Winged

Kisses

My stomach drops and I feel adrenaline pump through my veins. Wind whips around my face as I close my eyes shut tightly and hold tightly to Nathan and scream at the top of my lungs. Suddenly we stop falling, but I'm not soaked in water or underwater and I still feel wind on my face and hear it in my ears so I open an eye. The water is moving under us, actually we are moving. I glance up and see Nathan's wings outstretched. He laughs and stares down at me.

"We're flying?!" I yell over the wind and he laughs more and holds me tighter to him.

"Gliding on the wind, not flying." He corrects me as cold mist hits my skin and I reach out and my finger tips touch the frigid water.

"So why did I have to take off my shoes and shirt." I ask also feeling the cool mist on my bare feet.

"Because..." and suddenly we dive into the cold, frigid water. I start to panic for a little shocked still from the cold water before I resurface and look around for Nathan. I don't see him and he randomly surfaces, laughing, about five feet from me. He swims over to me before stopping and starting to laugh again. I laugh to and shiver slightly and he pulls me into his chest holding me tightly against his surprisingly warm chest. My clothes cling to me awkwardly as Nathan spins us in a circle in the water. I stare up at him and smile at his cheerful, laughing face. His eyes are closed and he is has his head tilted back before he finally calms down and looks down at me. He continues smiling and his gaze goes down to my lips as he leans forward and presses his lips on mine. Warmth spreads through my body and my arms wrap around his neck and push our faces closer together, wanting more of his warmth. The kiss becomes rough and Nathan moves us out of the water and onto the land. Nathan pushes me onto the ground only breaking the kiss for only second before he is peeling my soaked tank-top over my head. He pulls away and kisses down my neck softly and the wind starts to blow a little harder and I snap back into reality.

"Nathan." I say and lightly push against him; he stiffens before slowly sitting up and staring at me.

"I'm sorry... I got carried away." He gets off me and sits next to me. I awkwardly prop myself up without a shirt and not really wanting to put on my wet tank top. Nathan's eye quickly scan over my body before standing and helping me up. "I'll walk back up and get your shirt and shoes, stay here I will be back shortly." He says before walking away from me into the forest only glancing back once with guilt in his eyes. I stand up and lean against a near tree, trying to use it to block the wind. Thirty minutes go by and Nathan isn't back yet and I am slowly getting nervous. I know that it probably takes a while to walk up and back down from the cliff. A hear movement and let out a sigh of relief and come out from the tree.

"Finally..." I stop in my tracks and Etheriel is standing there. His eyes drift down and I quickly hide behind the tree again. "How did you know I was here?" I ask, blushing lightly.

"Nathan called me and we got to go." He says kind of rushed before we walks around the tree and is standing in front of me, holding out a shirt that I didn't notice before. I take it and slip it over my head. It's a plain black shirt that is slightly bigger than me and smells like Etheriel, telling me that it is his shirt. He looks around anxiously before looking back at me and at his shirt on my. I swear I see the corner of his lip tug upwards before he gets the anxious look back.

"We need to go..." he says before starting to walk away quickly, I follow close behind him.

"Why, what's wrong? Did something happen to Nathan?" I ask rapidly and look around as my anxiety starts to grow.

"He saw Aaliyah in the forest and confronted her after calling me and telling me to find and get you." He replies before stopping suddenly, making me run into his back. It is eerily quiet there isn't even the sound of birds or a little wind. My breathing becomes rapid and I begin to panic as Etheriel looks around before stopping and squinting in a direction. Suddenly, he turns around and pushes me to the ground, landing on top of me just as something whizzes over our heads and lodges itself into a tree nearby. An arrow. I feel like my heart is about to burst as I grip onto Etheriel's shirt in panic. His arm is protecting my neck and his other arm is around my waist as he stares in the same direction the arrow came from.

"Is that..."

"Yeah." He says before I respond and helps me up before grabbing my hand again and running, pulling me along.

"Does her being here mean that Nathan..."

"No, it means that she slipped away and came toward us." He cuts me off again. As we are running, I notice that our hands strangely fit together. We break out of the woods onto a street that is right outside town and no one uses except for famers who live in the wooded area between this town and the next. We walk along the side of the road toward town, in silence. Wind whips my hair around and I am constantly trying to get it back in place, but to no avail. After about an hour, the sun went down and we just got into town and a couple groups of teenagers walked around laughing and talking. Etheriel stops outside the café where inside employees were cleaning preparing to close.

"Wait here, I'll buy you something warm." He says and walks in. I lean against the wall beside the door and stare at a group of football players from my school walking on a sidewalk across the street, glancing at me every once in a while, winking and whistling at me. I don't react and just roll my eyes and watch a car pass by. The football players cross the street and begin walking toward me, eyeing me up and down. Etheriel comes out of the store and looks at me then the football player, handing me a hot chocolate. The guys look at Etheriel and slow down, but continue toward me. Etheriel sees this and grabs my waist pulling me to him, before gently pressing his lips to mine. I keep my eyes open shocked and so does he making it awkward so I look sideways at the jocks, whom are now backing up and sauntering away. He pulls away and looks at them turn a corner and disappear.

"Sorry..." he mumbles, turning slightly pink, and turning and walking toward my house, I follow. Along the way I sip at the hot chocolate as it warms my limbs. When we arrive at my house, I see Nathan sitting in my window staring at the tree. He doesn't notice us and Etheriel turns to me with a small smile.

"I should go..." he says and glances out at the street.

"Okay... Good night..." I say quietly, unable to look at him since all the awkward kisses between us, so I look at the grass. He begins to walk away and I feel a tugging sensation in my heart and I take a step toward him and hug him from behind. He stops walking and turns in my hug, hugging me back tightly. His hands move to both sides of my face tilting my face up to his, and once again within one hour his lips are on mine and moving slowly. He pulls away and searches my eyes for something and suddenly I am confused, tears welling up in my eyes. He opens his mouth to say something, but I turn a run into the house, glancing at my window to see Nathan gone and my light off. I rush up the stairs as quietly as I can, not to get the attention of my mom and dad. When I enter my room, I can barely see anything, but I can make out the shape of Nathan lying in bed. I stumble to my dresser trying to make out the difference between pajamas and other stuff. I glance back at Nathan and he seems so be sleeping and decide that if I sleep without pants, it wouldn't be a problem because he has seen me shirtless plus Etheriel's shirt almost goes down past my butt. I slowly crawl into my bed beside Nathan and he immediately shifts over and wraps his arms around me.

"Sorry I didn't come back with your stuff and you had to walk a really long way back." He mumbles into my hair.

"It's fine." I mumble back. "Are you okay?" I ask.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He says. Silence passes between us and he shifts a little. "I saw you and Etheriel a little bit ago..." he says quietly.

"Oh, what did you see?" I mumble, already knowing the answer.

"Nothing to exciting..." he says and I hear something strange in his voice. Silence passes again. "It hurt seeing that." His hurt shows through his voice and his grip around me tightens and he buries his face into my neck.

"I'm sorry, it shocked me too." I whisper, not knowing how to explain what happened to him.

"I wasn't shocked... I know Etheriel likes you. It just hurt seeing his lips on you, his hands... on you." He says and the hurt in his voice grows and it makes me want to hug him tightly and cry, but I don't, I just stay quiet, blinking back tears. He buries his head into my hair more and I hear him exhale, about to say something.

"I love you."