I'm still alive….
I am so sorry it took forever to update. I was experiencing writer's block, and I still kind of am, but it's coming to an end, I think, so I thought that I might as well go for it.
One a side note, YES. CHLOE IS FINALLY (kind of) GETTING HER HEAD STRAIGHT IN THE SHOW! WOOT! Haha
Also, thank you all so much for the reviews! I really appreciate each and every one. I try and reply to every single one of them, but, if I skipped over someone, I am terribly sorry, but thank you for reviewing!
Anyways, without further ado, I present chapter 8.
Alek was glaring at Chloe, who was trying her best not to start laughing in front of him. She knew that she would crack up the moment she closed the door. Alek would still hear her, but at least it wasn't to his face…
Eric, who turned out to be Jasmine's "boyfriend", left after the movie ended, but the rest of them had accidentally slept over, most falling asleep in the middle of the second film. No one even remembered what it was.
The day was spent normally, Chloe and Jasmine had some training while Alek had to keep up with his social life and host the watching of some basketball game showing on the TV. Eric had some family things to take care of and Amy dragged Paul to do a little bit of shopping with her. Poor boy.
They had all met back up at Chloe's house around 5 in the afternoon to figure out what they were planning on doing. Amy had a sudden idea to have a girl's night in. That kind of implied that there would be a boy's night in, or out, separately. Eric, once again, had some family things to worry about. Alek was suspicious about this, but Jasmine explained to him that his little brother was changing and becoming Mai relatively quickly, so Eric, being the sweet guy that he was, wanted to help him out as much as he can.
That left Alek and Paul.
Alek couldn't just leave Paul, because that would mean offending him. Which would mean offending Chloe. Which he didn't want to do. At all. Under no circumstances. That girl is sweeter than apple pie, but, get on her bad side… Well, Alek didn't want to think about what would happen then. He's seen it, when she was fighting the Order, but, with him, it might be different.
Alek groaned. He was going to be stuck with Paul. He's actually not that bad, but, the moment Paul heard about their boy's night, he got this expression on his face that told Alek that he was about to get bombarded by questions.
Alek looked at Chloe. She was biting her lip, trying so hard not to laugh at him. It was sweet, in a sense, but evil, nonetheless. Although she did look sexy biting her lip like that…
"You so owe me for this," he grumbled.
"Oh, come on, Alek! It can't be that bad!" Chloe attempted to reason with him.
"Yeah, Alek. Be nice. You might learn a thing or two. Paul can plant an idea in your head, and we can try it out later. Who knows, maybe we'll discover some ancient Mai power that has been hidden for centuries!" Jasmine tried to help Chloe.
Alek through a look towards Paul, one that said that he doubted that Jasmine was right, and received a sheepish grin from Paul in response.
"You have one hour to ask me all of the questions you want. One hour. I am timing it. The moment the buzzer goes off, there will be no more Mai-related questions. We'll move on to another topic or watch a game or something. With absolutely no questions. Got it?" Alek tried to sound menacing, but, in all honesty, he was actually starting to warm up to the guy.
"I promise you, Alek. One hour and I'll shut up. Pinkie promise!" Paul held up his pinkie but received a slightly regretful smile from Alek which made him drop his hand.
"See, Alek? It's not that bad!" Amy spoke as she went up to Paul to give him a hug and a kiss goodbye.
Alek observed the two for a millisecond before turning to Chloe.
"Don't I get something to last me through the night?" He put on his best puppy dog face for her.
Chloe smiled at Alek and walked through the doorway closer to him. She wrapped her arms around his neck as he placed his hands on her hips and reached up to kiss him. It was soft, yet passionate. This was, after all, the longest that they would ever be without each other ever since they started going out. Alek wrapped his arms fully around Chloe's waist, bent his knees and lifted her off of the ground. She ended up screaming a little bit into his mouth from surprise, but pulled away and laughed, keeping herself in Alek's arms, feet floating about a foot above the ground.
They both loved each other. Something told each one that the other one did, but neither wanted to be the one to say it first, just in case.
Alek knew that he was falling in love with Chloe for ages. He was trying to suppress his feelings as much as he could, but after a certain point in time, he just decided to let them run wild.
Chloe's love for Alek had completely snuck up on her. She wasn't expecting her to fall in love with the cocky British Mai, but it happened. What surprised her the most was that she wasn't scared of her feelings for him. She was actually completely okay with them and welcomed them with pleasure. Now just to somehow tell him…
Their relationship was moving quite quickly, but it seemed so natural for them that neither was scared by their feelings. They embraced what they felt for the other. They just didn't say a word out of fear for scaring the other person. So they kept their feelings to themselves until they felt that the time was right.
