{Chapter 18}
Î hold my breath as she slowly clîmbs over me, her eyes seemîngly burnîng a hole în my skîn.
"What's up, lovîe?"
Î croak, takîng out my earphone.
Sîlence.
She slowly grabs my shakîng hands as she straddles me.
"You're shakîng, sweetîe. Please tell me îf somethîng îs botherîng you. You've been lîke thîs all day."
She soothes, checkîng my forehead to see îf Î'm runnîng a fever.
"Baby, dont stress over me. Î promise you, Î'm fînd. Ît'll pass, Î always get all jîttery when Î'm homesîck."
Î assure her, smîlîng.
She's so sweet.
"Do you want to take a walk wîth me? Maybe the sounds of the ocean wîll help. Come on, we can stop and get food too."
She whîspers, pattîng my cheek.
Î bîte my lîp.
"Just us? Oh, wow. Our fîrst real date."
Î can't help but grîn a lîttle.
She gîggles, movîng away.
"Ah, a stroll by the beach and fancy restaurant? Absolutely perfect."
She agrees.
Î get up and stretch.
She grasps my hand as Î busy myself dîgging my toes înto the sand.
Î love how soft ît îs.
Plus we've made ît a game for her to tell me to step left or rîght as we come across any shells or glass or anythîng.
"Thîs îs kînd of cheatîng, don't you thînk?"
Î mutter, lîftîng my head as the wînd pîcks up.
"What? Î don't cheat."
She says îmmedîately.
Î roll my eyes.
"We already know almost everythîng about each other. Usually people ask each other theîr înterests and whatnot on the fîrst date."
Î say.
She thînks about ît.
"Well why don't we play reversed 21 questîons? See how much we really know about each other, no?"
She says softly.
Î thînk that thîs moment îs the most satîsfyîng on the trîp so far.
Me walkîng down by the beach hand în hand wîth my new gîrlfrîend.
We're both happy.
What more could Î ask for?
"That sounds perfect, baby."
Î whîsper.
"Î lîke ît when you call me baby."
She whîspers back
Î bîte my lîp.
"Rîght."
She tugs on my hand.
Î take a step to the rîght îmmedîately.
"Î lîke ît when you lîke anythîng about me."
Î mutter.
Her gîggle îs just the best.
"Let's start wîth somethîng easy, no? What's my favorîte color?"
She prompts.
"Grey."
Î smîle to myself.
"Oh, sweetîe. Your eyes are just the prettîest eyes Î've ever seen, have Î told you that before?"
She sîghs.
"Î'm learnîng a boatload of înformatîon on thîs trîp, no."
Î am amused.
"Hm."
"What's my favorîte show?"
Î can feel her eyes on me agaîn.
"The Steve Wîlkos show."
She mutters.
"Mhm. Look at you, rememberîng thîngs about me."
Î tease.
"How could Î forget? Don't forget, you're the most înterestîng person Î've ever met, Quîncy."
She remînds me.
"Î can say the same about you, sugar."
Î smîle from ear to ear as we stop and she wraps her arms around me.
"What's my favorîte thîng to do around you?"
She whîspers în my ear as Î rock her în my arms.
Î bîte my lîp.
"You know that Î know the answer."
Î rasp, runnîng my fîngers through her sîlky haîr.
Man, Î love ît when she gets ît to go all flat.
Women are magîcal creatures.
"Î stîll want you to say ît."
She mutters.
Î take a deep breath.
"You lîke to rest your head on my chest when Î'm holdîng you and feel ît vîbrate when Î talk. Ît's eîther that or you lîke to feel on my muscles."
Î take my tîme to say.
Î hold my breath as Î feel her breath hîttîng my face.
"You're so smart and observant. Î never even told you about the vîbratîng thîng."
She says quîetly.
"We lîke the same thîngs, Î absolutely love ît when you do that too."
Î înform her.
Her lîps brush up agaînst mîne.
"Ah ah, not yet."
Î chuckle a lîttle, leanîng back.
"Baby."
She complaîns, cuppîng my cheeks în her face.
"Î have one last questîon."
Î lîck my lîps.
"What îs my bîggest fear?"
She doesn't say anythîng for a moment.
"That's a hard one. Hmm. Ît's eîther gettîng hît by a drunk drîver or beîng on an aîrplane."
My mînd wanders.
"Actually, those both were rîght. Not anymore though. Î have a new bîggest fear."
Î whîsper , affectîonately grîppîng her waîst.
"Oh?"
Î take a deep breath.
"What Î'm most afraîd of out of every bad thîng în thîs world îs managîng to lose you, Tîara. Ît terrîfîes me way more than ît dîd when we were just frîends. You've changed me, Î can tell. Î can't even thînk about you not comîng around anymore wîthout breakîng out înto a cold sweat."
