A Secret Love Affair

Chapter 25

Paige slowly opened her eyes and reached for her cellphone. It was the first morning in a while that she didn't mind waking up in the wonky, underinflated air mattress. She felt excited about the upcoming day. She sat up and peaked over at Sienna who was still sound asleep, she laid her head on the side of Sienna's bed and watched her sleep. The tiny freckles on her face, her eyelashes, there wasn't a moment in Sienna's life where she wasn't beautiful. Paige reached over and ran her finger across Sienna's cheek. She noticed Sienna's eyes begin to flutter and suddenly her half asleep eyes were looking back at Paige. A faint smile slowly formed on her face.

"Merry Christmas" Sienna said, her voice was raspy and groggy. Almost as if it hadn't gotten the memo that it was time for it to start its day.

"Ditto" Paige replied, leaning over and kissing Sienna softly.

"So, are you ready for your Christmas present?" Sienna asked.

"YES!" Paige answered excitedly. The reaction was a knee jerk reaction, something Paige had conditioned herself to do even when she didn't care about what was being given to her.

Paige had always gotten everything she wanted but very rarely got what she really needed. She realized at a very young age that giving her presents made her parents happy but it did very little for her. When you have everything you want, nothing ever feels special.

Sienna got out of bed and walked toward her closet. She reached toward the top shelf and pulled out a small gift bag, as she walked back toward Paige, the smile on her face gave away the fact that she was very excited to give her the Christmas present.

"It's nothing super big or anything." Sienna said, almost as if she had become a little self conscious.

"I'm sure whatever it is will be awesome, Arkansas." Paige responded, making an effort to ease some of Sienna's sudden nerves.

Paige sat down on the bed and Sienna excitedly followed suit. As Paige slowly began pulling out white and red sheets of tissue paper, she could tell Sienna was becoming inpatient. She loved getting a rise out of Sienna, she took her time getting to the bottom of the bag and then she pulled out a small box.

"I didn't take you as a cheesy Christmas proposal kinda gal. Don't you think you're moving a little too quickly?" Paige asked playfully.

"Shhhh! Open it!" Sienna blurted out.

Paige opened the lid on the small box to find a bracelet with some charms attached to it. She pulled it out of the box and slipped it on. The charms sat in between a mix of sea green beads and metallic stud accents. As Paige examined the charms she realized one of them was a small bar charm with what seemed like very small numbers etched on it, the next charm was an arrow, and lastly there was a charm that resembled their Crystal River University mascot on it.

"Sienna Phoenix never disappoints, huh? Thank you" Paige said, while kissing Sienna on the cheek. "Will you tell me what the charms mean?" She asked.

"Oh you got that right." Sienna replied, giving Sienna an exaggerated wink. "Well, the numbers on the bar charm are actually coordinates. If you type them into the computer they are coordinates to the cabin we stayed at when we went to the hot springs." Sienna said, biting her lip. "I got the charm the day we were there."

"Aren't you a little sneaky, sneak!" Paige exclaimed. "What is the arrow?" She asked.

"Well, if you must know...I've always admired how you follow your arrow. You say what makes you happy, you do what makes you happy, and you don't care what anyone says or thinks. I figured an arrow was perfect." She replied, looking down shyly.

Paige kissed Sienna softly, trailing from her chin to her lips.

"You really are something else, Sienna." Paige whispered.