Troye's POV.
I wake up to the sound of the shower running and sigh, knowing before I open my eyes that Tyler is no longer wrapped up in bed with me. Our sleepy snuggles earlier had been tantalizing and I want more of his touch already. I open my eyes but immediately shut them again due to the bright light streaming in through the window. Tyler had obviously woken up and decided to throw open the curtains before jumping into the shower. I grumble quietly to myself but shuffle out of bed, glad to be on the third floor and therefore the window being out of eyeshot from any passers-by due to my naked body being on full display. Our hotel is located in the middle of nowhere, with only fields and a lake surrounding it but through the open window, I can hear the general chatter and sounds of other hotel guests enjoying breakfast on the patio. I wander over to the desk, my lips tugging upwards into a gratified grin as I remember Tyler carrying me over there last night.
I catch sight of myself in the mirror positioned above the desk and cast my eyes down my reflection. After rubbing sleep from my eyes, I conclude that I don't look too bad considering my (pleasantly) disturbed sleep and the previous night's alcohol consumption. In fact I don't feel too bad either, this realisation instantly making me glad of the water I made myself and Ty drink before bed. I inspect the purple bruise just below my collar bone and smile, glad that it will be easy to hide. Everyone knows that Tyler and I are together but there is no need in anyone flaunting marks of affection- that was one of the many things we agreed on, love bites should always be placed in places that only we will see. They are our private markings solely for our own enjoyment; our sensual secrets. With Ty breezing into my thoughts I wander into the bathroom, hoping to catch him still in the shower.
Steamy mist blocks my view of my boyfriend, the glass panel of the shower completely fogged over. In a bid to solve this unfortunate dilemma, I pull the door open and clamber inside with him. Immediately his face lights up, a smile taking over his mouth as he sees me join him.
"Good Morning babe, you woke up quicker than I expected" he says cheerfully, grabbing my wrists pulling me in towards his body. Hot water ricochets down onto our bodies and off again hitting the tiles as I lean down slightly and give him three quick close mouthed kisses.
"Mmm well it was hard to stay asleep when you exposed the sun to my eyes" I reply after breaking away from his lips.
"Ah yeah, sorry. I didn't really think about that. I just knew our room stank of sex, sweat and alcohol and I figured I best open the window"
I give him a shrug as I reach over to grab the shampoo bottle. "There are worse things than waking up in time to shower with my guy" I state squeezing the fruity shampoo into my hand. I wait a moment for him to finish washing suds from his body, enjoying the way his hands glide over his own skin. I love that although he has many insecurities about his body, he is entirely at ease when around me. The first few times I saw him naked, he had been shy. I begin to work the shampoo into his hair, massaging at his scalp. I remember how he used to try and bargain with me, offering me extra kisses in exchange for being allowed to keep his shirt on and how that when I refused this, he would beg for the light to be turned off. Surprisingly though, and thankfully, it didn't take too long for him to realise that I honestly adore his body. Looking at him now almost two years later, I am still intensely attracted to him. His voice suddenly puts an end to my silent reminiscing,
"Troye as much as I love your fingers running through my hair, I have already washed and conditioned it this morning, I was literally just about to get out when you got in".
I start to wash the shampoo out, temporarily ignoring his comment. I finish ensuring all the suds are gone and quickly give his bum a light, playful smack telling him to be on his way and leave me to shower if he is all finished. His lips part to protest at my touch but I give him another quick kiss and open the shower door for him. He quickly hops out before too much water sprays onto the hotel floor. I continue to shower by myself, singing along to the music that Tyler soon blasts from the bedroom.
It is not long before we both are clean, dressed and eager to eat. I stick my head out of the window and Tyler gives me a look that suggests he thinks I might be going crazy.
"What?" I question "I'm seeing if it's warm enough to eat breakfast on the patio or if we should just go to the breakfast room"
He laughs at me and reminds me that although it is summer, we are in England and there is no way our LA heat privileged bodies are used to the ten am English weather. The chilled breeze against my face confirms this and we decide to make our way downstairs to the breakfast room.
As we walk into the large, pretty room, I scan it for some of our friends but only see faces of the other guests that we had not known prior to yesterday's wedding. I flash a friendly, polite smile at a couple that I think I remember being introduced to as Jim's Aunt and Uncle as we walk over to an empty table by the window. The window overlooks the hotel gardens and I can see that the marquee is still up from last night, still draped in fairy lights and flower arrangements. The hotel staff are busily cleaning up from the wedding, stacking chairs and sweeping the dance floor. I smile at the memory of Tyler and Sawyer starting a drunken dance battle. It had been an epic and unforgettable night.
"What's making you smile?" Tyler asks me, us both now sat down at the table.
"You, our friends, mostly you..." I hum back at him. He responds with a hearty smile and passes me a breakfast menu.
