by Eliza Park
Her eyes were closed, her breathing ragged, body limp. Planting a kiss on her shoulder and then her cheek, I ran my hands up and down her wonderful curves, memorizing the feeling while I still could.
“Good morning,” I said again, glad her back was to me so she couldn’t see the goofy ass grin on my face.
She groaned in response and her hand fell to my thigh. “Everyone should fuck a quarterback,” she said huskily.
“Is that all I am to you, Ace? A good fuck?” I joked.
“No, Mav, you’re a great fuck. Big difference.” She patted the skin of my thigh. “We get to have pancakes now, right?”
I laughed and kissed her cheek again, my hands finding a link of blonde hair to hold between my fingers. I stared at the strands, remembering a time so long ago in a dorm room in Switzerland. Closing my eyes, I relived the memory. Waking up next to her, the same lavender scent, my body reacting the same way it did now, hardening at the prospect of being inside her, being close to her. I mourned for my poor teenage self sometimes. Wanting and knowing and having so much, being constantly overwhelmed. Trying to help Celeste, trying to do all of my homework, trying not to be heartbroken, trying to keep a huge fucking secret, trying not to murder Elliott fucking Ramirez. Her body felt so different, and yet so wildly familiar against mine. Her curves were broader, but her skin was the same pretty pale it had always been. Tan in the summers save for those small triangles and lines from the swimsuits she lived in on vacations. Another memory broke to the surface. The one she’d mentioned before. Sand, bikini, salty water.
I love you.
Celeste shifted, inhaling sharply, “There’s no way you’re hard again.”
My eyes popped open, and I glanced down to where the perfect roundness of her ass was pressed into my hip. “Mmm, I definitely am.” I moved my hips, sucking in a breath when the sensitive head of my cock was squeezed by her wall muscles. “Although at this point I’ll probably just be shooting dust.”
She giggled, her hand covering her mouth, and wiggled against me. I groaned, the sensation somewhere between pain and pleasure. “Take a shower with me?” She asked, her hand covering mine to move slowly up her body and cup a breast.
“I will never say no to an offer like that.”
We showered, taking our time exploring each other’s bodies under the hot waterfall. I was hard, but I knew I’d need some sort of fuel before we went through another round and I was hoping to hold out until we got the house. Today was the day I was going to tell her how I felt. And at the end of this two weeks, I would reveal all the secrets I was holding. The fate of our relationship after that would be in her hands and I was still hoping she wouldn’t crush it to dust.
I ordered breakfast while she finished packing for the trip, shooing me out of the room so she could be alone with her over-sized bag and crazy organizational skills. She didn’t think I knew how insanely detailed she’d become. Her day-to-day calendar was the most obvious sign, neatly written out and highlighted, looking more like the date book of a wedding planner than a normal college student. The immaculate closet was the next sign and after that my curiosity had gotten the better of me and I’d gone through the drawers of her vanity and kitchen. Spotless. Organized. Perfectly spaced. I liked how neat it was, a representation of how de-glazed her brain was. It represented how far she’d come, and I was proud of the achievement, even a little jealous.
I spotted stacks of broken-down cardboard boxes leaned against the wall near her recycling bin while waiting for the food to be delivered and couldn’t wait to see what other surprises she had in store. When the food arrived, I laid it all out on the counter, throwing all of the trash into their respective cans knowing she didn’t like any kind of clutter.
She appeared a few moments later, wearing jeans and a simple white sweater, dragging her suitcase behind her.
It was the same suitcase she had at the academy and I was startled by the nostalgia, hopping off the kitchen stool to lug it to the front door.
I checked the time on my phone and set it on the counter, “We have about an hour before the car gets here. You hungry?”
“Starving,” she answered happily, settling on the stool, and pulling a container of food towards her. “Mm, you did order pancakes. I knew you liked me.”
I chuckled, moving to sit beside her. I asked her about her finals, then tried not to stare at her while she ate and chatted about school.
Two weeks.
