When the clock struck five o'clock, Chuck locked the doors, and started the end of day balancing of the till. Sarah watched Chuck with a smile on her face. She couldn't believe how much she'd enjoyed watching Chuck work today.
Sometimes when people work, they put on a front. They smile when they aren't in a good mood or ignore a ridiculous remark. Somehow when Chuck worked, he didn't change. No matter what he was doing, there was something very genuine about his expression and mannerisms.
"Stop staring at me," Chuck grumbled, only turning away from his work for a moment to glare at her. "I'm trying to count."
"And you're doing a marvelous job, I might add," Sarah replied. Despite the glare Chuck hadn't been able to keep the smile off his face, so Sarah wasn't worried.
"I can't believe you stuck around for my entire shift," Chuck sighed. "It must have been so boring. You have an unhealthy obsession with me."
"Unhealthy!" Sarah scoffed, objecting to his choice of words.
"Come on!" Chuck exclaimed, finally giving up on the cash register and turning to look at her.
Sarah smiled, getting out of the chair and moving forward, she wrapped her arms around him. "I will admit I am a bit fixated," she whispered.
"A bit," Chuck laughed. "More like a lot." It was strange, Sarah thought, how Chuck's words never seemed to match up with his actions. It was like Chuck was fighting with himself.
"Do you want me to be less fixated?" Sarah asked seriously.
"I-" Chuck started. Sarah tilted her head slightly to look into his eyes.
"I've noticed sometimes your actions say yes, while your words say no," Sarah continued. "Is something bothering you?"
"I don't know," Chuck finally spoke. He gestured with his hands to the both of them together. "This doesn't feel real." He let out a breath slowly, then continued. "Things like this don't just happen."
"Amazing things happen every day. Questioning why, or wondering if you deserve them, isn't worth the energy. Whenever I take a step back and wonder how the hell I got to where I am, it's overwhelming. I learned not to think too much about it. If you live only in the past or the future, you aren't living at all. Right now is all we ever have."
"You sound like a motivational poster," Chuck chuckled lightly, but she thought maybe there was a little less stress in his voice.
"How about this," Sarah offered, sweetly. "Worried I am secretly a fairy tale princess who will vanish at the stroke of midnight?" Chuck smiled, but didn't contradict her. "Then let's make sure we are still together when the clock strikes twelve." Chuck raised an eyebrow at her. "Don't give me that look," Sarah scoffed. "We were just making out against that wall this morning." Chuck laughed, his expression more relaxed as he leaned forward to kiss her.
"A sleepover it is then," Chuck said, as he pulled out of their kiss.
"I was thinking we could sleep at your place," Sarah suggested.
"Oh yeah, fantastic idea," Chuck said, deeply sarcastically. "My parents' house. Great date plan."
Sarah laughed and held out her hand to him. "To me it is," she replied. She'd just barely met his mother and talked a bit with his sister. It had made her curious about the rest of his family dynamic, and she really wanted to see his childhood bedroom.
"How about we save my house for later," Chuck suggested. "Let's go to your hotel."
"Alright," she agreed. "But next time it's your place."
Chuck groaned as if resigned to the worst, but agreed. "Okay, now you have to let me finish counting the float and closing up or we will never get out of here."
Sarah made a gesture as if to zip her lips shut then sat back down on her chair. Chuck laughed before returning to his task.
Instead of watching him this time, Sarah turned to look in the other direction. It made no difference however since she was still thinking about him. The thought made her smile. She had to hold back her giggle so as not to distract him.
"There, done," Chuck said. "Now we can go."
"Lovely," Sarah replied, getting up out of her chair and reaching out her hand to him. He took it and together they walked out the door and down the street towards her hotel.
Sarah could hardly believe it had been days since she'd been in a car. Everywhere she'd wanted to go had been so close by she'd just walked and not thought twice about it. The light exercise mixed with the fresh air was rather lovely. Sarah found that she didn't miss sitting in vehicles.
When they reached her hotel, Sarah welcomed Chuck inside and gestured to the room.
"Sorry there isn't really a table or kitchen," she said.
"But there's a fireplace," Chuck laughed. "I've never been inside this hotel before. It's way too fancy."
Sarah laughed but didn't reply. She couldn't help remembering her penthouse suite in Paris during her last visit. Now that had been grand. This was nice, but it wasn't fancy.
"I was going to suggest I make us dinner," Chuck said. "But the lack of a kitchen does pose a problem."
"And the solution is simple," Sarah smiled. "Room service."
"Sounds expensive," Chuck countered.
"Let me worry about that," Sarah said. She walked over to the menu she kept by the bed and handed it to Chuck. "You just have to choose what to order. That is, if you feel up to the task."
"I don't know," Chuck said slowly, faking worry. "It's a tough job."
