Author's note: Here's another update. Without giving any spoilers, I wanted to keep the rating for this the same, which is why I wrote the way I did. Feel free to review.
"Well…"
"Well…"
"That was awkward, wasn't it?" Cagalli announced aloud, staring at her companion beside her. "I'm sorry about that and if it was my fault. Do you think that that's going to cause you any trouble?"
"I don't know," Athrun answered honestly, shrugging. He felt a little impatient all of a sudden as they waited for the elevator to arrive at their floor. "Either way, what I do know is that she should really learn to just mind her own business." It was right then and there that he started to feel something vibrate in his trouser pocket. Not many people called him at this time of night and he wondered who could have possibly been trying to reach him now. Taking the phone of out of his pocket, he quickly reads the caller display.
"Who is it?" She asked him. He doesn't glance up at her right away, as his eyes remain fixated on the little device. He looks conflicted, as if he isn't sure whether or not he should pick up, and from that she already has the answer to her question. "It's Meyrin, right?'
"Yeah, it is," He explained, part-amazed at how well she could read him and part dismayed at whatever it was his girlfriend was calling to ask him about. "I guess Fllay has probably already told her something….but it's okay. It doesn't matter right now. What matters is that, through some stroke of chance or fate, we're here together." He ignores the call, letting it go to his voice mail instead, and shoves the phone back into his pocket where he can do his best to forget about it.
"But, Fllay…" She began, trying to restart the conversation and bring it back to what their mutual acquaintance had said; about how he was also in a committed relationship.
"There's nothing else to say. She's an idiot," He replied, reassuringly. "She doesn't mean anything."
"Maybe, but she makes a good point."
"What do you mean?"
"You're with someone. I'm with someone too…" She explained. "And she just makes everything seem so, well, consequential."
"What do you mean?'
"I mean, she makes it seem like what we're about to potentially do has grave consequences. Like we're willingly walking head-first into a disaster or something."
"Who are you talking about?"
"Fllay?
"That's weird. I don't remember seeing her," He said, smiling. The elevator then made a dinging noise - signalling that they had finally reached their floor – and the two step out.
"Really? Because she was just in here, wearing a bridesmaid's dress, like mine," She recounted, and he looked at her as if she was crazy and he didn't have the faintest clue what she was talking about. "C'mon. Don't look at me like that. She was just in the elevator with us. "
"Another woman in a bridesmaid dress in the elevator with us?" Athrun said, repeating the information she gave him as he continued to feign ignore. "Apart from you, there was no one else like that. I think I would have remembered seeing someone else."
And just like that, she laughed despite herself, and things started to feel a little bit less awkward between the two. She had to give it to him – even though he was usually serious most of the time, something that his job required, he really knew how to make her smile. In fact, he really knew her better than anyone else. "Fine," Cagalli said, throwing her hands up in defeat. "Let's say that there was no one other woman in the elevator with us. What about Meyrin?"
"Never heard of her."
"Your girlfriend…."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
She looked at him, curious to see how far he was willing to go with this. "What about Ahmed?"
"Who?"
"The man I'm engaged to?"
"You're not feeling very well are you?" He asked her, extending his hand out to touch her forehead, as if he wanted to check her temperature. His hands felt cool against the warmth of her skin. "Ah, my suspicions have been confirmed, you are unwell. And you should be taken straight to your room. Which way would that be, by the way?
"That would be over there," She answered, pointing to a nearby room, room 1105. "Here's the key," she added, handing over a key card. He uses it to open the door and he lets them both in. The first thing that he does when he inside is scans the room, which is undoubtedly worth every penny that she was probably paying for it. The floors were carpeted in expensive rugs, pieces of expensive art decorated the beige walls, an immaculate glass chandelier hung above them, and in the centre of the room there was a rather large king-sized bed. And beside it, there were these huge French windows reaching from the bottom of the floor to the impossibly tall ceiling, which provided a breathtaking view of the city outside.
"This is pretty nice," He commented, sticking his hands into his pockets. "So…"
"So?"
"I'm here."
