold shower and was already sweating buckets.
It was our first real date. And to me, it really meant something. Some sort of milestone or shift in our relationship was going to occur tonight, and I absolutely did not want to fuck it up in any way, shape or form.
On my way out the door, Emmett patted my shoulder and gave me a stern glare, conveying everything he needed to without a single word. Yeah, I got it—hurt Bella and my balls were gone.
I couldn't wait to get off campus, though. With everything that had happened yesterday, I felt like I needed to be as attentive as humanly possible to Bella. She had admitted her nerves to me, and while I was definitely not anxious to destroy her virtue in one fell swoop, I was more comfortable with the idea of tainting it through baby steps. Maybe.
Taint her virtue? Good lord, you are so fucked.
Waiting for Bella to arrive, I leaned against the cab of Jake's truck, hiding myself from the sun as much as I could. No need to increase unnecessary sweat production.
That thought completely went to shit as Bella emerged from the shadows and stepped into the sun. In the sunlight, her yellow dress went completely transparent, clearly showing off her braless figure. My hands longed to be reattached to her tits, and I knew they would be before we said goodnight. That was absolutely non-negotiable as far as I was concerned.
"Hey," she smiled cheerfully, looking far too pretty to just be taken out to a shitty dinner and an even shitter movie theater. But, fuck, we were in nowheresville Maine, population three—me, my trailer, and my dog. Our options were pretty fucking limited if we didn't want to travel an hour and a half out of our way.
"Hey, you look…nice." I leaned down and kissed her cheek, closer to her neck, since her hair was swept up in a high ponytail.
She rolled her eyes and started climbing into the truck. "You don't need to flatter me, Edward. You already know you're getting more than a goodnight kiss later."
My mouth hung agape at her sudden burst of confidence. This was the Bella I remembered—the mouthy, unfiltered, slightly pretentious, and faintly insolent but charming girl who had stumbled into the shack all those years ago.
She clapped her hand over her mouth, her cheeks turning pink as she began to stutter an apology.
"I—I…that sounded so much sluttier than I thought it would, oh my God…um…uh…"
"Bella," I laughed, climbing into the driver's seat and turning on the ignition. "Stop stressing. I love you and your non-existent filter. Never apologize for that."
Her brown eyes widened before blinking rapidly, and her front tooth took up space on her luscious bottom lip, which always drove me fucking crazy.
"What did I say about this?" I whispered, removing her lip from her tooth again, and pressed a chaste kiss there.
"R-right," she stuttered, all of a sudden shifting very uncomfortably in her seat.
"What?" I asked, completely taken aback by her shift in mood. She'd gone from sixty back to zero in about three point two seconds, and I had no fucking clue as to why.
She shook her head and reached for the radio. "Nothing."
"Okay," I said, skeptically. It didn't seem like nothing, but I didn't want to press her for something she obviously didn't want to tell me.
The drive to the movie theater was quick, which was good because even with air conditioning, Jake's truck was getting a bit stifling. Luckily, the air in the theater was turned on full blast, cooling us down nearly instantly.
The only movies playing at the theater were The Hangover or the new Harry Potter, so we took our chances with the D-list cast and went for the shitty comedy.
It actually turned out not to be so shitty. In fact, the movie was pretty fucking hilarious. Inappropriate to the max and filled with actors who had impeccable comic timing; I could see the movie becoming one of my favorites. It also didn't hurt that I had one arm around Bella's shoulders and the other, stretched across my lap to hold hands with hers the entire time.
Whatever had been plaguing her in the car melted away as soon as the theater lights dimmed. Her entire body melted into my side, soft and warm and perfect against me.
I didn't ever want it to end. The hour and forty minutes were up far too quickly, and we were hesitant to go back into the heat, which had diminished only by a few degrees with the sun set.
"How is it still one hundred and two degrees?" Bella whined, reading Jake's truck thermometer. "That shouldn't be possible at seven thirty pm…summer or not."
I shrugged as Bella droned on about the heat, driving us to our next location, a small waterfront restaurant on the opposite side of the lake from camp.
As we exited the car, Bella reached for my hand, intertwining her fingers with mine, bringing a smile to my face. The smile faded, however, when I saw the small cluster of elderly men leering at her over their mugs of beer.
It didn't matter how fucking hot it was, we weren't going to be sitting inside with those fuckers. I silently prayed they couldn't see through her dress in the dim light of the bar.
Keeping her close to my body, I led her out to the patio, and I noticed she breathed a sigh of relief as I passed through the doors.