Î explaîn calmly, takîng a moment to enjoy the sound of the waves crashîng behînd us.
"Baby."
Just that one word sends mîllîons of shîvers through my body.
"You don't have to worry about losîng me, Quîncy. Trust me, Î'm not goîng anywhere."
She assures me, pullîng me close agaîn.
"Yeah?"
Î whîsper, my eyes flutterîng closed.
"Defînîtely."
We share a wonderful kîss under the sîmmerîng sun.
And by the end of the nîght, Î realîze that even though thîs îs our fîrst officîal date, we've been on many în the last 5 months.
.
.
.
{Tiara}
I smile when I peek my head around the corner and see him sitting by the window.
"You can't sleep either, huh?"
I say, walking in.
"Nah. The rain hitting the roof is always like a loud drum in my ear. It is relaxing though."
He says quietly.
I sit down on the bed, admiring the little smile he has on his face.
"I like the rain too. Sometimes I go on walks with my umbrella through the park around the corner from my apartment complex."
I tell him.
"That's cool. My mama used to do that."
He says awkwardly.
I hesitate.
He doesn't talk about his family much.
And I don't want to intrude or ask too many personal questions.
I don't want to make him upset.
I've only seen it happen once but that was enough to make me decide on the spot that I never wanted to see him upset like that again.
"Is it going to snow here?"
I whisper, folding my arms around myself.
He rolls his eyes.
"Yes. Too much in my opinion. The roads get very, um. Slippery and dangerous. My neighbor's son always comes over to shovel the snow off of the driveway for me though. Very nice."
He mutters.
"I love snow. There was never snow in Texas."
I grin.
He doesn't say anything.
I hesitate again.
"Are you okay?"
"Yes. Just thinking about a few things."
He says, scratching his chin.
Then he winces.
"Ouch. I need to shave, I hate this."
He complains, tugging at one of the little hairs on his face.
"Can I do it?"
I jump up.
He grins.
"You are so weird, lovie."
He whispers.
"Come on, come on!"
I usher him to the bathroom.
"You look like a little baby without your stubble. So cute."
I gush.
He rolls his eyes as he takes a seat on the toilet.
"It'll just grow back in 3 days. Might as well not do it."
He grumbles.
"You like John Krasinski with your beard."
"I don't know or care who that is."
He mutters.
"Let me see what we have here."
I soothe, looking around the the shaving cream.
He sits there like a statue as I cup his cheek in my hand, slowly running the razor across his other cheek.
"That is so satisfying."
I sigh to myself.
He folds his arms.
"You having fun there?"
There is amusement in his voice.
"Hold up, I'm almost done."
I say, rinsing off the razor.
I can't help but smile as I pat his face with a towel, searching his mesmerizing eyes.
"You done now?"
He asks, oblivious to my stare.
"You're so amazing."
I whisper, trailing my finger over the smooth skin on his cheek.
His cheeks turn a little red.
"You're not just saying that because you're my girlfriend are you?"
He whispers.
"No, it's why I'm your girlfriend silly."
I grin, poking his nose.
His eyes grow tender.
"You're so precious."
He tells me, hesitantly feeling on his face.
"You did a great job, by the way. I usually manage to cut myself some way or another."
He mutters, standing up.
"Come on, Tiara. Let's go grab a midnight snack, I'm craving cheese."
I pause at the top of the stairs when I see everyone sitting on the couch watching tv.
"Hey. You guys can't sleep either?"
I rub my eyes, watching as Quincy slowly shuffles down the stairs.
"Nope."
Derek grins.
My eyes flutter closed for a moment as I lean back against Quincy's chest a little while later.
"Baby, you smell so good."
I sigh as he wraps his arms around me.
He still smells like shaving cream.
I love it.
We are all sitting around on the carpet playing Uno.
"Thank you."
He mutters, busy pressing his lips against my neck.
"Guys, this is so great."
Ruby gushes, beaming at us.
I smile, ignoring Quincy's hands on my thighs.
"I'm the luckiest man on this earth."
He soothes, sending shivers down my spine.
My lips tingle as I think back to all the kissing we did yesterday.
I love kissing.
"It just sucks that we only have one more day here. Everything's been so perfect. Do we have to go back?"
Brandon sighs, setting down one of his cards.
I hum under my breath, focused on my cards.
"Yes. Most of us have work to get back to."
Jenny mutters, yawning.
It's 3 in the morning.
And still storming outside.
I'm glad me and Quincy got to go on our amazing first date before the weather started acting up.
His breath tickles my neck.
"Your hands are so big."
I inform him, holding mine against his.
"Mhm."
He hums.
I set out a reverse card, making Brandon start cursing under his breath.
Maybe we did start betting money on who would win.
I'm the best at Uno.
And it shows when I end up with the 25 bucks in the middle.
Today was absolutely perfect.