"Yes," She laughed. "Somehow, here you are."
"What now?
"I don't know. How about some of that wine I promised?" She suggested, to which he nodded. She took that as a cue to disappear into the other room – to what was presumably the kitchen - and she quickly returned a few moments later with some alcohol as well as enough glasses for the both of them. She poured a drink for him first and then one for her. Once she was done, she sets the bottle on the side table, and the two sit down beside each other on the bed.
When she finally makes herself comfortable, she brings up her glass for a toast and smiled. "Cheers. From one lonely soul to another."
He clinks her glass back in return, though he cocks up an eyebrow curiously at the blonde. "What makes you think that I'm lonely?"
"What you said earlier. How your relationship isn't serious."
"I'm not lonely," Athrun replied defensively. But funnily enough, the words didn't even sound believable to him. He drinks the rest of his glass and pours himself another one, before he sharply retorted, "Anyways, you're lonely too. It's why you let me come up."
"Everyone's lonely," She answered, in a matter-of-fact way. "Of course, I'm lonely too, sometimes. One day, I woke up in a strange, new country where I knew absolutely no one and I realized I was thousands of miles away from home."
"You didn't have to go."
"I know."
"So why did you?"
"I wanted to forget you."
"Did it work?"
"What do you think?" And with that, it was her her turn to recklessly down the rest of her drink. She started to feel a little lightheaded, and she's not sure whether it was the effect of the alcohol or her present company. But before she can think about it too much, she pours herself another glass.
"If we're going to be completely honest, you broke my heart too," He admitted. "I was absolutely destroyed when you left. I had this whole life planned out in my head, and all of a sudden, it was gone, and so were you. I couldn't understand how could you do it."
Guilt gnawed as her as she heard his confession. "I didn't want to, I wished we could've made things work. I just knew when to let go."
"Yeah, I can see that now. It's one of the few perks of getting older. I can understand now that you just wanted me to be happy, and you thought someone else could do that job much better than you could." He started smiling unexpectedly as he remembered something. "I tried to date other women, too, afterwards."
"Let me guess, they all fell head over heels for you. And you broke a few hearts of your own, Casanova."
"Hardly." He shook his head. "It was a disaster. It had been so long since I'd been with anyone else, and I was always doing or saying the wrong thing... And anyways, none of them were quite like that girl I used to know, the one sitting on a park bench…"
"Don't think about her-"
"Reading a book," He finished. "Why?"
"I can't compete with her. She was your first love."
"You don't have to," Athrun said, quietly. And he's starting to feel a bit drunk himself - he's lost count of all the glasses he has had at this point - and all those filters that he usually had in place were no longer functional. "I miss you. A lot. It's you that I want more than anyone. I want you so much. "
"If that's true," She said softly, her heart racing when she notices how he's leaning into her. "Then are you going to make a move or what?"
He doesn't answer her – at least, not with his words. Instead, he finally kisses her, his lips crashing into hers as he gently places a hand on her face. It somehow takes her by surprise, even though it shouldn't have because they were both expecting it. They had been building up to this all night. She's still, for a moment, though. But soon enough she's kissing him back widly and it's like they're finally reconnecting. Like all the talking they had done over the past few hours hadn't brought them as close together the way that one tiny, little kiss did.
Though of course, like everything else in life, it had to eventually come to an end. And as it did, they pull apart from each other, slowly and reluctantly. With their eyes fluttering back open, they look at each and are completely silent. No one dares to say a thing. Their faces are only a few inches a part, now, and their noses are brushing against each other ever so slightly.
"God, what are we doing?" She asked, her voice only slightly above a whisper. He ignores it and continues kissing her, tracing her cheeks and her neck with his lips. "This is insane. I should have said no, I shouldn't have let you in the first place or had all of that wine…." He's at her collarbone now, with no sign of stopping, and she feels more breathless than she did before.
"I should do the right thing…I want to do the right thing…but this… I can't stay away from this either." He starts to kiss her cleavage and she's not sure how much more of this she can take before her resolve completely crumbles. She wants him just as much as he wants her, despite all of her rationalizations about how wrong it all is.