"I hope this is okay," I began, unsure if the heat was still too oppressive to eat outside, but Bella's brilliant smile assured me we were fine. It was a beautiful view anyway. The sun was setting over the lake, behind the hill of Long Lake's campus.
"It's perfect."
Grinning, she opened her menu, and I followed her lead. On a day as hot as today, I wasn't particularly hungry, but I wasn't concerned with the food as much as who I was eating it with anyway.
I ordered a lobster roll and Bella ordered a bacon cheeseburger. She blushed as she ordered, saying that she was sorry she couldn't be one of those girls who didn't eat on dates. But I couldn't have cared less. I loved that Bella didn't feel like she had to eat rabbit food. It was as if slowly—very slowly—but surely, we were figuring out that we didn't have to tip toe around each other. That was what was making us awkward. As soon as we started being ourselves, we clicked. After all, I figured out I wanted to be with the real Bella, not some Bella-lite version. And I figured the same probably went for me, so I was going to make more of a concerted effort to stop being so goddamned polite.
Our food arrived quickly, and as we ate, the sun continued to move, backlighting Bella, so she looked as if she were glowing. Wanting to take my own advice and just 'be myself,' I started talking movies. After all, this was who I was.
"No," Bella sputtered to my latest declaration that Ben Affleck was washed up and should just throw in the towel and admit defeat to Matt Damon, the clearly superior friend. I had posed the question as to who was the most influential actor of our generation, and I thoroughly believed it was Matt Damon. Clearly, Bella felt otherwise. "Just…no!"
"Oh, come on…what was the last movie you saw Ben Affleck in that you actually liked? He's a natural born writer and director. He should have never tried to become an actor. Leave it to the pros."
"But Good Will Hunting is one of my favorite movies, and he's fucking fabulous in it. You can't deny that," she said, pointing a fry at me accusingly.
"Moot point," I smirked. "That movie came out in 1997. Try a movie in this decade, please. Oh, and side note, Matt Damon was the true star of that film. My point still stands."
She made an angry buzzer noise, startling our surrounding patrons and popped the fry into her mouth. "Fine, I love Jersey Girl, okay? That came out in 2004, so it was definitely in this decade. It was a Kevin Smith movie, and it reunited Ben and Liv for the first time since Armageddon. It makes me weep. Are you happy now?" She was so flustered that I couldn't help but smile unabashedly at her. "Oh, and side note to you, Robin Williams was the true fucking star of Good Will Hunting."
"Wow, MB. I think you just schooled me on movies. I didn't even know that was possible." She tipped her head towards me in a small bow, making me smile even wider. "Okay," I pressed, "so who do you think is the most influential actor of our generation?"
"It's a toss up," she shrugged. "Between Edward Norton…"
"Edward Norton?" I interrupted. "I can't fucking stand that guy. Have you ever listened to him try and do press? It's…" I shook my head. "I just can't do it."
She leaned forward, fire burning in her gaze. "Yes, but we're talking about influential acting alone. And with that, Ed Norton is a viable candidate. Fight Club? American History X? I mean, he made skinheads look hot."
"Did you just bring up neo-nazis on our first date?" I couldn't help but laugh. This was the strangest verbal foreplay I'd ever partaken in, but oddly enough, it really worked for us. Talking movies with Bella was making me hard as a fucking rock. "Really, Bella?"
"I said," she elongated the word, letting me know exactly who was in charge of this verbal sparring, "it was a toss up."
"So, who's the other choice?"
"Clearly, it's Will Ferrell," she said confidently, tucking a stray curl behind her ear. Before she could put her hand back in her lap, though, I reached for it, wrapping her small hand in my larger one.
"Bella, I love you, but have you seen Talladega Nights? Any movie that uses 'shake and bake' as a tag line isn't even in the same realm as Matt Damon."
She shook her head and bit her lip, her cheeks flushing as they had earlier in the car. Unable to stop myself, I let a small groan escape. The pink cheeks and the lip biting and the dark eyes with the movie talk. I was owned.
"Agree to disagree…when in Rome," she snickered, squeezing my hand as I slid my credit card from my wallet and discretely handed it to the waitress.
"Thanks, Edward. This was…"
"Amazing? Terrible? Outstanding? Horrific? Superior? Dreadful? Marvelous?"
"Will you stop interrupting me?" she chided as the bill was placed in front of me. "God, how have I never realized what a child you are?"
I signed the check and squinted my eyes at her. "You should probably lay off the sauce."
