The Wide Wide Ocean

Chapter 42

I wanted to let her know that kissing her is heaven. How each time we return to each other it feels like dreaming in the clouds sculpted by angels.

I wanted to let her know how kissing her is hell. How each time I drown in her mouth, I know our bliss will end.

Kissing Evie was life.

I grasped her lip between my teeth, slid my hand under her clothes, caressed her back. I travelled worlds with my tongue as I slipped in as Evie gasped.

She came to life.

Evie pulled me just as close, searching for something between our lips with the tongue of her own. I opened her mouth wide, feeling the sharpness of her fangs and the soft hair on her upper lip. I felt her breathe desperately against my skin and the way she raised her chin to reach me. As her mouth opened obediently to my kiss, I pulled away.

Evie looked at me in a daze, her lips apart. I dried her lips with my thumb, drinking in every drop, the liquid gold tasting like the first fruit of summer. Her blush was deep and shameless. Evie touched her lips with her fingertips. She was in disbelief but yet in such joy...

I took her hand, kissing her palm. I looked at her red, breathy form through her own fingers and said against her skin:

I want to show you something, Evie.

We drove until the forest was dark. We drove until we recognised the paths we made when we were kids. We drove until we arrived at the dark treehouse.

It was dark. Evie was not scared of the dark. She wouldn't have been friends with me if she had. She turned to me, merely touching my hand.

I trust you, she thought.

That is all the trust I need from the world, I thought.

But she didn't hear me. I knew it.

We stepped out of the car. I grabbed a flashlight and climbed onto the tree, turning around, and lighting up Evie's path. I took her hand and helped her up. The branch shook under our weight and I swayed. Evie's hands shot out and grasped my waist. The leaves stopped rustling and we were standing still.

Are you alright, she asked.

Yes, I told her.

Are you sure, she asked once more.

Yes, I told her.

I wanted to kiss the tip of her nose. Oh, God, hearts could beat this fast only when one is to die. But Evie...

We slowly walked to the treehouse. I made sure she was okay walking behind me just like she made sure I was okay walking in front of her. I opened the doors as we reached them and Evie gasped:

They are glass doors.

I know, I told her.

I flipped a switch. Evie's eyes were glistening in the warm lights as they blinked in utter shock. Her mouth went agape and I watched her back as she walked away from me, hypnotized. Her fingertips touched the new wood walls, the Christmas lights flowing like a river on them. She touched the old drawings, the notation stand with her favourite compositions, and the old basket in which we used to hide food. Everything old and new, everything we loved in one place where no one could find us. Where no one could find out who we were and who we were supposed to be.

Garden of Eden, she said.

Paradise, she thought.

I told her that I missed out safe haven. I told her, I missed that no world existed in this place. No worries. No parents. No lovers. No homework. Nothing. I told her that I missed the simple, silent nothing.

You did this for me, she said.

I would do anything for you, I told her.

I meant it. She knew.

I would do more than anything for you, Missy, just ask for it, she told me.

She meant it. I knew.

I am alright with what I have, Evie, I said.

I wasn't telling the truth. But I wasn't lying. I was denying myself the truth... perhaps like a true liar. And Evie knew it.

Ask for anything, she said adamantly.

Her 'anything' was a threat to my soul. She was offering me heaven. A forbidden apple per se... and I knew I had to refuse it. Because... because it was the right thing to do.

Or is it not true either?

Follow @SeraphineDarcy for more updates.