*MATURE CONTENT AHEAD*
Day One
The insistent ringing of the alarm to which I wasn't used startled me away from my sleep. I quickly pressed the 'Snooze' button and turned to the other side to get some more good sleep.
I'd be lying if I told you I wasn't enjoying sleeping. Is it just me or does the bed feel more comfortable when you know you're about to leave it?
A few minutes later, I realized what day it was. I realized that that morning was way out of my routine, so I turned back to the phone and switched it on. The next alarm was about to ring, so I deactivated it.
I admit I did something very much so out of character, that morning, when I jumped out of the bed and ran to the bathroom. I wouldn't be this active in the morning if the whole room was falling apart.
It was the day. The day. How could I even just think about sleeping a little more. It was five in the morning. I had to shower. Had to.
It was 5:50 when I got out of the shower. I made sure that every inch of my body was very well clean. If there ever was a time to wash for a good reason, it was now.
I took a long look at myself in the mirror. I stared at my wet hair. This was a decisive moment in my life. I wouldn't have time to wash my hair again. As a matter of fact, I was already late. So I had only one chance of not fucking up the hairstyle as I always did.
This was the one day when I absolutely could not afford to have a bad hair day. I grabbed the volumizing mousse I'd bought a year ago and kept exclusively for this day. I sprayed it in my hands, a big ball of foam, quickly rubbed it and then slammed in my hair.
That mousse was supposed to give my hair enough volume to shape into the quiff I wanted, so I prayed six different deities it wouldn't screw up.
I blew the hair dryer on the back of my head, and I quickly started to give my hair a personality. When I was done with the blowdryer, I was happy with how my hair was shaping up to be.
Just one more little touch, now. Putting the hair clay on could've easily fucked everything up. That's why it took me about twenty minutes of applying and re-applying to get the closest version to the desired result. My mom was already calling my name, telling me to move or we'd lose the plane.
It was weird. My mom saying that we'd lose a plane. For seventeen years I'd gotten so used to the idea of my mom being scared of planes that I thought I'd never be on one. But 'the power of love is a curious thing', as that Back To The Future song said, and that day was magical. Out of the ordinary. Never before.
I put too much clay. My hair was hard to the touch, but as long as no one would lay a hand on it, it looked good.
The cab that would take us to the airport was already there when I left the house. My father was loading three big bags on it. "You made it," he shouted at me, "thought we were gonna have to leave without you."
I smirked. My mom was already sitting in the backseat of the cab when I joined her. "This is crazy," she said, as if she was thinking out loud.
"Mom," I said, a smile on my face. "I'm thankful. For once."
When we reached the airport, I'm pretty sure my parents had the same exact thought I had: to turn around and go back home.
Never had I seen so many people running around, so much confusion, constant hubbub making your ears hurt. And the place was huge. There were thousands of people in it and it still looked huge. It must be bigger than I could even imagine.
"Come on," my mom said, "we have to go through the security thingamajig."
And so the adventure started. What felt like an entire hour but probably was only ten minutes of searching for the airport security. A desperate swimming through that crowd that, at one point, made my head hurt.
"Maybe we should ask someone," I said.
"Yeah, maybe we should," my mom said, looking at my father.
"I don't know where it is," my father said, "never been here."
"Jesus," my mom griped as she grabbed a hold of her luggage and reached for a young guy dressed in green whose job I guess was to put some kind of wrapping around bags.
"Excuse me, do you know where the airport security is?" My mom asked.
"Sure, you have to go that way, right ahead until you read 'Gates'. Then you turn the way it tells you to turn and you'll find it."
"Thank you," my father said. The young man smiled and extended a hand with an open palm. My father reached out to shake it.
"Did you want to get payed for that?" My mom asked, her brows furrowed.
"No," the guy smiled, "it was just a joke."
We all chuckled nervously.
After following the guy's instructions, we found ourselves in the back of a very long queue. "So that's it?" My mom asked. "We just have to follow this line?"
"I guess," my father said.
"For the love of God," my mom barked towards my father, "you go around feeling cool and cosmopolitan and shit and then you're scared to even just ask something to a stranger."
And she reached for a man in a suit, who started talking big words and fast, and all we understood was 'police'.
"I think we have to go check with the police first," my mom said.
"What?" I shouted. "That doesn't make any sense."
"Well, it is right there," my mom pointed at my left, a room that simply said 'Police'.
My father reached that door, as we all followed him, and rang the buzzer.
"Yes?"
"We have to check the bags," my father said.
"What?"
"You have to check our bags."
The door opened and we all went in. Inside, there was just a man behind a desk. "Sorry, I didn't catch what you said."