"Yes, but someone's gotta do it," Sarah replied. They both laughed. Somehow, when she was with Chuck, she felt lighter.
Once they chose what to eat, Sarah called the front desk and placed the order.
"Should be about an hour," Sarah said once she was off the phone.
"What should we do until then?" Chuck asked.
"Oh I have a few ideas," Sarah replied, grinning. Chuck seemed to catch on.
Without another word he closed the distance between them and pulled her in for a kiss. Sarah felt very much like that fairy tale princess, swept off her feet. Her stomach was doing flips, even as her skin tingled at his touch.
She didn't notice where he was leading her until the back of her legs gently bumped into the bed. Sarah fell backward onto it. Chuck laid down beside her, holding her against his side as they continued kissing.
Sarah had never kissed anyone like this before. It was slow and thoughtful, but somehow still turned her brain to mush. Chuck's kisses weren't trying to get things going for more. They were soft yet fierce, passionate yet gentle. They had her melting into a puddle.
A sudden noise broke the mood. It took Sarah a whole second to realize it was the doorbell. But that couldn't be right. They'd only just ordered moments ago. Sarah turned to look at the clock on the wall, and realized it had actually been an hour.
"I think our dinner is here," she said, giggling. "It seems we lost track of time."
Chuck laughed, but got up to get to the door before she'd so much as thought about moving.
By the time she'd managed to move more than an inch, Chuck had both their dinners opened and set up on the tiny coffee table. Sarah got up off the bed and went to sit on the floor beside him to eat.
They were at least half way through their dinner, when Chuck started up a conversation.
"You've been here a while now," Chuck said. "What is your favourite thing about Tofino so far?"
"I thought that would be obvious," Sarah replied, but Chuck just blinked at her, so she clarified. "You."
Chuck rolled his eyes. "Apart from me."
"Well, I suppose I like how there aren't a lot of cars here," Sarah offered.
"Really?" Chuck inquired. "How come?"
"I guess it's probably because I can't drive," Sarah said. "At least, not legally. I don't have a license."
Chuck just stared at her like she'd said she didn't breathe.
"It's not that weird," Sarah laughed, trying and failing not to be defensive. "It was just bad timing. When I turned sixteen, I got my L, but then my parents died and I had no one to teach me. By the time I could afford driving lessons, it just didn't seem all that important anymore."
"I can't imagine not driving," Chuck said with a shake of his head. "I've been driving since I was like fourteen."
"I thought you couldn't get a license until you were sixteen," she replied. "Like legally."
"Technically, you're right," he explained. "But in a town this small, if your parents teach you early, no one really complains."
"Make sense, I guess," she smiled. "You would have been tall enough to reach the pedals at fourteen."
"That I was," Chuck said with a grin. Sarah had never been thought of as a short woman, which meant she rarely met a guy tall enough to wear heels with. Chuck was tall enough to be the exception in this case. It really wasn't that important in the grand scheme of things, but Sarah enjoyed it nevertheless.
"You are right, though. Here driving isn't always a necessity," Chuck continued. "If you work close to where you live and own a bike, you can pretty much get by. I sometimes drive dad's car, but he's away on a business trip, at the moment."
"Does he go away on trips a lot?" Sarah asked.
"Sometimes," Chuck shrugged. "Usually about once a year, but never during peak tourist season, 'cause then we need him at the store."
"Well, aren't I glad I didn't come during the peak season," Sarah smiled. "Or I'd have never managed to steal you away from work."
Chuck laughed, only slightly awkwardly, before getting back to eating his food.
When they were done eating, Sarah tried to help Chuck cleanup, but he insisted, mentioning something about how she'd bought it, so the least he could do was tidy it all back onto the tray.
"So, what do you want to do now?" Chuck asked, when everything was cleared away.
She noticed his eyes turn towards the bed again and she laughed. "Yes, definitely more of that, but first I want to show you something."
Getting up off the floor in a hurry, Sarah went over to her suitcase and pulled out the notebook that Chuck had let her keep after their bike ride.
"I wrote some more haiku's," Sarah said with a grin.
"That's great!" Chuck exclaimed.
She handed over the notebook and then watched nervously as Chuck read them, remembering what she'd written.
Ocean's waves flow over Yesterday's failures washed outTomorrow is bright
Was stuck in the past But now moving forward toEmbrace love and song
Sand between my toes Seagulls loudly flying highSea and sky beauty
Sarah had written a couple more that she'd deemed too embarrassing to show Chuck. She'd hidden the poems about Chuck at the bottom of her suitcase, but since writing poems had been his idea, she thought she owed it to him to show him the others.
"These are great!" Chuck said, after he'd finished reading.
"Thanks," Sarah said. "They aren't much, but it was so nice to be writing again."