Alek and Paul eventually left, allowing Chloe, Amy and Jasmine to begin their night filled with completely sappy chick flicks, worse than He's Just Not That Into You, something that the boys couldn't handle, accompanied with manicures, gossip and maybe even a pillow fight. It sounds cliché, I know, but it's still fun!
Jasmine was actually dying to try out a recipe for a cake that she was planning on baking for Eric's birthday which was coming up in about two weeks. So, she made Amy and Chloe her testers. If they got food poisoning, at least she would know not to ruin Eric's birthday.
They mixed, beat and stirred the ingredients until it went into the oven. As they waited for the cake to bake, the three girls took a seat in the living room to begin their gossip.
"So… Jasmine…" Chloe made wiggly eyebrows to her, anticipating answers and details.
"Eric, eh?" Amy joined in. "He's kind of cute!"
"Hey, back off my man. You have Paul." Jasmine playfully warned.
"Come on! Spill! Who, what, when, where, why, and how!" Chloe demanded like a little girl.
"Well, I had to do something while you and Alek were off doing god knows what!"
"Just answer the questions!"
"Well, who is it? Eric. What is he? I guess he's my boyfriend, although we never really talked about it. He's Mai, though, thank goodness. When? Around Monday, I believe. Where? He lives on the 12th floor, but we met in the elevator. Why? He's cute, funny and so nice. How? I had groceries, and a little bit too many of them. He stepped into the elevator and held the door open for me, and then helped me get the groceries into my house and into my kitchen. We started talking and, since Mom was gone, I asked him if he wanted to stay for dinner and he said yes. He's eighteen, though, so just a little bit older than we are." Jasmine explained.
"Finally! I swear, Jas, I thought that you were asexual or something!" All three girls burst out laughing from Chloe's comment.
"What about you, Amy? How are things going with Paul?" Jasmine liked Eric, but, since she had never really had a girlfriend before, let alone two, she wasn't the most comfortable with talking about boys as much as Amy and Chloe probably were. She still needed some more practice, so she diverted the conversation to Amy.
"He's such a dork. It's great. I'm never bored, he's just so cute!" Amy had a momentary flip out, accompanied by raised eyebrows coming from the two Mai. "What? He is! I mean, there's not much to say. We've been going out for a while, so there isn't really anything new or awkward in our relationship. But he continues to surprise me with how sweet he is. I feel like I should have gotten used to it by now, but I haven't!"
"Aw, I'm happy for you! I am also so glad that you two didn't make me the third wheel when you started dating. I was always rooting for you two, but that was my one setback about a relationship between you. Thank you for being inclusive!" Chloe hugged Amy quickly.
"Well, enough about us. Jasmine doesn't want to talk and I don't have much to say. So, spill about Alek. Now, woman. I never got details!"
"Hey, before you tell us about your romance, may I remind you that that is my cousin you're talking about? I mean, sure, you two are cute together, and I have been rooting for you two for forever, but spare some of the really intricate details, please. He's my cousin and I don't want to think about him doing anything… in that way…" Jasmine trailed off awkwardly.
"Don't worry, there isn't much to say. We've made out a few times, that's all. But, I'm sorry, Jas, but your cousin is such an amazing kisser! And he's a gentleman! And he's just so… perfect!"
"Dear goodness, Chloe. You sound you're in love with him," Amy commented.
When Chloe didn't respond, Amy and Jasmine's eyes widened at the speed of light.
"You're in love with my cousin?" Jasmine cried.
"Don't yell that so loudly! He might be within hearing distance and I wouldn't know what to do! It's only been a week since our first kiss, I don't want to scare him off."
"But aren't you scared by your rapid feelings?" Amy asked. It took her a few months to love Paul as not only a friend but as a boyfriend.
"She should be, but she isn't." Jasmine interrupted. Amy and Chloe turned to her to look at her quizzically. "Please, even I have seen this coming for forever. I'm surprised that it even took this long, for crying out loud. I mean, seriously? He found out that you were available to him two months ago, and he's been crushing on you since he first met you two years ago, and he acts upon this just a week ago?" Jasmine shook her head just thinking about.
