We'll Always Have Hawaii

Chapter 5

They had spent the whole night showing one another how much they had missed each other. Part of it had been passionate and fiery, part of it hard and desperate, sometimes even needy, but it had always remained loving and tender.

Eventually, in the early morning hours, they drifted happily and exhausted into deep sleep, their bodies entwined in a tight embrace, their peaceful breathing echoing as one through the silence of the night.

---

When Lindsey woke up the next morning, he found Stevie to be already awake. An unusual thing to happen. She lay on her back, her eyes looking up at the white ceiling of the room. He had no idea, if she had already sensed that he had woken up, so he remained silent for a while and studied her face.

Stevie had always had sad eyes, but they had always been sad in a sort of loving way, like a child's eyes when a beloved pet has passed on.

Sad, yes, but always with the basic understanding that everything was fine, that events had happened because they were supposed to.

Now, however, they were just sad. They stared blankly out upon the world without really seeing anything... least of all him.

"I don't wanna do a goodbye.", she said out of the blue, her eyes still not meeting his.

"Yes, you do."

"No, I don't.."

"Remember, it'll be one long year until we meet like this again..", he said softly and stroked lovingly over her bare shoulder, down her arm.

"I hate doing goodbyes..", she suddenly cried and her eyes filled with tears.

"I know..", he said sadly and wrapped his arms around her soft body, holding her in a tight embrace.

She turned toward him, and for a while, she clung to him like a little girl, her tears wet his chest, and he felt her body lightly shaking with every single sob.

Oh, how much it hurt him so see her like that and he wanted nothing but tell her that he loved her, had always loved her, still loved her, but those words would make her jump up and leave immediately - he knew by experience.

So he just pulled her closer into his arms, rubbed lovingly her bare arms and placed kisses all over her hair.

Eventually, her breathing went back to normal, her tears had dried on her face as she looked up at him, so vulnerable it almost broke him.

"I wanna do a goodbye.", she said, it was barely a whisper.

"You sure?", he asked softly and ran his thumb over her cheeks.

She nodded.

"I need to feel you one more time before we leave again."

It seemed to him as if with time it had gotten worse and worse for them to separate after they had spent their night together.

He didn't know if it had something to do with both of them getting older and more emotional or if their subconscious mind was slowly realizing that they were running out of time. Time, they had been supposed to spend together, not separated.

"Okay.", he smiled sadly at her.

"But Linds?"

"Steph?"

"I need you to be gentle.", she said and her voice sounded so fragile that he couldn't even remember the last time he had heard her speaking like this.

"Of course.", he assured her and placed a kiss on her forehead.

They looked in each other eyes for a few seconds, making sure that both of them really wanted it, then he lowered his head and kissed her lips. She responded instantly to his touch, pulling him closer to her, her mouth eagerly returning tender kisses.