"I'll have to add master of Haikus to your list of talents," Chuck told her enthusiastically.
"Pfft," she dismissed his statement. "Master seems a bit over the top just cause I got some of the syllable combinations to work."
"Nope, definitely the master of Haikus now," Chuck stated, leaving no room for argument. "It's quite a long list."
"It can't be that long," Sarah laughed.
"Let's see: dancing, singing, super smart, funny and crazy sexy," Chuck replied. "Just to name a few. I'm sure there's more I haven't seen yet. Is there anything you aren't good at?"
"Can't drive," Sarah said, ticking things off on her fingers as she counted. "Or cook. I seem to suck at relationships, got orphan baggage, I'm a lousy friend who always forgets to call, chronic writer's block, and I'm sure I'm forgetting something. Just trust me, I suck at a lot of stuff."
"Doesn't seem like it to me," Chuck argued. "Relationships are hard, driving isn't for everyone, and neither is cooking. You didn't choose to be orphaned, that happened to you and doesn't count, no one really keeps in touch these days, let's be real, and you will have that writer's block gone in no time with these kinds of Haiku skills!"
She beamed at him. "Well, aren't you wonderful," she whispered.
Then with a gleeful smile, she threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him. Chuck returned her hug, his hand pressed gently against her lower back.
"Do you want to watch a movie?" Sarah asked, when the kiss ended.
"Sure," Chuck replied. "What do you want to watch?"
"I don't mind," Sarah replied. "You choose." She had a feeling they weren't going to be paying attention to the movie for more than ten minutes, so it hardly mattered which one they watched.
Chuck picked a movie, and they sat down on the bed to watch it. As the credits started, Sarah felt Chuck reach over and put his arm around her. She snuggled in closer to him. There was something that felt very safe about being in Chuck's arms.
They'd barely been introduced to the main characters of the movie, when Sarah laid back on the bed. Perched at the end of the bed wasn't really that comfortable. Chuck followed her lead and soon they were curled up together near the head of the bed.
Sarah closed her eyes, resting her head on his shoulder as their breathing synced up. It was such a comfortable feeling, being held by him. The movie playing in the background only added to the lovely atmosphere.
Between the cozy company and her full stomach, Sarah was getting rather sleepy, but she didn't want to fall asleep yet. Slowly she reached up with her hand to gently turn Chuck's face to hers. Then, just as slowly, she kissed him.
Chuck forgot about the movie, just like she'd wanted. His hand moved to her face and he kissed her back. Wrapping her arms around Chuck, she deepened the kiss.
Losing herself in his touch, she moved to lay on top of him as the slow kiss turned passionate. Her tongue greedily explored his mouth, while his hands moved down her body. By the time Chuck's hands found their way under her shirt, Sarah's hands were at his belt.
Chuck's kiss moved from her mouth to her neck, and Sarah couldn't stop the soft moan from escaping her lips. Sarah could feel her skin tingle wherever Chuck touched her next. Her heart was pounding in her chest, as if egging her onward.
It was like before at the store, but now they were alone. Very alone, and there wasn't anything to stop them. This time, she was definitely going to tear all his clothes off.
Her shirt came up over her head just as she managed to unbuckle his pants. Sarah moved her hands upwards under his shirt to pull it over his head. She could feel his hands behind her back, trying to figure out how to unclip her bra.
She felt the sudden release of pressure around her chest as her bra clasp unclipped. The bra hung loose around her front, still just hanging on by the straps over her shoulders. Slowly, Chuck slid the straps down her shoulders, and tossed the bra gently aside.
Chuck pulled away for a moment, gazing at her. Slowly he ran a finger from her temple to her jawline and then from her neck, between her breasts to her navel. Sarah closed her eyes, arching her back slightly as she enjoyed the feeling.
When she opened them, Sarah found herself staring into his eyes. A million emotions flickered across Chuck's face, but Sarah didn't have time to decipher a single one before he was kissing her again.
She had connected more with Chuck in the short time she'd known him, than she ever had with anyone before in her life. No matter how this ended, she wanted to know what it would feel like to make love to Chuck, and it seemed to her like he wanted that, too.
Like all but one of the poems in this story, I wrote them… just know that I am not an expert poem writer. They are just there to help make the story feel more immersive. If you are wondering who wrote the one I didn't write it was my little sister, back in like 2017. She wrote the longer ocean one in a previous chapter that Chuck wrote for school.
Also, if you all were expecting smut, just remember this story is rated T. So all you get is foreplay and a dot dot dot. Lol. I haven't written smut in years and I don't plan to start it up again now.
On another note, this chapter is going online way later than I planned because my kids got sick. I have watched so much Peppa Pig in the last two days, you have no idea! Peppa was all my son wanted after throwing up on everything. Poor little guy.