Just two short weeks.
I carried our bags down to the car I’d rented, tossing them into the trunk and fitting into the driver’s seat. Celeste smiled at me, her eyes blindingly green and I took her hand, kissing the knuckles.
I drove us to the house I’d purchased off my favorite beach. It was roughly a two-hour drive and Celeste was quiet the whole ride, gazing out the window, an elbow resting on the door, hand cupping her chin. The news anchors from NPR droned on in the background about important topics neither of us paid any attention to. I was nervous, tapping my fingers against the steering wheel in a random rhythm. Traffic out of the city was always a fucking nightmare, and in order to not bother Celeste I kept myself from cursing and screaming at the complete fucking idiots who decided to join us on the road that day.
I glanced over at Celeste. I’d noticed she was spending more time on her appearance lately. She still didn’t wear makeup, but those long, long blonde tresses were curled or shaped or braided more often than not and I had to be honest, I was really enjoying the effort. Her hair was so touchably soft all the time. The light glinted off that golden blonde hue, one long wave flowing down over her shoulder and resting at her ribcage. It was longer than it ever had been at the academy.
Celeste looked at me while I was gazing at her and shifted in her seat, “What?”
I tilted my head to the side, “Is it true you cut your hair with a butter knife?”
Laughter exploded from her slim frame. “Did my step-mom tell you that?”
“Well, she told Lucy.”
She looked down at her hands in her lap, still smiling. “No, I didn’t.”
I raised an eyebrow, urging her to continue.
“When I went to Idaho I cut it off with some unsharpened scissors before Carole came to visit. She screamed when she saw me,” Her smile faded, and she twisted her hands together. “I think she thought it was my only redeemable feature or something.”
“Your relationship seems much more improved than it was.” I pointed out.
She nodded, “She visited me in rehab a couple of times and came to Idaho once. It was nice. She’s changed. Kinda. We’re working on it.”
I nodded down at the dark designer jeans she was wearing, “Looks like you’ve been accepting her gifts.”
Celeste’s mouth broke out into a grin, “Well a few months ago someone told me my shorts were ugly, so I figured I’d better up my game if I wanted to stay in the competition.”
I scoffed, “Competition?”
She bit her lip and leaned sideways over the middle console. We were almost to our destination, finally outside of the city and on the outskirts of Wainscott. “I’m not blind, Mav. I see the way girls look at you.” We stopped at a stoplight and I took her face in my hand, gently kissing her pink mouth.
“There’s no competition, Celeste. There never was.” I let her go, waiting for the light to turn green.
She was gazing at me, her lips parted. Then she straightened and turned back to the window. “This doesn’t look like the part of town your parents normally stay in,” she said then.
Surprised, I cleared my throat, taking a right turn towards the beach, and my recently acquired property. Her returning memory never ceased to shock me. “They’re further in and south of the highway at East Hampton.”
Her green eyes were watching me, “Did they buy a new property?”
I tensed, I wasn’t quite ready to reveal the whole truth to her just yet. “Actually, I did.” I took a left turn into our new driveway, punched the
code into the gate, and waited. It swung open into a mid-size roundabout driveway. The house wasn’t massive, but it wasn’t small. It was perfect to me, and I was really hoping Celeste would like it too.
I turned off the car when we pulled up to the front door. Celeste stepped out and I grabbed our bags as we walked up the steps to our potential first home together. The Realtor had left the keys in the mailbox as per my instructions. I didn’t want anyone else around to block my view of her reaction.
“You bought this?”
I nodded and watched her expression as she walked through the door. She kicked off her shoes, and hung her coat up on a rack by the door, padding in her socks across the wooden floors to look around. Her eyes lit up with pure enjoyment. “Mav, this house is gorgeous, you have good taste.”