"We have to go through security," my father explained.
"Okay," the man scratched his jaw, "so why are you here?"
"They told us to go to the police first," my mom said.
The man raised a brow. "No...?"
"Well, that's what they told us," my mom said.
"Who told you that?"
"A man outside."
"Is this your first time in an airport?"
"Yes," my mom said.
He chuckled. "Well, you didn't need to come here. All you have to do is follow that big line out there, go through the metal detectors, and find your gate. And you'll be good to go."
"Oh, I see," my mom said, embarrassed, "sorry for bothering you."
The man tilted his head. "No worries."
Man, I wish I was alone.
When we finally got in position among the people, I took a look at my phone. There was a text from Evelyn.
- I'm already waiting for you at the airport.
That text sent butterflies flying around in my stomach. It was happening. It really was.
Going through the security and finding our gate was easier than I thought and, soon enough, we were on the plane.
- I'm on the plane now. See you in 404 miles, my love.
The plane took an awful lot of time to take off, but when it did it felt so weird. I felt light headed, and if I moved my head around, I would have an headache.
Thankfully the flight took just a little over one hour. When I got out, I felt like an astronaut finally coming back to Earth.
It's real, I thought, I'm standing on Ohio ground. I'm about to meet the love of my life.
My relationship with Evelyn had been going on for more than one year and, possibly due to the long-distance nature of it, it always felt more like fantasy, like a fairytale, than real. But, when I touched Cleveland ground with my feet, I knew the fairytale was about to get real.
"Honey, I'm here. I just got off the plane," I said on the phone.
"Oh my God," she shouted, "okay. I'll wait for you here where... well, there are doors. So you'll find me by the doors."
"By the doors. Alright, see you soon."
I wanted to jump as I did in my house, but there were too many people around.
The bus that would take us from plane to airport took quite a while to start. My parents and I were smooshed in with everyone else, and all I wanted to do was get out and run on my own toward the airport.
Thankfully, after a while, we made it. We entered and I quickly put my glasses on to look around. Looking for someone you've never seen before isn't exactly the easiest job.
"Hold on," I said to my parents when I saw some doors, "she told me where to find her. Wait right here."
I left my bag with them and ran toward those doors. I wanted to do this right. I didn't want the first time I saw her to be in front of my parents. I wanted to be on my own, look cool, and stand in a thirty minute long hug with her.
The doors opened as soon as I reached them. Quickly, I took off my glasses. I couldn't afford her seeing me for the first time with glasses. Inside, a lot of people wandering around with signs in their hands. I could only read what those signs said when they came near me.
I thought maybe Evelyn should have brought a sign too. Maybe if she brought a sign simply saying 'Charming' and held it high, it would be easier to find her. That place I had just entered was some kind of a cubicle. I wondered why she would wait for me there.
I looked around and kept looking around. She was nowhere to be found. I looked at my phone. No notifications. I noticed I was starting to sweat. Why couldn't something in life, just for once, be easy. I started to despair.
"Sweetie!" I heard a voice at one point. I looked where that voice came from, and there she was. Coming toward me from the same door I'd entered before. And I couldn't catch a good glimpse of her face because she immediately wrapped her arms around me.
I hugged her back. I touched her hair. It didn't feel as soft as it looked. My heart was beating fast. She was tall. Taller than I expected and taller than any other girl I'd been used to. She was about my height, but she felt taller.
That sudden burst of action had caught me unprepared, so it took me a while to realize I finally had her in my arms. My girlfriend. I had a real girlfriend who was hugging me. I tightened my grip around her, finally giving her a hug of my own and not just taking part in her hug.
She suddenly pushed me out of it, I was still smiling from happiness and disbelief when she reached for my mouth with her lips, resulting in probably kissing my teeth.
The smile disappeared from my face. I'm pretty sure there used to be a lot of noise around us, but in that moment I felt deaf. "Oh shit," I said or shouted, "Sorry." She had an expression on her face that I don't remember.
So I closed my mouth and reached for hers. And we were finally kissing. I had waited so long for that moment, to once again feel what I only felt once with Amber. I had waited so long to feel the unexplainable magic of one's lips touching someone else's. And I'd love to tell you about butterflies, and tongues, and hands, and exquisite feelings, but the reality of it is that I felt nothing of sorts.
I didn't even close my eyes. That kiss felt exactly like kissing the back of my hand would feel. No butterflies, no rapid heart. The only reaction I had was in my pants.
I tried to hide my disappointment by smiling. "Honey," I said.
"Damn, why did you have your mouth open like that when I tried to kiss you?" She argued.