Laughing, I stood up and helped her out of her chair, wrapping my arm around her waist immediately. She looked up at me and returned my grin, and from this angle, I could see right now the front of her dress, which I did because I'm a dirty perv. My cock and I were having all kinds of scandalous thoughts about the ending of our night; we only hoped Bella would feel similarly.
"So, what now?" she asked, sliding back into the front seat.
"Back to camp?" I suggested. There wasn't really anywhere on the town I wanted to take her. The only real place to go was The Pound, and I didn't really feel inclined to have other counselors around to witness the groping that was sure to go down. Plus, Seth could be there. Talk about fucking awkward.
"I'm not ready for the night to end yet," she whispered shyly.
"Neither am I, MB. I had no intentions of letting you go just yet." I winked and grabbed her hand across the console, feeling like a smooth motherfucker as she nodded her agreement.
In fact, the plans that were forming in my head for our camp activities were pretty lascivious, but I hoped—more like prayed—that she wouldn't be too offended.
Trying to be a gentleman and counteract some of the sleaze I was sure to feel in a few minutes, I ran around the truck and opened her door, happily surprised when she placed a light kiss to the underside of my jaw.
"Mmm," I mumbled, trying not to let her press against my hard cock, which was now straining against the fabric of my boxer briefs and my khaki shorts, as she hopped out onto the pavement. "How would you feel about walking down to the lake?"
"That sounds perfect," she smiled. "I think it's supposed to be cooler on the docks, right? Something about air and the water and…" As she rambled on, I tuned her out, choosing to check her out instead.
Yeah, I know. I'm an asshole of a boyfriend. Call me on it. I'm aware.
But I couldn't help it. She looked gorgeous. And something had happened over the past few hours—something good. A wall had fallen, an awkward wall, and it was becoming more natural to talk and touch and just be. Maybe we had both been over thinking it before. I didn't really know, but I couldn't help the way everything felt, like it fit.
Arriving at the dock, Bella slid off her shoes and sat down on the edge, letting her feet slide through the water. Perfect.
As I admired the view from behind, I quickly pulled off my shirt and pushed down my shorts. I briefly considered taking off my boxer-briefs, too, but I decided that a full ode to "Nightswimming" wasn't completely necessary. After all, I had to keep telling myself we were going slow and steady.
Just as Bella started turning around, presumably to see what was taking my ass so long to join her, I flew past her, scrunching myself into a tight cannonball as I hit the water.
It was the perfect remedy to the thick humidity that had stuck to my skin all day. The water was cool, but not too cold, and I couldn't resist shaking my hair out onto her as I gripped the edge of the dock.
"Edward, what are you doing?" she whisper-yelled, half concerned and half intrigued.
"Nightswimming." I grinned as she looked over her shoulder at the pile of clothes resting behind her, causing a soft blush reappear on her cheeks.
"But…but…we're not allowed to get into the water without a lifeguard present." Her stuttering was so fucking adorable, I couldn't resist pulling myself up out of the water slightly, capturing her lips in a very wet kiss.
"You're coming in, too, you know." My hands moved to cover her knees before sliding slowly up the smooth skin of her thighs under her dress.
She bit her lip, blushing even harder. Even under the moonlight I could tell she looked like a tomato.
"I don't have anything to wear," she whispered, her eyes fixated on my thumbs, which were drawing wet circles up her thighs.
"And you think I do?" I laughed, finally letting my arms relax, and fell back into the water with a soft splash.
She nodded nervously. "You've got boxers on. That's like a bathing suit for you."
"So? You can wear your underwear like a bathing suit for you," I countered.
She chuckled nervously, still staring at her lap. "I could…" she trailed off before looking up at me with a smirk. "…if I were wearing any."
Was she serious? My hands had just been inching up her dress and she hadn't been wearing anything underneath? I had known about the no-bra; I could see that clearly. But, Jesus, had I known there were no panties involved either? Fuck.
My cock hardened further, trying to bust its way out of my underwear, as my heart rate sped up. If she was going to play this game, I would play along. It was dangerous territory, but my hands went for the waistband of my boxer-briefs anyway, tugging them down my thighs, kicking them off and throwing them onto the dock next to her.
"I'm not wearing any either. What's your excuse now?"
All my thoughts went into begging her to smile and take off her dress instead of frown and run away, which, was a likely option, considering everything.
Luckily, fate was on my side. A slow smile spread across her face as she signaled with her index finger for me to turn around. I had no problem following those orders. None at all.
I waited patiently to face her until I heard a loud splash and a happy shriek, signaling her rise to the surface.