"Athrun." She said sternly as she somehow finds the last ounce of her self-restrain to push him off her, forcing him to stop. She then looks at him in the eye. "You know that this isn't going to end well, right? There are still no happy endings in store for us. This won't change the fact we both have two very different lives."
He nodded, seriously. "I am well aware."
"Are you?" She asks in tone, which suggests that she doesn't really believe him. She can't help but reach out for his hand though and touches it tenderly. She cares for him, and she hates to seem him hurt.
"I am."
"Okay." She answered, leaving it at that, and she rises up from her bed, untangling herself from him. "I need to get this stupid dress off first though." She walked towards the mirror and started to release her hair from the required style the bride had requested. He, on the other hand, remained on the bed and began to remove his own clothing, starting off with his expensive Italian leather shoes. His socks followed shortly afterwards.
While he continues to undress, she tries to do the same. She extended her hand out behind her back as far as she could, in an attempt to reach the zipper of that wretched bridesmaid dress which was starting to feel suffocating, but she struggles. "Can you help me?" Cagalli finally asked when it becomes apparent that she couldn't do this on her own.
"Of course," Athrun replied, getting up and joining her. He stands behind her and starts to slowly tug down at the zipper. Once the material finally becomes loose enough, he pulls it down, his hands grateful for the curves of her exquisite body that he can feel through the thin material.
Eventually, the dress falls around her feet in a luxurious pool of silk and she kicks it aside, leaving her in nothing but a pair of underwear and a simple black bra. He then wraps his arms around her waist, protectively almost, as if to say that she was his, and he kisses her neck once more. "Now what would have you done without me?" He inquired playfully, hugging her. With his girlfriend gone for most of the year, he had almost forgotten what it was like to be with a woman. Especially this woman. It felt incredible.
"I don't know," She said, wrapping her arms around his and leaning her head back against his firm chest. "I probably would've struggled."
"I think you might have been stuck on that bridesmaid's dress for the rest of your life."
"Or at least until I got back home."
"Ah, London." He whispered into her ear, sending a delightful tingle down her spine. "Should I call you if I'm ever there?"
"Of course not," She told him. "I'd rather that you left me alone after tonight, if that's alright." She turned around and gave him a peck on the lips as she furiously unbuttoned his top. "Now shut up. And take of that shirt already."
"Alright, alright." He grinned, discarding his button-up shirt along with his undershirt. She reaches out impatiently to undo his belt as the tension between them grows and he helps her out by taking off his trousers. Now, they're both left in nothing but their underwear. He gets on his knees and starts kissing her stomach this time instead, touching the bare, naked skin; while his hands wrap around her back.
"Athrun," She moaned. "I have something I want to tell you."
"After." He pleaded, still kissing her stomach, getting lower on her body with every kiss. He didn't want to stop. Stopping now would be nothing short of pure torture.
"No, not later. Now," She insisted. "A woman never has a man's intended focus as much as she has it before sex. Come on."
Athrun, who was still in the middle of kissing her, stood up abruptly and sighed. He her with short breath, "Alright. Speak up, then."
"I was just thinking - you were right about what you said before. I only want you the best for you, I always have," She told him. "So you can't keep living like this. You deserve to be with someone who you love and can be with, and who makes you happy."
"And?"
"That's it. That's all I wanted to say."
"Okay." He said, holding her hands within his, "Thank you." And because words are no longer needed or wanted, she silently leads him to the bed. They start to kiss again, except there's no gentleness about this time. It's rough and urgent, fuelled by lust and longing and the sad knowledge they don't know if they'll ever be able to be together like this again. Their kisses are now wild and aiming for more.
Falling onto the mattress, he ends up on top of her and his hands caress her shoulders and arms before they move their way to the small of her back. He finds what he's looking for and he skilfully unclasps her bra, tossing the lacy material onto the floor. He bends his head down to kiss her heart and she, in return, runs her hand in his hair, pulling him closer to her. Neither of them bothers to fight it anymore. They give into each other; completely and wholly, and that night, they become one.