"I didn't expect you to kiss me so soon," I explained, "I had a way longer hug in mind."
"I've been wanting to kiss you for over a year now, haven't you?"
"Yeah, of course. I just—"
"Why were you here?" She asked, smiling. Her face looked different. I mean, she was still as pretty as she looked in pictures and video-chats, but there her face looked perfect. Now that I had her right in front of my eyes, I realized she had some kind of acne around her face making it look not as soft as it did online.
"You told me I'd find you by the doors," I explained.
She chuckled. "Yeah, but I meant those doors." She pointed towards the big exit doors, out of that cubicle.
"I'm such an idiot," I said, smiling shyly.
"I met your parents," she said.
"What?" I panicked.
"Yeah, they're standing right outside," she kept smiling, "I recognized them from the pictures."
"Fuck it," I said, realizing that everything I'd so carefully planned had fallen flat on its back.
"Come on, let's get back to them," she said, grabbing my hand and running toward the doors. She almost snapped my thumb, so I tried to adjust my grip around her hand which, by the way, was sweatier than mine.
When we exited the cubicle, we found my parents waiting there with the bags. I freed my hand from Evelyn's to grab my bag, but she quickly took my other hand. So now I was holding my bag in one hand, and Evelyn in the other.
"We have to go with a cab," my mom said. "Evelyn, do you know where to find them?"
"Um, not really," she replied, "but wait a second, I'll ask."
She ran to our right without letting go of my hand. I thought she meant for me to wait there too, but apparently I was wrong. So she dragged me with her and asked a woman where to take a cab.
She then ran back to my parents, still dragging me with her, as her pink and black dress swayed from her speed.
Of course, my parents couldn't do something as simple as booking a hotel room. They had to rent a house for the four days. So the cab ride was simply out of this world. We were once again smooshed in together. Evelyn started kissing me.
I awkwardly smiled. "Hold your horses, he-he."
"I've held them for over a year," she said.
Thankfully, we managed to reach the house, where a man on his forties was waiting for us.
"Are you the Charmings?" He said and Evelyn chuckled.
"Okay, so this is the house. Kitchen's got everything you need, except for food in the fridge, ha-ha. Bathroom's that way. If you'll follow me. Here. Towels, soap, shower, everything. Even a bidet. If you know what that is. 'Cause I didn't, ha-ha. Follow me again cause here's one of the bedrooms, as you can see. Big bed. For two, heck, even three, ha-ha. Aaaand, this way, it's the other bedroom! One small bed for one. But I bet you can make room for two, ha-ha."
"Are all Clevelanders that funny?" I asked quietly to Evelyn.
"You can bet they are," she said, seriously.
"No, but that was sarcasm— I meant it as—"
"Now that I think of it, didn't you guys say there were three of you?" The man said looking at Evelyn.
"Yeah, no, I'm not with them," Evelyn said. "I'm a Clevelander, you know. I'm just his girlfriend."
"Oh, you're together!" He looked like he wanted to clap his hands so bad. "And you're from New York, right?"
"Yeah," I said.
"And how do you make this work? Long-distance?"
"Yeah, we make it work like we're doing right now," Evelyn bitterly replied.
The man stared at the floor with his mouth open for a few seconds and then clicked his tongue. "I see. Well, I should really leave now. Make yourselves comfortable!"
Evelyn and I went in my bedroom. "It's cool," she said.
"It's okay," I replied. And she made her way to my lips again. And I tried, really tried, to lose myself in it, but I just couldn't. When she was done with it, she looked satisfied, somehow, and straight-up wiped her mouth with her hand.
"What the—"
"We have to buy groceries," my mom interrupted me, opening the door. "Evelyn, would you bring us to the nearest market?"
"Of course!"
And so we had to go to the market with my parents. I mean, I get that things weren't exactly going as I expected, but maybe it was just the initial shock. Maybe things would be okay if I only had the chance to be alone with her for more than one minute.
"Well, this sucks," Evelyn said at one point.
"I'm sorry," I said.
"I want to be with you," she cried.
"Yeah, me too."
What felt like two eternities later, we made it back home, and Evelyn and I went to my room as my parents were in the kitchen.
We sat on the bed and she put her arms around my neck. "You know, I think I've yet to hear your dad's voice," she said.
"Better that way. Trust me." Her arms somehow felt heavy on my shoulders, so I struggled.
She leaned forward to kiss me. I closed my eyes. Erased my thoughts. Tried to stop breathing. Tried getting some tongue in there. She backed off. And she wiped her mouth with her hand. And reached my mouth with her hand to wipe that too.
"Woah," I cringed, "why do you do that?"
"Do what?"
