One Night

Chapter Thirty Four

"Come on, have we had a plan B for any of this? It's not like we have a variety of options. We barely know anything about this place. It's another risk, but what else could we do?"

"Okay, but I want to go in alone."

"Not a chance."

She opens her mouth to argue, but then notices several people walking past. "Why don't we have this conversation in my room?"

"You have a room?" I slept on a strangers floor mat for the past three days.

She shows me to her room. I have no idea how she managed to find it, considering everything looks the same here.

It's a small space, but it has everything needed. I walk to the bed, about to fall over onto it, but Alara steps in my way.

I smirk. "What do you need?"

I don't know why being in here, in this small space, with her. It makes me want to—"You need a shower." She points to a door, the look on her face making me want to laugh.

I missed having her and her bossiness around. "Yes, madam." I bow formally, the way I once had to to my own father. A small smile tilts the corner of her lips up, but she doesn't budge. "I'll only go if you join me."

She wanted to discuss our plan for tomorrow, but if she has forgotten then I'm not going to remind her because there is no ways I am letting her go in alone.

"Not a chance." Her eyes widen.

I bite my lip. "I . . . sorry." I think not being around her has made me forget what our relationship used to be.

I head to the shower, immediately stripping down and getting soaked by the water. It's unbelievably good.

I step out, wrap myself in a towel and then realise I have a problem—"Alara!"

"What?" she calls back.

"I . . . Don't have clean clothes."

"Then put on the old ones."

"You're okay with me getting into your bed with—"

"No, just, uh—Just wait!" What, is she going to go out and buy some new clothes? "Are you decent?" she asks.

"I'm in a towel."

She pushes the door open slowly, peeks in like a baby duck going to a water hole filled with crocodiles, and then quickly tosses me a shirt and pants and shuts the door.

I laugh silently, shaking my head as I pull the pants on. They're stretchy so they fit well, but the top is not as easy. "The shirt doesn't fit!" I say through the door.

"What do we do?" she asks, opening the door only a crack, her gaze lowered to the ground.

"I could sleep without a shirt."

"And in the morning?"

"We have a lot bigger problems to deal with than my clothing choices in the morning. We'll figure it out."

"We'll figure it out' seems to be your plan for everything so far."

"Well, we're still alive aren't we?"

At that she looks up at me. There's a surprised anger in her face. It's kind of cute. "Barely."

That makes me laugh. Everything feels lighter when I'm around her, even risking our lives. I walk closer to her, and she immediately backs away from the door. "You scared of me, Sariq?"

She bites her lips, looking up at me through her lashes. Did coming to the bottom of the ocean make her prettier or something? "Sariq," she repeats, her voice barely a whisper. "I missed you."

"I missed you, too." When I reach her, I tuck her hair behind her ears on both sides.

She is wearing the earrings. The ones I bought for her. My fingers press against the pearl pendants.

Her expression changes and her hands go over mine. "The earrings." She laughs. "You traded your shirt for it." Her eyes go down to my shirtless body.

"Yeah, it was the . . ." The night we almost kissed. Wait, that moment just now . . . "Our first kiss. By the fountain. That was our first kiss."

Her eyes leave my chest to meet my eyes. Her cheeks turn slightly pink. "Right." She moves in closer.

My hands close around her hips, so that her body is flush against mine. Her hand goes to my bicep and quickly drops when she realises there is nothing separating our skin when she touches me there.

"Your, uh." She tries to tug away. "You have nice lips."

Her words contradict the way she is trying to get away from me. "You sure?" Everything else, sort of, doesn't feel like exists when she's this close. It's weird.

Her body stills, her eyes on my lips. "Yeah. I mean, I don't have anything to compare it to, but when you kissed me like you missed me, I liked that."

My hand cups her cheek, which feels as warm as I thought it would. Her skin is so soft. Her eyes flutter shut for a second, her body subconsciously leaning in closer.

I'm not going to kiss her now. Not in this small space, where we are alone and half-clothed. She has on a cute pink night gown—I'm surprised it's not white, too. Maybe white is only necessary when outside?

It would be too hard to stop once I start kissing her, so it's better to not start. Instead, I kiss her forehead and lead her towards her bed.

And that's where we stay, wrapped up in each other until her eyelids stop fluttering and her body and breathing relaxes.

Even though she's asleep, I kiss her forehead again.

~~*~~

How are you today?

It's Sunday and I am conflicted between chilling at home and going out and doing something.

T w i t t e r : xPineappleGirlx
I n s t a g r a m : laylaawrites
Y o u t u b e : xThePineappleGirlx

Lots of love and jelly tots - xThePineappleGirlx