Day One-Hundred Ninety-Four: Just Be by Ashley Jana
She woke up right before sunrise to feel a cool breeze all over her exposed body. She looked over to her side to see Toby lying there, barely covered in the heavy comforter (which was halfway on the ground). She pulled the dark grey sheets to her thin frame and walked over to the window to close it.
The sky looked gorgeous at this hour of the day. She liked coming here. It was a good change in pace from her typical busy life. Everything was constantly changing back in their everyday home in London. After they'd gotten engaged, they'd decided to ditch America and move there. Though some of the snobbier Brits disregarded them because they were not British, they liked it much more than America for the most part. With extra money, they had also gotten a vacation—or holiday, to be more Brit—home in the middle of nowhere, Wales. It was a stark contrast to their flat in London. It was a huge castle-looking house on a hill, overlooking a forest. In fact, it practically was a castle. It was huge. Their bedroom—the room which they were currently in—overlooked the forest. It had a large balcony which stretched out over the hill in such a way that one almost felt like they were flying when they stood at the very front of it.
Spencer pulled the curtains closed after closing the windows. Though she would've loved to see the sunrise, they still had a few more days to see the sunrise together. She just wanted it to be night for just a bit longer so they could have the excuse to sleep in each other's arms.
She loved that house. If it weren't for their jobs being centered in London, she'd love to move there. People in that section Wales just weren't quite as snobby as some in London and she liked the slower pace. She liked to stay still. When they started a family, she wanted to live someplace like this. The breeze was soft and warm; there was time they could take for themselves here.
Later that day, Toby was outside on the porch on the first floor. He liked reading there. He was reading some of Hemingway's short stories.
After a couple of stories, he felt a familiar pair of arms wrap around him and equally as friendly lips on his cheek. "What are you reading?" she asked.
"Just Cat in the Rain," he answered simply.
She smiled amusedly. "I guess it's a good thing that you don't treat me anything like George treats the girl, then, right?"
"Never," he insisted with a smile.
"Good."
She pulled away and sat a fair distance away from him before propping her feet on the railing of the porch. He liked being there with her and just…enjoying the day. She looked over to the trees to see two birds—bluebirds—sleeping in a nest together. She'd never seen something so cute before.
"Toby, look at those bluebirds!"
It was enough to get him to look up from Hemingway. "Cute."
"I've never seen anything like that before," she thought aloud. "It must be nice being a bird. You could just be…a bird."
"Until you get eaten," he responded before going back to the book. She rolled her eyes slightly. Unfortunately, her pragmatism had rubbed off on him.
Spencer stayed up that night playing the piano. They had invested in a baby grand for their holiday home and it might've been her favorite thing in the entire house. Toby had suggested watching a movie, but she was quite content with playing all the songs from her childhood piano lessons.
Just as she was letting the last chord ring out throughout the room, she felt a comforting pair of arms around her. She just smiled. "Don't let me go."
Unfortunately, he did to sit right beside her. She rested her head on his shoulder. "I don't want to go back," she thought aloud.
"It's nice to come here every now and then," he agreed. "This place never changes, hmm?"
She nodded slightly in response.
"The song you were just playing was one of my favorite songs," he continued.
"I know you like Schubert. I'm impressed that I remembered all of Sonata Number 20 in A Major, though," she commented.
"It was beautiful," he commented. "I'm slowly coming to terms with the fact that there's nothing you can't do."
"Hey, that's not true!" she insisted. "I can't bake éclairs."
"Oh, okay. Well, sans making éclairs, you can do anything."
She blushed slightly. "I'm feeling kind of tired. Do you want to go upstairs?" she inquired.
Of course, by this, they both knew that she wasn't really tired. She had something else in mind. Though this vacation was to catch up on sleep and relax, they hadn't been doing much sleeping; eating and making love was more like it. It was relaxing to them.
"Toby!" Spencer whined as Toby got out of bed to get a blanket for her.
"I know you get cold," he insisted before wrapping her both in the blanket and his own arms.
She blushed a little and smiled. "I love you so much. But don't get out of bed again. Just stay with me," she pleaded.
This was their favorite place in the world. This was where they could just be together.
Tomorrow: Dark Paradise by Lana Del Rey, actual responses to all my readers from the last 2 chapters, and an explanation as to why I haven't been as active/responding lately. -Kayson