Knowing Me, Knowing You | (S/P)

Chapter 24

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Nathaniel

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I know that coming here wasn't one of the smartest decisions ever made, and that it's getting late for me to still be here, but her warm body so tightly pressed against mine and her coconut smelling hair tickling my chest reduces my will to nonexistent. 

I run my fingertips across her back, imitating the pattern she's following on my arm. 

I wonder how long two human beings can stay this quiet before it gets awkward. It's not a theory that I can prove with her, though, because being with Alexia never gets awkward. Not when she's sitting front row in my classroom, not when we surreptitiously eat lunch together in a cafeteria at campus, and surely not when we're in bed together. 

You see, the thing is, the goddamn thing is, that she reassures me in ways that I didn't believe possible.

"What is that?" I point a finger towards a wide variety, in size and color, of boxes piled up against the wall.

"That's my puzzle collection." She pulls herself to a sitting position, and to my surprise she gets off bed and walks towards the boxes. 

She's cladded in an oversized t-shirt and I can't help but admire those never-ending legs of her that got my attention —and yes, deepest and lustful thoughts— since day one. 

She's beautiful. 

The locks of dark, wavy brown hair frame her face in an almost ethereal way, highlighting the otherwise almost invisible freckles above her cheekbones, and the honey-like color of her eyes that has always induced me into a trance-like state. 

More often than not, she uses some shade of red lipstick, but her lips have a natural glazed rose color, which in saying I find very tempting I'm coming short. Consequently, as aforementioned, she's beautiful. 

I have told her that so many times and she always waves it off, either because she doesn't know how to handle compliments or simply because she doesn't believe it herself. But she is, every ounce of her.

Alex picks one box from the rack and brings it back with her.

"It never crossed my mind that you were a collector." I think this woman will never go a day without surprising me.

Like that one time that we were discussing a passage from a novel in class and I, for the sake of my nine years studying literature professionally, couldn't remember the specific aspects of it that belonged to naturalism and those who were strictly romantic. Alexia, out of all my 30 students, recited each line of it with its respective elements and characteristics.

Or that other time she ate two bags of popcorns in like five minutes. 

"This is my favorite one." She removes the box lid, giving view to countless, tiny puzzle pieces. "It's the Starry Night by Van Gogh."

She can speak four languages fluently —Russian being the fourth one, no less and no more—, knows by heart the American literature timeline, can match almost every great quote to its author, can recite the whole Titanic movie, and on top of that she can solve 1,000+ pieces puzzles? 

She's unbelievable.

"I'm not good with this kind of things."

"What do you mean? Everyone can solve jigsaw puzzles." Not me, trust me.

"I loathe board games and anything similar, everyone in my family knows that."

"You never played Monopoly?"