"Wipe your mouth after we kiss?"
"Well, I can feel, like, the saliva still there and it's kinda weird."
"Well, you don't have to do that. It's not very nice."
"So how do you suppose I do?" She honestly wondered.
"I don't know...? I never really thought of it."
She sighed and then smiled. "Let's take a selfie!"
"Um, okay... I'm kind of a mess right now," I tried to fix my hair.
"What are you talking about? You're beautiful," she said.
"Please."
She put herself in front of me, phone staring at us through the front-facing camera. I tried to appear in the picture from behind her head. Her hair getting in all the places. My eyes, my nose, my mouth. I tried to position myself a little further from her, away from her hair's reach.
She took some eleven photos of the same type, just a tiny bit different head angulation.
When we looked back at them, I realized my eyes were red where they were supposed to be white. "Shit, I look stoned," I said. "Why didn't you tell me I have those bloodshot eyes?"
"I didn't even notice," she said, staring into my eyes. "Well, I do see it now. Why is that?"
"I don't know. Maybe I'm just a little tired from the trip."
"Come here," she opened her arms, welcoming me in a hug. It felt nice at first, but then I started feeling uncomfortable with my back being all twisted.
Suddenly, my mom entered the room, and Evelyn broke the hug. "If you're looking for us," my mom said, "we're right outside."
"Okay, mom," I said, scratching my head.
We heard the front door opening and closing. "They're out," she said.
"Indeed." And she straight-up jumped over me. She started kissing me harder than usual. Slamming my back on the bed, getting over me. Okay, I thought, violent stuff. That I can get into. Let's show her who rules here. And I turned her over. I was now on top, and I started emulating the hard erotic kisses. I kissed her neck, and slowly but surely made my way down.
I grabbed the end of her dress and tried to strip her of it. She didn't cooperate, so I had to raise her body from the bed in order to get the dress up to her neck. I kissed her just to make sure she was okay with what I was doing, and she kissed back. Still those kisses meant nothing to me, but when I looked down, under the dress twisted around her neck, at her body wearing nothing but bra and panties, it all started to mean something to me.
I kissed her just under where the dress laid, and made my way down to one of her breasts. The neckline of the bra warned my tongue, but my hand grabbed it and put that cup out of the way, unveiling the nakedness that eluded me for over a year. I looked up at her face, she was smiling. And that was all the confirmation I needed to keep the tongue action on going and bring it to unprecedented places.
Though suddenly, we heard the front door opening. "Shit," I nervously said. She pushed me away and got up. Put her dress back in place and fixed her hair. Soon, the bedroom door opened and it was my dad. "Hey, we're making dinner now, alright?"
"Yeah," I said and cleared my throat. "Alright."
"Damn," Evelyn said smiling. "He was expecting to find some action going, right? I mean, did you see how he ran to this room?"
"Yeah. Told you, better off not knowing what he's like."
"Well, it's late," she said. "I should head back home now. I'll see you tomorrow morning, okay?"
"Yeah, okay. Let me walk you to the door."
She said goodbye to my parents and gave me a kiss. "I can't believe you're really here." And another one for good measures. "See you tomorrow."
I sighed as she left the house. I took out my phone, a text from Belle.
– Heyyyy are you there?? How is it? Talk to meee
I smiled.
– Sorry Belle. Been one hell of a trip. I am here, yes. And, well, things are weird. To say the least. I don't know honestly. Wouldn't even know how to start telling you. So maybe tomorrow night I'll call you and tell you. After I get a better understanding of the situation.
– Hey you're worrying me. Are u 404 miles away or not
– ERROR 404, you should say
– What happened?
– Nothing. Nothing happened. I met Evelyn and I don't know how I felt. That's it. Don't worry. Call you tomorrow, alright?
– Alright!
I threw myself on the bed. I closed my eyes and it never felt so good. Now I finally understood what it meant to 'rest my eyes'. I sighed and, when I did, it felt like I'd been holding my breath all day.
***
Hello Robbers, I'm back! I'm really really really sorry I had you waiting over a month for this chapter. It's been one hectic month irl, and I didn't even have time to think.
Though, as you can see, it was worth the wait, since this chapter is HUGE. In both length and content. Did you expect this turn of events? I hope you're not too disappointed in how things turned out. Remember: this isn't over. There are still three chapters and the epilogue left. So wait before you jump to any conclusions like good old Pete's doing!
In the meanwhile, feel free to share your thoughts via a COMMENT and to show your support with a VOTE. If you're still here after all this time, I love you. The next chapter will be out somewhere in the next week. Promise! Until then, enjoy the rest of your holidays, happy new year, ta-ta for now!
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