Chapter Fourteen: iBought You Something

I feel so awkward right now. I'm sitting in this café, drumming my fingers against the table, and I'm wearing a dress. I am willingly wearing a little red dress. Last night, when we were swimming in the hotel's pool with a bunch of our other classmates, Carly had pulled me aside to tell me that she liked me in red. I haven't seen her since this morning, but I went off with some of our other classmates and shopped a little. I found this red dress on sale, so I bought it; it matched the black flats I had brought along.

I told Carly to meet me here at seven. We had the option to join everyone else for dinner, as a group, or go off on our own. We were in the small percentage who went off on their own. There were a few other couples who went alone. Carly's boyfriend tried to get her to go out tonight but she insisted that it was girls night and that she spend dinner with me. Hearing that conversation on the bus ride back from the play that we saw two nights ago was enough to send me into a fit of stomach butterflies.

We only have four more days in Spain. I'm kind of bummed. But I had this night planned out. I knew that the group wouldn't be back from dinner and dancing until late – around ten or eleven – so we would have the hotel room to ourselves. Our roommates had gone with the rest of the group.

I drew in a deep breath, my fingers tapping out random beats against the small tiles in the table. It was a mosaic like pattern, beautiful really. I felt hands cup over my face and I instantly smiled. Her breath tickled my ear and she giggled. I knew that laugh anywhere.

"Guess who," She whispered, playfully tugging at my ear. Turns out that Europeans are very open with public displays of affection, so it doesn't really matter what we do, long as we keep things classy.

"The love of my life? No, it's just you, Shay." I teased and she playfully swatted at my shoulder, slipping into the seat across from me. She was wearing a little black dress, very similar to mine. I had my hair pulled back. She had her hair down, curled slightly and cascading beautifully over her shoulders. "I'm kidding. You look gorgeous,"

"You're wearing a dress," Carly bit her lip after she spoke and tucked some of her hair behind her ear. She made my stomach flip from how incredibly gorgeous she looked. My mind was reeling back to the way she had looked that night in the shower. I wanted that again. I missed having Carly at my mercy, but I have to admit... she is so hot when she's in control.

"I get dressed up for special occasions. Going on a real date with you is a special occasion," I shrugged; I heard Carly suck in a breath. "So... they don't have waiters or anything..." I started to get out of my chair and move around the table to help Carly up out of hers. She was so much taller than me in her heels, but it's okay. She looked gorgeous. I wrapped my arm around her waist and she pulled me, leading me... not towards the counter, but the door. "C-carls, where are we going?"

"An adventure," I tugged at her arm and she stopped, turning to face me. "I know you had this night planned out, but... I wanted to show you something." I was reluctant, and my stomach was grumbling, but I nodded to her.

We were back in our hotel, but we were climbing a new staircase. We took the elevator to the top floor, but these stairs didn't really seem like they were supposed to be used by us. It seemed like they were one of those employee only routes, but I didn't really care. Carly turned around to look at me, smiling wide, before she pushed the door open with a little force.

We were greeted by a swift breeze and a calm evening sky. The sun was close to setting and the stars were just starting to twinkle in the darkening sky. It was the most beautiful horizon I had ever seen; it was even comparable to the swirling gray clouds after a rain storm in Seattle. Carly pulled me outside and shut the door behind us. She pulled me over to the building's edge then she let go of my hand. I watched her fingers curl around the stone edge and the smile on her face grow greatly in size.

"Carls, why are we up here on the roof of the hotel?" I asked. I wasn't able to get into it like she was. My fingers weren't curled around the stone edge. My heart was racing, awaiting an answer from her. Was she nervous? Did she not want to be seen in public with me or something? I don't know. Maybe she was paranoid that her boyfriend would find us. I mean, if she had actually cared about him, maybe she wouldn't be on a date with me.

"Because I wanted to give you something, a gift," She told me, fishing something out of the clutch purse that she had been holding. Since when was she holding a purse? I can't used to this, really. She handed me a velvety red box and I felt my stomach grow weak. "Just open it, Sam. I swear, you'll love it,"

I was reluctant but I wrinkled my nose, opening the box. My eyes settled on a silver chain necklace with a thin silver heart charm. It made my smile grow in size, but my smile was still quite small anyhow. It wasn't something so elaborate that I would feel weird about wearing it all the time and I think that's the reason why Carly bought it for me.

"I love it," My voice was quiet and almost broken, but my face was delightful. I noticed Carly had turned to face me and took a step closer as I lifted the necklace from the box. She took it from my fingers and made a head motion for me to turn around. I lifted my hair from the back of my neck and let Carly fix the chain into place around my neck. But she was fumbling with her fingers as she tried to clasp the necklace, letting her fingertips graze along my skin. It made my stomach tingle in delight.