"Oh my God, I forgot how good this feels." Her face lit up under the soft moonlight, reveling in the necessary temperature change. Flailing her arms slightly, treading water, she leaned her head back, letting her tits rise above the dark expanse of the lake, peeking out and glistening with small droplets. The horny teenager in me couldn't decide whether he wanted to squeeze the shit out of them or just face-plant between them.
Unable to take it anymore, I swam to her, wrapping my arms around her waist, bringing our hips dangerously close to one another. Her head rose from the water immediately as our naked skin brushed against each other, then she reached out with both arms to crush her lips against mine.
Our limbs intertwined as our wet lips slid against one another's. Her arms wound around my neck, bringing our chests in full contact, sending a jolt down my spine. I had never felt anything quite like it before. It was magical. Sparks traveled throughout my body, igniting the low fire we'd had burning into an uncontrollable blaze. I half expected the water around us to light up and have fish dance in circles at our feet with toads and crickets chirping with glee from the long grass beside the lake. In fact, if Disney ever made a porno, I was positive it would be just like this moment.
Still attached at the mouth, we sank beneath the water, just touching and exploring the naked expanse of skin on display. And explore we did. Bella's legs locked around my waist, her ankles crossed over the small of my back, allowing me the perfect angle to run my hands up her thighs and ass. A small burning sensation in my chest clued me into the fact that if I didn't kick my legs and force us back to the surface, we were going to drown. Albeit, blissfully happy, but we'd drown nonetheless.
When we finally broke through, we were both gasping for air, but neither of us were even remotely ready to let go. Now that we knew what it felt like to be like this, no barriers, just skin against skin, I didn't know how we could ever go back.
"I think," Bella panted, "I need to hold onto something." She paused, her eyes scanning the dock for something, kicking out of my grasp when she found a small ladder at the far side. "Lest we drown," she laughed, running her fingers through her hair, pushing it out of her face as she sat down on the middle rung. "That would put a damper on our date, don't you think?"
"Probably," I said, swimming slowly through the darkness towards her. At this angle, the swim pagoda blocked out most of the moonlight, encasing us in shadow, hiding us from sight.
Licking off the lake water from my lips, I grabbed onto the ladder as well, creating a cage around Bella's body.
"Edward," she whispered, peering up through her dark lashes, which were still saturated with water. "This has been the best date ever. So, thank you."
I leaned my forehead to hers and closed my eyes, trying to calm myself down a little in an effort not to jump her. "You are very welcome, Bella, but believe me…the pleasure was mine."
Giggling, she inched up slightly, rubbing her wet nose against mine, before stealing a kiss.
"It can be."
Then, surprising the hell out of me—mostly because my eyes were still clenched tightly—Bella's hand darted out and wrapped around my erection.
Bella's hand is on my cock. Hand. Cock…Cock. Hand. Fuuuuuck.
"Holy mother of Jesus," I groaned, gritting my teeth in an attempt to keep myself together.
"That would be Mary," she chuckled softly, caressing me up and down in slow, steady strokes.
"Fuck," I ground out in a low moan, letting my head fall to Bella's shoulder.
I could feel her pulse race under my cheek, and I heard as she inhaled a shaky breath. "Is this okay?" she asked nervously.
"This is way more than okay," I breathed, my voice growing hoarse with the effort I was using to hold myself back. "C-can I…"
I trailed off, letting my hand wandering up her inner thigh do the talking I wasn't capable of currently articulating.
"Please," she moaned as my finger slid inside her. She made the most incredible moaning noise before kissing me hard and whispering, "More."
I pumped my single finger twice more before pulling out and tentatively adding a second finger. It shouldn't have been tentative, though, because as soon as my fingers—plural—were inside her, she yelled out a loud, "Yes," and clenched down harder on my cock, applying the perfect amount of pressure.
Bella may have been inexperienced, but she knew exactly what the hell to do with my body. She had my cock completely bewitched, bothered, and bewildered, ready to answer her every beckoning call.
"Faster," she groaned, and I quickly complied, letting my fingers thrust faster. I didn't know who told Bella it was okay to be vocal about what she wanted, but I was ever so grateful to them. Hearing her dictate to me was one of the hottest things I'd ever experienced.
I let my thumb brush against her clit, feeling her walls clench around my fingers and hearing her cry out. Meanwhile, my cock was doing happy dances, focusing only on the slick feel of Bella's hand stroking up and down, occasionally sweeping over the head.
