The Difference Between Getting and Needing

f o r t y - t w o

Gus didn't say anything in response. Instead, he spun around in my arms until we were facing one another. I watched droplets of water trickle down his forehead from his drenched hair as he shifted us out of the steady stream coming from the showerhead.

I felt one of his hands rest on my lower back while the other came up to cup my cheek. His gaze was locked on mine, dropping for a second when his thumb swiped at the skin below my eye. When he pulled it back, I saw his thumbpad smeared in black from my runny mascara. He just smiled at it, so fondly you would have thought he was holding a newborn baby, then joined it with the other hand at the small of my back.

His eyes, as bright and blue as humanly possible, grabbed my attention when they landed on me again. "I'm sorry," he murmured. I started to shake my head in protest, but he wasn't finished. "I'm sorry I shut you out today and that I let my dad get inside my head. I didn't talk to him after I left the table, I just needed to be alone. I didn't wanna say something I'd regret or give you another reason to be mad at me. I should've talked to you about it, I didn't, and I'm sorry. I might be a changed man like you said, but I'm still gonna make mistakes. I'm working on it, though."

"I know you are and that's all that counts," I said. "And I'm not mad at you. I want you to know that I'm here for you, and I love you, always."

"I love you, too. How the hell did I get so lucky?" A lopsided grin stretched across his face.

"I ask myself that every day." I shrugged with a shy smile, recalling how Mrs. Monahan and I once had this same conversation. It was funny how everything always seemed to come full circle in my life no matter what it was.

He scanned my face, from the trails of mascara staining my under eyes, to the slope of my cheekbones, to the shape of my lips until he memorized every feature about me like if he had to give a description of me to anyone, his answer would be a reflex. When his stare lingered on my mouth, I leaned up to kiss him and closed that last empty space between us.

I wasn't sure why I thought it wouldn't get heated in a matter of seconds. We were both naked in the shower after a draining weekend spent with our families – it was inevitable.

His hands were kneading my ass, his tongue had gladly slipped through my lips when I parted them for him, and I felt a third party join us as it poked my thigh.

Before things went entirely too far, I pried myself away and panted, "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah." He answered me when I didn't even get the whole question out, his heavy-lidded gaze catching mine for a second until it was back on my mouth.

"You promise?"

"Bay, I promise. I'm fine." He was practically whining now.

"I just wanna be sure," I said. He nodded hastily, and right as his lips were about to touch mine again, I lunged back. "Hey, by the way, what did you do with my dad and my brothers all day?"

He rolled his eyes at my untimely question, but he amused me anyway. "Nothing that concerns you yet."

I scoffed, "Yet? What the hell does that mean?"

"Can you be quiet?" He snapped, the playful glint in his eyes conflicting with his growling tone. "I'd like to fuck my wife but you're talking too much."

A surge of heat swept me from head to toe that had nothing to do with the temperature of the water.

He was waiting for my answer with raised brows and a flat expression. All that came out of me was a flustered giggle, like it was seven years ago and Gus just broke the flirting barrier for the first time.

"Fine," I surrendered dramatically. "Can we get out of the shower first though? I love you, but it gets way too cramped in here."

"Uh-huh, yeah sure," he said under his breath, clearly distracted with his mind in other places.

His head dipped, and his lips latched onto mine without another word. We never made it out of the shower.

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A/N - i love my kids and that's all i gotta say. this chapter came out of nowhere to tell y'all the truth lol. since the next chapter is gonna be another big guy, i thought we needed a cute lil buffer in between. i found that gif of chris wood in the shower and went... ok... i can work with this. ergo, this chapter was born.

thoughts, if any??? it was just a fluffy #bus chapter tbh. it shows how they're not Perfect (they probably never will be because that's life) but they're working on it. we have come so FAR like ?!? old bayla and gus would have Snapped on each other but we ain't about to relive chapter 1 again lol. also i haven't written a flashback scene since before sutton's wedding i think, so i was like it's time for another! just preparing myself to write the book of one-shots dedicated to baby B+G :') like i said i don't have a plot for an actual "prequel" book but i can definitely just do random scenes i've wanted to write but never did. i know a lot of y'all said you liked that idea so if you're down, i am also down!!! just lemme know.

i say every song is gus and bayla's but y'all... lover of mine by 5sos????? i'm done. emo as fuck. like did gus write those lyrics or ??? lol jk i'll give credit to my boys. bless them for putting out such a dope album during these weird af times. hope y'all are doing alright. thank you SO much for reading and i love ya lots!!!

xoxo, sabbbycat