As I let my hair fall against my neck, I felt Carly snake her arms around my waist and I couldn't help but lean against her, closing my eyes. She leaned her face into my hair and I could feel her breathing against my head. It was relaxing. I think she had closed her eyes, too. We stayed like this until I opened my eyes and the sun had set against the horizon, leaving us in something resembling twilight approaching darkness. I turned around in her arms and she lifted her head from my hair. I was practically a whole head shorter than her at the moment which set me at a great disadvantage.

"Why are you here with me," I asked her, wrapping my arms around her back and resting my head on her shoulder. But my lips ended up moving somewhere near her neck anyhow.

"You're my best friend, Sam. Why wouldn't I be here with you?" She replied softly, but I shook my head, giggling softly.

"Not what I meant; why are you on a date with me, and not your boyfriend? Best friends don't go on dates when one of them is not single,"

I felt her arms tighten around my waist so I nuzzled into her neck lightly, closing my eyes. I still don't think she gave me a verbal answer, but we stayed like this for awhile. I wasn't even hungry anymore. I was concerned with keeping the butterflies in my stomach at bay. They were tickling every corner of my insides.

After almost an hour, we headed downstairs and made our way through the hotel to our room. We changed into pajamas and decided on an early night. No, we did not shower together. The last thing we wanted to have happen was be in the shower together and have our other two roommates return from their dinner outing with the rest of the group. That would be terrible for both of us, especially Carly and the unstable relationship she already had with her boyfriend. I can't really say I'm jealous because Carly spends more time with me than with him, but I don't like him hanging around and being on her when he is around.

"Sam," We were lying in bed and Carly had just turned off the television, turning onto her stomach and keeping her head so she could see me. I was on my side facing her. "Do you want to know why I stayed with you today and didn't have dinner with Michael and the rest of the group?" I nodded silently to her, my eyes starting to close. I was getting sleepy and fast. I knew she had leaned closer, especially when I felt her lips on my forehead. That made my eyes close completely. "Not only are you my best friend," She began and I felt my heart start to sink, then she moved her lips to just lightly graze along mine as she spoke. "But you've managed to get me to fall in love with you, and I don't want to fall out of this feeling." She tugged at my bottom lip after she spoke, silently asking for a kiss. I gave her a brief kiss, but only because I was half asleep. I felt her shift on the bed and I wrapped an arm around her waist, curling against her chest and falling asleep listening to her heart beat into my ear. I don't know if she fell asleep or not, but I know that I fell asleep and slept the best I ever had on this trip.

-x-

I'm starting to lose track of how many days I have been out of the country and sneaking around with Carly. Our date yesterday was relaxing and moved at a much slower pace than we usually move at. But oddly, I don't care. I loved falling asleep in her arms and I loved waking up next to her ever more. However, when we had to go to breakfast with everyone else, I wasn't pleased to be stuck sitting across from Carly and next to someone I didn't care to learn the name of. But he kept trying to hold my hand at the table. I almost stabbed him with my butter knife and I think Carly kept shooting daggers at him.

Michael was holding her hand under the table, and I saw how she kept jerking her arm away from him, trying to let go of his hand. She kept playfully kicking me, trying to play footsies under the table with me. I would scowl playfully at her whenever she did this and she would just smile brightly. After breakfast, we broke apart for about an hour or something before we had to re-group and board a bus: we were going on a tour of museums today or something like that, something intellectual.

"So, hey, I have a question for you." Carly nudged me in the size as she settled in the empty seat next to me on the bus. Michael, who was hot on her heels, slumped into an empty seat about four rows behind us. He was sad that he couldn't sit with Carly but I have no control over that. Sorry, dude.

"Okay, shoot." I replied to her casually. I shrugged and leaned my head on the window. I don't really like museums. They get boring after awhile.

"How did you manage to get the money for this trip?" She whispered. I whipped my head around and tried not to let my jaw drop. I drew in a sharp breath and shook my head.

"Don't worry about it, Carls." I told her. I didn't want to tell her what I had to do to be able to spend this time with her in a foreign land. Whatever I did was in the past and I did not want to talk about it anymore. I did not want to deal with it. It's done and over with. "Let's not talk about that, okay?" She was going to say something but I shook my head, turning towards her a little more. "No, I don't want to have this conversation right now. Another time, maybe; not here, not now... not when everyone can hear us," I confessed quietly and she nodded.

"Fair enough, but you owe me an explanation." Did she know more than I thought she knew already? What the hell, Carly!

A/N: I'm sorry it took so long to update. I'm starting to get busy with end-of-the-school-year activities and whatnot. I'll try to get the last few chapters typed and posted in all of my spare time possible, well all the time not devoted to plans or sleeping. Also, keep an eye out for a shorter story I'm going to post from Carly's POV – NOT THE SECOND PART OF THIS STORY – that I'm going to plan out and type up quickly. It should be up by next week, but I'm not sure. Keep reviewing! I love reviews!