Les Femmes Fatales [2]

▪ Twenty-Six

Her eyes slowly fluttered open and she looked around her but upon feeling the steady rise and fall of a chest beside her, her eyes closed once more as she tried to enjoy the moment. Memories of last night came back in her mind, dancing until her feet hurt, kisses exchanged in a messy manner as they moved in the dance floor, being surrounded by friends, then coming home, kisses stolen during the night, silent proclamations of love that made her feel warm inside. It was probably the best birthday in her entire life and if she could, she would relive last night until she got bored of it.

She had seen a side of her friends she hardly saw last night. Aili was her usual cheerful self, always the life of the party in such situations, Qara had loosened up somewhat but everything had been entirely controlled. Amadi had been a surprise, making Branka try to make a move but in the end only flirting with her for the duration of the night. The biggest surprise of the night, though, was Karina. Stella couldn't take the way she moved out of her mind, and as soon as she thought about it, she would then remember the look on Ian's face as he watched her. She had never seen that look on him before, a mixture of surprise, awe, understanding and anticipation. She would tease him about it the moment she saw him again, that was a given.

She could feel Chris move slightly beneath her hand as he stirred in his sleep but didn't move away from her. Stella opened her eyes once more and tried to stand up to take a better look at him only to realise his hand was over her body under the covers, keeping her in place. With a small smile, she snuggled up to him as she tried to get warmer. Her slight movement though brought him to wake up.

Chris opened his eyes and looked around, eyelids still heavy from sleep as he looked down at her, as soon as he realised she was awake, sending her a small smile. "Good morning."

"I'm not sure it's morning but yeah, good morning."

His smile widened as he reached down and pressed a kiss on her forehead. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah. Did you?"

He hummed as he closed his eyes once more. "I can't believe Mike and Terrence would tell the girls I liked I only wanted an one-night thing. Of course, Brandon didn't participate. He's a good guy."

"So you thought I was nothing special when you first saw me?"

"You were a pretty brunette that was sitting in front of me in some classes. Mike is right, I started noticing you more after seeing you dance. It's not just because of that, though. We had talked a few times and I thought you were a good person, funny too, at times. I was already attracted to you physically, it wasn't hard liking you as a person too."

"That's sweet," she mumbled as she snuggled up to him. "When I first saw you I thought you were just like Mike. I admit I didn't have the best first impression. But then I sat in front of you in some classes and heard your conversations and realised that wasn't true. Then I started thinking you had immense patience." Chris couldn't help but laugh at that, bringing her to smile against him at the sound. "We started talking and I liked you as a person. I started to like the way you look some time after that."

"So you didn't think I was handsome at first?"

"I'm afraid not. As I've told you before, I prefer surrounding myself with good rather than pretty people."

"Well, I'm sorry, but I notice a person's appearance first."

"You're not the only one."

He chuckled once more. "Would you look at that, making such kind of confessions four years after being together. It took us some time to share that."

"At least we have something new to talk about."

"Most of your friends know how to dance," he mumbled, completely changing the topic of the conversation. "I had also never properly noticed how Karina looked until now."