Whatever It Takes

Chapter- Forty-nine

With his hands over my eyes, I was dying for them to be removed.

"Are we there yet?" I asked for the one hundredth time in the span of five minutes.

"Almost." He whispered sweetly in my ear. I let out a giggle. I know I was not one for surprises but he urged that it was something I was going to like a lot. I felt the change of temperatures, as if we entered a building. It was that much of difference since the weather was already turning cold since summer vacation was over in less than a week.

I took in the vacant building when Oliver had removed his hands from my eyes.

"It's not much right now." Oliver commented as he shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans. I took in the handmade sign on the wall. The sign read 'Designer Danny', I smiled at the thought of it.

"Do you like it?" He asked searching for an expression on my face.

"I love it. You didn't have to buy this for me." I said as I embraced him.

"I wanted to do this for you. You deserve your own shop. I'll pay the bills and you won't have to worry about anything except the customers." He said running a hand through his hair and rubbing the back of his neck.

"Well thank you. It means a lot to me."

"Anything to see you smile. Renovations can start as quick as tomorrow." He told me.

"You're letting me decorate it? That going to cost a hell of a lot." I said hinting that he didn't need to go through with this.

"I know and I'm not worried about that. This is your's, make it you." He told me. I nodded as I walked around taking a look at every detail.

"I have a catalog at home for you." He mentioned and I nodded as I went to look at the back rooms. Once I thoroughly inspected everything, I made my way back out to him.

"Thank you so much." I hugged him tightly. We pulled apart but not before he gave me a kiss on my cheek. I slightly blushed as I missed the feeling of his lips.

We arrived home to the apartment before dinner. We had separated so he could make dinner for us and I grabbed the catalog. I took a seat at island counter and flipped through the pages, deciding what counters I wanted, flooring, walls, lights, and all that jazz.

I still couldn't wrap my mind on how he was able to buy that building for me. It's like he is trying to buy me happiness. All I really needed is to be with him, that's what makes me happy. Just having his presence around enough. His love is an add on to everything we do. If he's happy, I'm happy. That's all that matters to me. I know he thinks that I'm not happy, but I am with him. He's all I need. I'm just not happy with my past and I know I'm dwelling on it, and I shouldn't be. I'm working on moving forward.

Oliver served us our dinner which was breaded chicken with green beans and garlic noodles. His cooking has been getting better throughout years. He used to burn everything he tried to cook. Even frozen dinners that were so hard to mess up, he managed to burn it anyway. I used to do a lot of cooking, but then I got lazy. It's the college life I swear. Although I never had ramen noodles for months straight. I just mainly had easy foods to heat up in the dorm room.

After a long silent dinner, we receded to the couch. I sat against the arm of the couch in a ball, reading. Resting the book in my lap, as my fingers slightly ran along the side of all the pages. I hadn't even noticed that he turned the television, I only noticed when he sat at the other end of the couch away from me.

Losing myself into the book, the world around me wasn't relevant. Reading is the time for me to escape into a fantasy of the main character's world. Seeing where they go in life. A sentence really stood out to me.It made me realize how important he is to me.

I flipped through to the next page, stopping to look up at him.

"I love you." I blurted out. I knew exactly what I was doing. My brain as just doing it all for me. Oliver turned his head slowly, not showing any expression. I opened my mouth again.

"I love you and I'm sorry I've made you wait for me. I'm ready to get back together if you are. I'm done being on this weird break. I need you." I breathed out. His lips curved upwards, letting his pearl white teeth show and his dimples popping out. Next thing I knew my book was thrown across the room onto the floor. I felt myself being pulled towards him. I hooked my legs around his waist, cupping his face and bringing him closer to my face.

"Finally." He whispered as he lingered his kisses along my jawline. I let out a low moan. His kissed the side of my lip before planting them fully on mine.

That night we made love for the first since the night back at the hotel. It was beautiful, it was magical, just like it had been that night. It felt right as we entangled ourselves together in the mess of his bed sheets.

By the morning we made love again, still feeling the heat of the moment from earlier that night. For once this year I knew I made the right choice by letting us be together again.

"I cannot let you burn me up, nor can I resist you. No mere human can stand in a fire and not be consumed" (Byatt).