Chloe avoided going into detail about Alek with Jasmine, even though she really wanted to freak out. However, she figured that she would flip out with Amy later on, when Jasmine wouldn't hear what she didn't want to and Alek wouldn't hear anything to feed his ego. Although it was kind of sexy… And Chloe did always get something out of it…
What was great about Chloe and Alek's relationship was that their relationship wasn't just physical. It was emotional and intellectual as well. It was a perfect balance. Chloe had no idea how they found the balance, but they worked together so perfectly in every different aspect that it just… worked.
The cake was soon ready and the girls tasted it. It turned out to be delicious and Jasmine was completely satisfied. She now knew that it was safe to feed this to Eric on his birthday, and this excited her. A homemade present was always the best, right?
They proceeded with their girl's night, giving each other manicures while gossiping about that pregnant girl. They all went with black. Chloe found out that the nail polish disappears when her claws come out, but then it comes back once she gets rid of them. This, for some odd reason, excited her.
At around two in the morning, the girls finally went to bed.
Chloe woke up to someone bouncing on her bed. Having known her friend for quite some time, she figured out that Amy was trying to get her to wake. And, when Amy sets her mind to something, she gets it done, so there was no point in trying to fight back. She'd end up falling off of the bed eventually.
"I'm up, I'm up," Chloe groaned.
"Good. Because all three of our boys are downstairs. Jasmine is already down there and, apparently, we're going to the beach today. It's supposed to be 85 degrees and the beach about two hours south from here is still warm from the summer, so we're going swimming today!" Amy began to jump even harder and higher on Chloe's bed.
"Okay! Okay, Amy, calm down! I'm awake. Give me a minute to get ready and then I'll be downstairs. Do you think that you can take care of breakfast quickly?"
"Sure, no problem, Jas and I are on it."
And, with that, Amy skipped downstairs, leaving Chloe to get ready.
She decided against washing her hair since she was going to get an endless amount of salt in it anyways. Once she had washed up, she went to her closet and tried to find something nice to wear.
She had never had such a hard time getting ready. She knew that she was getting ready for Alek, especially because they were going to the beach, of all places, where Chloe would be walking around in a bikini and Alek would be walking around without a shirt and it would be considered okay. But, if it were up to Chloe, he would be walking without a shirt at all times. He wouldn't even own one. Or know what a shirt was.
Not wanting to take up too much time, Chloe finally decided on a black and white-striped bikini. She put on a pair of white shorts and a baggy blue shirt with sleeves that ended in the middle of her forearm. The bikini wrapped around her neck and she let her shirt hang off of one shoulder. If she didn't let it do that, then it would have fallen off on its own. Might as well embrace the inevitable.
Once she came downstairs, she told everyone good morning. They had all had breakfast, and there was one waffle left over that Chloe grabbed while everyone else was munching on an apple or a slice of an orange.
She could feel Alek's eyes on her the moment that she came downstairs. She couldn't help but wonder if her shoulder was really that attractive, or if Alek was just excited at the prospect of what he was going to see at the beach, Chloe having given him a sneak peek with her shirt. Chloe just became a little bit more excited, just because she could tease him a little bit.
Chloe walked up to Alek and, before he even could react, placed a small peck on his lips. She whispered to him a good morning and then decided that it was time to head out.
The cars were already packed. One car had enough space for two people in the front seat, the back having been crammed with towels, surf boards, chairs, umbrellas and food. The other car was for the other four people.
Jasmine and Eric climbed into the car with all of their belongings, with Eric driving, while the rest climbed into the other SUV. Alek took his place in the driver's seat with Chloe next to him while Amy and Paul took their places in the back.
Chloe notices that Paul and Alek were talking very casually, as if they were really good friends. Maybe their boy's night did them good. Paul seemed to have let go of his obsession just a tad and seemed to have gotten over his desire to have a bromance with Alek. Alek, on the other hand, seemed to have completely warmed up to Paul, having become closer to him that to his jocko friends. Chloe smiled to herself, and to Amy, as well, knowing that their plan was a success.
The drive proceeded with casual and light conversation, witty banter and jokes being thrown here and there. Chloe couldn't remember the last time she felt so… normal and relaxed. Probably before this whole Mai thing happened.
At some point in the first ten minutes of the ride, Alek's hand managed to take Chloe's and intertwine their fingers. They rested there in the middle of the car for the entire ride. Alek would occasionally squeeze Chloe's hand, reminding her that he was still there. To Chloe, it sometimes meant the world, but she couldn't put her finger on why.
Soon enough, they arrived at the beach. The girls had taken the towels and Paul helped with the chairs in order to go set up on a spot on the sand, leaving Alek alone with Eric.
