Soulmates ✓

06 | To Be Loved

He certainly was the best at flirting when he wasn't trying. Every time Shay's name slipped out of his lips, it caressed all the crevices inside her body. The way he smiled created electrifying ripples on her skin, and the way he held her hand through every up and down that itself made him the best boy to fall for any time of the day.

"I'm still with the hottest girl in our class," Aarav sang. "Do you think she finds me boring?"

Shay chuckled, a deep shade of red decorating her cheeks.

"How about I bake you a cake, and we could watch a movie, drink some wine from your dad's collection?" Shay suggested, sitting cross-legged and suddenly feeling very enthusiastic about the whole date thing. "I don't want to spend our date night among strangers."

There was a long pause. Shay worried if Aarav didn't like her idea.

"You're the cutest little thing you know." Her boyfriend said in a voice that resonated through her veins. It was deep and full of hidden emotions, his breathing a little harsh. "Now, I can't wait till evening. You better stop fluttering my heart with your words if you don't want me to climb up your window and kiss every inch of you."

Shay felt her pulse skyrocketing to outer space. She could imagine his kisses on her skin, collarbones, jaw, the long column of her neck, and smell his cologne heightening her senses. She knew it would be too hard to stay under the control of her desires if he kept making her feel like that.

"Shay," Aarav whispered. "Are you still with me?"

Shay smiled, looking up at the ceiling and nibbling on her bottom lip. "Yes, I'm always with you."

***

Shay spent the afternoon baking a dark chocolate cake with cut strawberries as the icing. There's nothing that YouTube can't teach you except, of course, how not to feel nervous about the date. After two burnt chunks of dough, she was finally able to prepare something akin to a cake. By the end of the process, though, she was covered in flour and whipped cream.

When her mom rolled into the kitchen in the middle of Shay's baking session, her face went pale. If she knew Shay was planning a date night with Aarav, she would set a curfew two hours earlier than her usual ones. So, she lied that it was Riya's birthday and Shay was preparing the cake for her. The unusual amount of stutters in her voice had her exposed, but an urgent call from the office saved her ass from getting grounded. After a whole train of lies, Shay finally convinced her mom to let her spend the night with her friends.

Although it was her idea to stay at home and keep the date as simple as all of their alone times, she couldn't shake off the butterflies flapping inside her stomach. Because her boyfriend had the most hypnotic pitch-black eyes, he was drop-dead gorgeous with those athletic muscles, sharp cheekbones, and tousled black hair. She felt comparatively average even though he called her the hottest girl in their school.

That was the least of her concerns for the set evening. She couldn't seem to ignore the possibilities that perhaps she was ready for spicing up their relationship. Aarav had been so patient with her so far, taking as much intimacy as Shay had to offer. She was hesitant, letting herself be ready for it, and so was Aarav. But as she spent more and more time with Aarav, Shay was starting to get as desperate as the boy, only none of them were forcing the other to cross the line.

Maybe, it was the sudden change in their dynamics from friends to lovers that both feared the next level. But every time Shay kissed the boy, her mind and heart turned haywire, and she lost all her senses to him.

Shaking her head and keeping those thoughts at bay, she dressed in pretty silk. The smooth fabric draped around her curves in silvery gray just above her knees and her long wavy hair tumbling down her shoulders in wild curls. She didn't bother to put on any makeup, just a touch of cherry lip gloss which was Aarav's favorite. A blush decorated her cheeks with mere remembrance. Once she was satisfied with her look, she pulled out the velvet box delivered that morning. It contained a charm bracelet she had been searching for Aarav for days, online and offline, and finally got her hand on it.