I dropped our bags at the door. My coat hung next to hers on the rack and I smiled at how easy they looked together. It was a sign I hadn’t recognized, that of a real couple. I looked around at the furniture, decorations, and paint I’d been handpicking for the last few weeks. Everything I’d chosen had been with Celeste in mind. It was calm, quiet, serene, and cozy as fuck, and the joy that radiated through my body at her pleasure was tangible. I joined her in the kitchen, and she smiled at me, “You actually have food in the fridge. How often do you come here?”
She stood by the fridge, her cheeks pink with excitement. I stepped close to her, looking down into those grassy green depths. “This is my first time.”
Celeste nodded, “I love it. I kinda want to stay here forever.” She stood on her toes and kissed me quickly on the mouth, then slid away from me and headed for the back door. “Holy fuck, it’s right on the beach too.” She swung the patio doors open and a cool gust of air blew her hair back from her face,
I shifted on my feet, the nerves crawling up my body in tiny annoying tingles. “Do you want to go for a walk?” I asked. Fuck, I even sounded nervous.
She whirled, took two long strides, and leapt at me, wrapping her arms around my neck. I put my hands on her waist, feeling those soft locks brush against my fingers. Her body was pressed firmly to mine and I loved how warm her body felt under her sweater. “Why don’t you show me where the bedroom is first?” She said, reaching on her toes to kiss me again.
I smiled, but held her back, “I have to talk to you first.”
She frowned, “You sound more serious than usual, Mav. I thought the holiday break was going to be about us screwing each other's brains out in a giant bed for days on end.”
I lifted my hand to brush a strand of golden hair out of her face, “We’ve been dating for a few months now, spending almost every weekend together, and I’ve tried my fucking hardest to keep my hands off of you, unsuccessfully.”
She stepped back from me, “Did you bring me all the way out here to break up with me?”
I shook my head and laughed nervously, ran a hand through my hair. I blew out a breath, “Fuck, Celeste, I’m so nervous.” I admitted.
The confusion was evident. “Nervous?”
“Look,” I started, trying to remember any part of the speech I’d planned for this moment, “I bought this house for us, okay?”
Her mouth fell open, but she closed it again when she saw I wasn’t done.
“The house is ours. For our future, together.” I was fucking this up. I turned away from her, trying to collect my thoughts. She remained silent, allowing me a moment of pity to get my shit together. I turned back on my heel, trying to look at her but unable to. “Fuck. I love you, Celeste. I love the absolute fuck out of you,” the words came then, exploding out of me like premature ejaculation, “I’ve loved you since we were kids, finally fucking realized it at Academy, and the last few years have been a nightmare for me.” Nope, that wasn’t right, I was still screwing this up, making her problems about me, “Listen, I don’t know why I’m telling you like this, I had a whole speech planned.” I took a deep breath, “In high school I had this idea in my head of us. I kind of mentioned it to you already. That you would join me at Yale after graduation, we’d get an apartment together in the city after college, we’d take you to every specialist in the world to fix whatever your issues were, you’d fucking marry me, and we’d just...be together.”
She smiled at me, her chin tilted down, teeth burrowing into her bottom lip. “Marriage is a big step, Mav.”
I frowned, “Yes, but I don’t mean right away.”
Liar.
“After you graduate, if you want to.” I stared up at the ceiling, silently screaming, what the fuck.
Her arms wound around my midsection, her whole body pressed against mine, and she was looking up at me with the most brilliant expression. “You didn’t mention anything about kids.”
I stared at her, unable to hide my shock. “Kids?”
She tilted her head to the side, her eyes flicking to my mouth and back up to my eyes. The green of her gaze was overpowering. “I’ve seen what it’s like to have a real family, and I wouldn’t mind having one of my own.” She lifted one shoulder, “I mean, we’ve only practiced a handful of times, so I don’t know if you’re up to the task…”
I raised my eyebrows, accepting that challenge more quickly than she knew. Of all the things I thought she would say, making babies was at the very bottom of that list, especially after what happened with Eli. I thought she’d swear off procreation for the rest of her life. Something about the idea of kids with Celeste made me impossibly hard. “If you ask me to, Ace, I’ll put a baby in you right fucking now.”