"I don't dislike you, you know. You seem like a good guy, so please, consider what I'm about to say simply… a warning, instead of a menacing threat." Alek tried to ease his way into this talk while Eric helped him take out the surf boards and umbrellas. As the closest thing that Jasmine has to a father figure, he felt obliged to say the following.
"Uh, sure, what's up?" Eric asked uneasily. He figured that this would come, and at least Alek was trying to be nice about it.
"I mean, I'm sure you've figured this out already, but, if you hurt Jasmine, I will hurt you." Alek tried to smile, but he still left that undertone of his being completely serious.
"I know, don't worry. And, I can assure you that I have no intentions of hurting Jasmine. I really like her, and I even have for a while."
"Good, then I don't need to worry too much." Alek tried to lighten up the atmosphere. He did actually like this Eric guy, and he did have confidence that he would treat Jasmine properly.
As Alek and Eric made the final run from the car to the group's spot on the beach, Alek saw Chloe start to take off her clothes, stripping down to her bikini. He admired her ass as she bent down to untie her shoes and then again to shimmy out of her shorts. He admired her stomach as she stretched upwards while taking off her shirt. He could feel his primal instincts start to take over slowly.
Damn, he was a lucky man.
Their stuff was quite close to the water. Chloe was standing so closely that the waves would occasionally hit her toes if it was a strong one. Alek dropped the stuff in his arms towards the back of their area and quickly took off his shoes and his shirt. Then, he ran straight forwards, picking Chloe up and throwing her over his shoulder in the process.
"Alek! Put me down! No!" Chloe giggled furiously. Alek managed to run quite far into the water before jumping underneath, taking Chloe along with him.
It surprised Chloe how warm the water was. But she was slightly more distracted about the fact that Alek was without a shirt. Again. Yep, she could definitely get used to this.
Once she broke the surface upwards she was met by a smirk. Chloe tried to stay angry at Alek, but he was just so attractive with his hair all wet and beads of water running down his bare chest… It just wasn't fair.
"You look lovely in your swimsuit, dear." Alek spoke huskily as he slowly approached Chloe, placing his hands on her hips, naturally and pulling her into him. Instead of wrapped her arms around his neck like she usually did, Chloe placed her hands on Alek's pectoral muscles. She could feel them flex under her touch. As if Alek needed to impress her.
"You don't look so bad yourself" Chloe reciprocated the tone.
Alek placed his hands a little bit lower, right under Chloe's butt on her thighs and lifted her so that she would wrap her legs around his waist underwater. To help herself balance, Chloe let her hands leave Alek's chest and wander up to finally snake around his neck. The water was calm at the moment, so there weren't any big waves disrupting their moment.
"Come on into the water, you four! The water is so warm!" Chloe turned away from Alek for a moment to urge her friends to swim with her and Alek.
The day passed by in a lovely manner. They had played beach volleyball, Frisbee and football. Chloe found herself under Alek a lot as he always made it his mission to tackle her whenever he had the chance.
It wasn't just a day for Chloe and Alek, but a day with friends and romance intertwined. It was a perfect day for all of them.
Once the waves started to act up and become wilder, Eric started to attempt to teach Jasmine how to surf. She wasn't too bad, but after a certain point in time, she joined Chloe and Amy on the beach to tan and to just watch how their boys showed off their surfing skills and manhood.
Chloe loved how they were all so comfortable with each other and how they were all paired up and how there was never anyone left out. It was just perfect, there being no other word to describe it. Chloe hoped that things would never change.
Towards the end of the day, when the sun was slowly beginning to set and the waves had become calm once again, Chloe was once again in Alek's arms, her legs wrapped around his waist underwater. They were deeper than they were before, farther away from the beach, giving them more privacy. They liked it this way. As much as Chloe enjoyed being with her friends and with such a group of interesting and fun people, she would always love to go back to being with just Alek for a moment.
"You know, last night was the longest that you and I have ever been apart," Alek mentioned.
"Aw, did you suffer from Chloe King withdrawal?" Chloe teased.
"A little bit, I'll admit it. But, somehow, Paul managed to take my mind off of that. When you get past the whole Mai obsession aspect, he's actually a pretty awesome guy."
"You have no idea how much it means to me that my boyfriend and my best friend are getting along so well." Chloe looked at Alek admiringly, brushing away a stray strand of hair back. She left her hand in his hair and instead mixed her fingers with it.