Had I not been so epically distracted, I may have heard the footsteps approaching the dock and seen the flashlight beam searching through the water before I heard my best friend's voice call out, "Hey, whoever the hell is fucking in the water, you can't be here. Find somewhere else to go."
At the sound of his voice, our hands ceased their movements simultaneously, but neither of us removed them completely, her hand still clenched around my dick and her walls clenched around my fingers.
"Jake?" she mouthed, her eyes wide with fear. And I couldn't fucking blame her. I was feeling all kinds of terror at this moment in time as well. Of al the people to be on perimeter duty tonight, it had to be him?
I nodded, unsure of what to do. Maybe if we were silent, he'd just go away?
"I see your clothes out here, assholes. I'm turned around right now, but I swear I'll come back there if I don't hear bodies getting out of the water."
"Oh God, please don't come back here!" Bella cried out, panicked.
"LB?" His voice cracked, and I heard him shuffle closer to us.
"Yes, Jake! It's me! For the love of God, please don't come back here!" Her word vomit would have been amusing had I not been experiencing the same rush of dread concurrently.
"Uh…" I could hear Jake toeing at the dock with the tip of his shoe. "Edward?"
"Y-yeah?" I called out, my voice sounding gruff even to my own ears.
"Tell me you're not fucking LB right now. Because I may have to actually come back there and kill you."
I couldn't help but laugh, causing my fingers to accidentally move inside Bella again. She squeaked, quietly suppressing a moan.
"Edward!" he called out again.
"I'm not fucking anyone, Jake, you hypocritical bastard. Promise."
Jake sighed loudly and growled a little. "I can't fucking believe this is even happening…Okay," he cleared his throat to speak a little clearer, "I'm walking away now. Please get out of the water in the near future. There, I did my job. And let's never speak of this again."
"Okay!" Bella and I shouted together, stifling our laughter with small kisses.
As soon as the dock stopped shaking, signaling Jake's departure, Bella leaned in to kiss me softly.
"That was kind of amazing. I don't think anything can really top that," she giggled.
"Really?" I goaded, curling my fingers inside her, causing her giggles to morph into low, breathy moans. "Let's see if it can."
She gasped softly and widened her legs as her hand started its slow and steady pumping again. The water splashed around us, and if Jake was still in the relative near vicinity, he'd definitely be able to hear us, but I didn't think either of us particularly cared.
Neither of us said a word as we worked one another to completion. We didn't need to. The soft lapping of water against the creaking dock kept time as crickets and toads chirped around us.
I came first, one hand on her chest and the other one working hard beneath the water, breathing her name into the curve of her pale neck. My jaw clenched, tightening as my stomach clenched, preparing to let go. My orgasm was nothing short of mind blowing, warmth coursing through my body as I tensed and released.
Bella came shortly after, tempting my cock to rise again, her walls spasming around my fingers as she cried out my name…along with some expletives thrown in there, too.
"I think we succeeded," she panted, still breathless, looking flushed and beautiful.
Grinning, I kissed her hard, running my hands through her tangled hair. "Yeah, I'd say so."
"Looks like we've got this practicing thing down!" She held up her hand for a high five before realizing it was the hand that had just been on my junk. "Oh, wait," she blushed, "do you not want to touch that? Is that weird?"
I rolled my eyes and laced my fingers with hers. We were sitting in a big cesspool of our bodily fluid anyway. Which gave me a spectacular idea…
"Since we're so good at practicing, how did you feel about more…in my shower…like, now?"
She looked up at me through her lashes, which were dark with water, looking as coy as ever. "That sounds spectacular—" I mentally fist pumped. "—except I didn't find anyone to cover my bunk tonight, so I have to go back kind of soon." My fist pump stopped short, skidding to a halt. "Rain check?" she asked, running her hands through my hair, so we were once again only centimeters apart.
"Absolutely." I licked my lips, tasting the fresh water on them. I'd never be able to taste it again without thinking of this exact moment. Leaning in, I whispered, "But if you have to go soon, we should probably make the most of our time…" I trailed off and leaned in to capture her lips, which smiled against mine.
As we continued to kiss under the sky, bright with stars, I realized that I might have been new to this whole relationship thing, but I had just planned and experienced the best fucking date ever.
Chapter End Notes: So, nearly 11K words later…here we are. Um, yeah. Stuff happened. Did you catch it all?
Hopefully I'll have more to you soon. Thanks again, though, for your continued support and patience while RL kicks my ass over and over again. Campward finger-bangs for all of you. Xoxo.