Falling For Mr. Sundae | ✔

38. Stronger Than Like

We woke up early the next morning. Too early. The sun wasn't even up yet. That fact didn't seem to bother Julian. I always thought morning people were a myth, but there Julian was, with the energy of someone who had a full eight hours of sleep and cup of coffee.

When I had gotten my caffeine fix during our stop at Starbucks I was finally able to keep my eyes opened for more than a few seconds. My mind finally clear of it's sleepy haze and able to focus on other things. Like last night, for instance.

I felt nauseous thinking about how desperate I acted. There was just so much going on in my head. In a few weeks we wouldn't be able to have spontaneous road trips and overnights at hotels. We wouldn't be able to see each other every day. No kissing. No holding. No long talks about nothing while looking out over the sunflower field.

Thinking about all of that made me want to solidify. Now that his touch wasn't clouding my judgement, I realized sex wasn't going to do that. I was glad he stopped us from going that far.

"About last night," he started, eyes focused on the bumper to bumper traffic before us. I tried not to appear startled by him bringing up the topic I was just thinking about. "You know I didn't stop because of you, right?" He looked at me now. "It's not that I didn't want to. I just didn't want it to happen there. On a mattress where others have probably had sex."

I felt my entire body recoil at the thought. "Ew."

"Exactly." He laughed, turning back to the road as traffic started to move.

"You made the right call on that one," I agreed, let out a mix between a groan and a laugh. "But can you drive faster? Thinking about that makes me want to take an hour long shower."

Halfway through our drive we stopped for burgers, which we didn't have time for. My mom was already blowing up my phone with texts, asking me and Kells to come over to help with the cooking. I was running out of excuses and I was panicking. What if she got tired of waiting and went over to Kells?

I took over the driving from there, not trusting Julian to get there in time. We made it back to town in under three hours. I was proud of myself. Julian looked like he was just happy to get out of the car.

I followed suit and we met at the front of the car. I wrapped my arms around his neck, the stuffed toys he gave me clutched in my hands. His arms found their way around my waist. For a moment I just smiled at him. Reveling in the moment. Coffee breath and all.

"I had fun yesterday," I told him, meaning every word of it.

"I'm glad." The corners of his lips twitched up into a smile. "I thought I would've scared you away."

I leaned back to get a better look at him. "Why would you think that?"

He shrugged, glancing at the ground. "We haven't been together for very long and I'm making these future plans--"

"Hey," I cut him off and met his eyes. "When I agreed to be your girlfriend, I didn't mean just for the summer. I like that you think a head."

He nodded and I could tell he was holding back another smile. "I guess it's safe to tell you about the wedding venue I picked out."

I snorted. "Okay, calm down."

He laughed pulling me closer. "I should get going," he said, though he didn't sound like he wanted to.

"Me too," I agreed. "Before my mom files a missing person report."

He gave me a peck on the cheek before climbing into his car and driving off.

+ + +

The living room had been completely transformed since I last saw it. It looked like something straight off of Pinterest. Which, knowing my mom, it probably was. There was so much pink and blue--streamers hanging from the ceiling and wrapped around the banisters, balloons taped to the wall framing the backdrop for photos, jars of candies and chocolate--it was hard trying to picture what the house looked like before.