AN: Hi! I'm so excited that I'm actually getting reviews, I honestly didn't think I'd get a single one when I started this story. Sorry for the EXTREMELY spontaneous/random posting and also this chapter is a lot tamer than the others – sorry for the horndogs out there. XO Misha
GRACE
I had been hearing excessive howling from the woods behind my house for three days now. I knew Sam heard it too, but his refusal to acknowledge it left me confused and anxious.
"Grace why can't you just let it go? We finally have an ounce of peace in our lives could you please not disrupt it!" Sam asserted as he dropped me off at school Monday morning.
"I just want to drive you to school. And kiss you. And sleep next to you at night and smell your damp hair. I just want to hold your hand, Grace. Is that not enough for you?" Sam continued as I patiently listened, as if being scolded by a parent.
Instead of making me angry, however, Sam's declaration had left an utterly sad taste in my mouth. Had our lives become so complicated and consumed with the wolves that he was desperately grasping on to any mundane moment, regardless of its normalcy?
I walked to the main entrance with my face against the wind; against the world.
SAM
It took me all but two and half seconds to realize how stupid I was. Was I seriously fighting with Grace about fighting with Grace?
I closed my heavy lids, blew out a gust of frustration, and dropped my forehead on the steering wheel. Another two seconds, and I was out of the car, chilled fingers deep in my pockets, and walking briskly towards Grace.
GRACE
I was giddy. I could not believe that it was 9:48 am on a Monday morning and I was, amongst other things, making chocolate chip cookies in my kitchen with Sam.
Just over thirty minutes ago I was standing in front of my locker with a pout on my lips when I felt a chilly pair of hands slip into my front pockets and warm lips on my neck.
"I'm sorry, angel. More than sorry," he had whispered and we had proceeded to walk out of there hand-in-hand after a hasty stomach bug excuse and forged doctor note had been left at the office.
Jump ahead about forty-five minutes and I was sitting on the kitchen counter with a giant bowl of flour, eggs, and butter in my lap and a whisk in my right hand. Sam, on the other hand, was leaning against the oven practically undressing me with his sad, beautiful yellow eyes yet adamantly refusing to come any closer.
"Sam, they're at work," I assured "come here" I waggled my pointer finger at him, and after several minutes of coaxing and even, embarrassingly unbuttoning the top button of my shirt, Sam was finally convinced that my parents were not going to spontaneously come home and pull out a shotgun upon finding us home together alone.
Sam walked towards me, eyes locked on mine, until he stood in between my legs; the mixing bowl wedged between us like a pregnant belly. He placed his palms against the counter top behind me and leaned in until our cheeks were touching.
"How do you do this to me, huh?" Sam whispered against my ear lobe, sending shivers up my arms and down my spine. "You show one inch of skin and all of my self-control and rationality goes out the window," he continued. He proceeded to kiss my ear lobe and neck, making me shiver with pleasure, while I reached into the bag of Hershey kisses, unwrapped one, and slipped it into my mouth.
"Want a kiss?" I tried to murmur as seductively as possible with food in my mouth and leaned in towards Sam as my palms rested on his chest. I felt stupid. I felt like a tease. But when Sam deepened the kiss and licked the melting chocolate from my lips, I knew my embarrassing coy behavior was well worth the outcome. I licked chocolate and Sam off of my lips and giggled at the levity of the situation.
I understood how Sam had felt earlier this morning in the car. Everything has its time. We had spent the majority of our first year together worrying about the possibility of a future together, and now that it was here I was taking it for granted.
I grabbed Sam tight around his middle and buried my nose in his boy-scented flannel. Sam immediately sensed the change in my behavior and wrapped his strong, slender arms around my shoulders.
"Forget about the wolves, Grace," he said "even if the world was ending around us, you'd still be mine and I'd still be yours. Nothing is going to change." I smiled into his shirt and squeezed him tighter because I knew he was right.
What we had was bigger than the wolves. It was bigger than the world.