She kissed the tip of my nose, “I don’t think we’re ready just yet. You got a ring in your jacket or what?”
I shook my head, “I didn’t think I’d be proposing this weekend, I just wanted to tell you how I felt.”
“Well, you’ve told me, now why don’t we go break in that new bed.”
Fucking minx. I touched her lips with my thumb, “No. We’re going to do some other couple shit first. The kind of dumb fuck couple shit I always wanted to do with you.”
“Like what?”
“You’re gonna hold my hand on the beach, we’re going to watch a dumb movie together, I’m going to make you dinner, and then we’ll fuck, Celeste. We’ll fuck for days and days.” I kissed her gently, “But in between all of that fucking we’re going to do other couple shit. Like you can tell me what ugly color the bathroom needs to be. We can go into town and get some fucking towels. Whatever the fuck else people do,” I whispered the next part, “I’ll even let you completely reorganize the kitchen.”
She leaned away from me, her expression exuberant, “Oh, honey, you have no idea what you just agreed to.”
“I’ve seen your closet, babe, I know what I’m getting into.”
Celeste stood on her toes to kiss me, her hands on my chest. Her lips met mine and a revelation crossed through my brain.
She didn’t say it back.
We spent the rest of the day doing all the things I’d mentioned. We walked along the beach behind our house, Celeste holding her shoes by her fingers. She walked through the house and told me what she would change while I took notes for the contractor, and then she spent three fucking hours completely reorganizing the kitchen and dusting everything with a microfiber cloth.
We ate dinner at the dining room table and talked about normal couple shit. Then, I made a bowl of popcorn and instructed her to find a movie for us to watch.
I fell into the couch beside her, holding out the bowl of popcorn, “So, what did you choose?”
“Well, the local channel is featuring a very heartbreaking lifetime movie about a widow who rediscovers who she is, or something.”
I tried not to groan, “Sounds fascinating.”
She took a couple kernels of popcorn and smiled, “I didn’t think we’d be paying much attention anyway.” Celeste stood, grabbing the hem of her sweater, and pulling it up over her head. “I’m glad you turned on that fire, I’m about to be really cold.”
I swallowed, my eyes wandering over the
planes of her stomach. Her hair fell in heavy curls to her ribs and when her painted fingers unbuttoned those dark jeans, I shifted around on the couch, already hard. She pushed them to the floor and stood before me in a matching set of underwear. The fabric was sheer, reminding me of the color of champagne, similar to the kind she’d worn at the dance the night before.
Fuck, was that only last night?
Her round ass plopped down on the couch and she reached to pull a blanket over her nearly naked form. The popcorn was suspended in my hand and I set it on the coffee table, clearing my throat. “Right,” I said, tugging the blanket away from her, “I see you’ve made the first move.”
Her grin was infectious, her green eyes gleaming and a hand came up to push against my chest. “Your turn.”
I stood, yanking all the fabric from my body, save the boxers, and moved under the blanket next to her, attempting to take more than my share. Celeste was biting into her lip, her gaze raking down my chest and arms, hesitating on my cock.
“How long do you think we can go before doing anything sexual?”
“I think we’re already in the negative on that one.”
She laughed, “I dare you not to touch me.”
“I refuse to accept that dare.”
“Come one, just try. I want to see how long you can last.”
I searched her face for a moment, “Alright, Ace. You got yourself a deal.” I took the bowl of popcorn off the coffee table and held it in my lap. “I’m going to last longer than you.”
Painted fingers dipped into the bowl, extracting more kernels to pop between those pretty lips, “I doubt it.”
I raised an eyebrow, “Oh do you? And why is that?”
Celeste moved to her knees, leaning forward slightly as she undid the clasp of her bra. Her tits fell in slow motion, nipples hard, and she sat back down, the blanket moving to cover her from the collarbone down. Her mouth was set in a smug grin, eyes watching the movie, which had apparently already started.