Alek looked at Chloe and, unless if his eyes were playing cruel tricks on him, he saw love in her eyes. Alek knew that he and Chloe were trying to take things slow, but that was physically, and he was okay with that. But, emotionally, Alek was almost ready to burst and yell to Chloe from Mt. Everest that he loved her.
Even though he knew that he would never let anything happen to his and Chloe's relationship, he still wanted to say something while he still had the chance.
"Chloe, I have to tell you something…" Alek trailed off. Chloe could sense something was slightly off. Their mood had changed very rapidly, and it was beginning to worry her a little bit.
"Anything, Alek." She whispered to Alek, as if trying to assure him that she would listen to anything he has to say. And she most definitely would.
"I…" Alek didn't want to come out and say it bluntly, but he was having a hard time trying to figure his way around it.
"You… what?" Chloe was trying to edge him forward without pushing him too much.
"I realize that you might not feel this way about me yet, and I completely respect that and I'm not trying to push you into anything, but I just wanted to let you know that I… Well, I love you." Alek braced himself for what was to come.
He shouldn't have said that, he shouldn't have said that. Why did he say that? Chloe wasn't ready to hear that. Why did he open his mouth? That was so selfish of him to say that. Why, oh, why did he say that?
Alek didn't expect to feel Chloe's grip tighten on his hair and pull his head towards him. He expected her to unwrap her legs from his waist and let him down easy, and to have an awkward few hours until he told Chloe to forget about it. He didn't expect to feel Chloe's lips press to his, but, hey, who was he to complain?
Chloe reluctantly let go of his lips after a moment. As much as she wanted to kiss him forever, she needed to repeat the words back to him before he went into panic mode. She was just so elated! And he said it first! The guy never says it first! It just made Chloe feel so special. She could swear that this was all a dream, but, thankfully, she wasn't waking up. And she was so happy that she wouldn't.
"Alek," he was starting to expect her to let him down easy, "I love you, too."
Alek finally looked up to greet her with a smile. His lips immediately pressed to hers as he wrapped his arms tighter around her body, trying to pour every ounce of emotion he had into the kiss. The grip of Chloe's legs around his waist were readjusted and made tighter. Their bodies were truly practically one at the moment.
They eventually let go of each other and decided to head back to the shore. The sun was practically completely set and they still had to pack up and drive for two hours. Not to mention the fact that they had school tomorrow.
Alek and Chloe took the car with all of the belongings once things were packed up. Their hands had met in the middle of the car once again. Both were quite tired from the day's activities, so the drove in a comfortable silence. Alek had noticed that, soon enough, Chloe's grip in his hand had slackened. He turned to find her curled up in this seat, using a relatively dry towel as a blanket, dosing off. Alek just smiled to himself and looked back to the road.
He was definitely the luckiest man alive. He had the chance to know and to love the most amazing girl that had ever walked the planet. The best part was that she loved him back.
Alek had called up Jasmine and whispered into the phone, telling her to drop Amy and Paul off at their homes and that they would deal with their belongings after school the next day. Jasmine understood that Alek was going to be sleeping over at Chloe's house once again, so she didn't even bother asking.
Finally, Alek parked the car right outside of Chloe's house. He got out of the car and gently unbuckled Chloe and picked her up in his arms. Unlike on the first night that they got together, she didn't leave her dream state. In fact, she seemed to be in one of the deepest sleeps he had witnessed her have. He was getting quite tired as well, so he didn't blame her.
He arrived in her room with Chloe in his arms and lay her down on her bed. He stripped her of her clothes but left her in her bikini. It was dry and she would be taking a shower the next morning anyways, and Alek didn't want to cross into that territory. He loved her, and he definitely didn't want to ruin anything he had with her by changing her. It wasn't he was lusting her at the moment, in fact, he felt like such a girl, being all enveloped in his emotions, but he didn't want Chloe to think differently.
Before he slipped under the covers with Chloe, he quickly took off his shirt and quietly rinsed off the salt water from his body and his hair in the shower so that Chloe would have it all to herself in the morning. Then he pulled back the covers, kissed his love on the cheek as a reflex, collected her in his arms and fell asleep.
YES. DONE. LONGEST CHAPTER YET. ALMOST 5,000 WORDS! WOOT!
I hope you liked it, and I, once again, am so sorry for not updating sooner. On the bright side, my writer's block is OVER. I got more and more into this the more I wrote. I should have started pushing myself earlier
I know I said that this chapter was going to be super fluffy, and I'm sorry if it didn't turn out that way but I did try!
Anyways, thanks for reading and please review! Thank you!