As we begin to spin off our orders to the friendly young waitress, Zoe and Alfie enter the room making a beeline for our table. I gesture towards them and ask the waitress if she minds holding off on our orders so that the four of us can eat together. She assures me it isn't a problem and that she will be back once we are all ready to order. Zoe and Alfie throw us big grins and chirp "Good Morning boys" at us as they sit in the two spare chairs beside us. Next to me, Zoe places her hand on my arm, giving it a quick squeeze and asks if I had enjoyed the previous day.
"Oh, he did" Alfie sniggers playfully.
My thoughts flash back to him unintentionally interrupting us in the lift last night and I feel my cheeks instantly flush pink. Tyler looks at me momentarily confused but then sudden understanding flashes upon his face. He quickly starts teasing Alfie that it'll be him popping the question and waiting at the end of the aisle for Zoe next. This time its Alfie's turn to flush pink. I chuckle at Tyler gratefully but quickly change the conversation to the menu, saving poor Zoe from further embarrassment.
Halfway through eating our breakfasts, our conversation of laughing at last night's antics and gushing over the days romance dies down and Zoe asks what we plan on doing for the day. I shrug casually, I had been so excited for the wedding and about the fact that I was travelling to England again that I hadn't really thought about what I wanted to do whilst here. We were here for another week yet, two more nights at this hotel before heading over to Brighton to spend the last few days there. We were purposefully avoiding London, knowing that we would only get sucked into work related tasks and as much as we both love our jobs, we had promised we were going to use the wedding as an excuse for a proper vacation. We had agreed that we could edit and tweet as per usual but that everything else could wait until we were back home in LA.
"I want to explore the country side. The view during the drive over here the other day was spectacular, I want to go see it properly" shrills Tyler, unusually animated about the prospect of leaving a Wi-Fi zone.
"Well we were thinking about going for a picnic, come with?" volunteers Alfie, previous embarrassments forgotten.
"Yeah, the receptionist at the front desk recommended a place that's supposed to be really beautiful" adds Zoe.
I glance over at Ty, taking in his eager, bright eyes- I guess anything that made him this excited could only be a good thing.
"Sure, sounds good to us" I reply, confidently speaking for the both of us. The three of us laugh at Tyler's excited giggle and begin to discuss what food we should take and more importantly how we were going to find a nearby store to buy said food. This hotel is stunning and had been perfect for the wedding yesterday but it really is in the middle of no-where. This fact though, means that the receptionist had been able to promise Zoe that the picnic location was likely to be deserted. For this I am glad as it will likely allow us to act however we like without worrying about viewers approaching us. Our viewers have known about us for a few months now but it's still overwhelming and we try, like Zalfie, to keep our relationship toned down when we are in public.
A few hours later I find myself sitting on a grassy bank, shoes off, skinny legs dangling over the edge with my feet submerged in the cold rushing water below me. The morning has developed into a gloriously hot afternoon and I'm enjoying the icy water. The hotel receptionist was right- there is no-one here but us and as a result it is blissfully quiet. I look around, taking in the view; the English country side really is beautiful. And green too, I can't help but think- everything is a rich, luscious green as I continue to take in the picturesque setting. Zoe is struggling with the heat lying in the shade of a blossom tree, Alfie lying shirtless to the side of her but ensuring his toned torso is in the direct sunlight, obviously hoping to get a tan. I smile as I notice his arm stretched out towards her, his fingers twirling her dark pony tail. I throw my head in the opposite direction to locate Ty and find that he is further up the steam paddling and singing to himself. I stand up in the shallow stream and wade towards him, unable to keep a grin off my face as I see him prance around, delighting in making small splashes as he dances. As I approach him I shout out "Nice moves!"
"And don't you know it!" he yells back at me, sassily swaying his hips. I laugh and run the short distance that is left between us, wincing only slightly at the pebbles beneath my feet.
"I think that it might be impossible for you to speak without making me smile" I mumble into his shoulder as I reach him and engulf him into my arms.
"Says you... every time I hear your thick accent I fall for you a little harder" he gleefully replies, reaching onto his tiptoes, giving me a quick kiss. I squeeze him tightly, unable to contain my pleasure at his words.
"Err Troye... can't breathe" he squeaks.
I quickly release him and give him a mischievous flex of my arms.
"Sorry, I forget my own strength sometimes, with these huge guns and all" I joke, pointing at my miniscule arms.
"For someone so tiny, you are surprisingly, pretty strong" he mutters in response, throwing his arms up and around my neck.
"So tiny? Have you seen yourself, Mr. Tiptoes for a kiss?" I tease, pointedly looking down at his tip-toed stance. He mock gasps at my insult and pretends to sulk, pouting his lips and furrowing his forehead. I lean in towards him aiming for a kiss but he turns his head, still mock-sulking. 'That won't do', I think to myself as I grasp his face firmly in my hands, kissing him deeply until his lips massage back against mine. We finish kissing, still stood in the shallow stream, our toes now starting to get cold but us smiling at each other. Detaching his arms from my neck, I link my fingers into his and begin to tug him back up the stream towards our friends and the picnic hamper.
Zoe reaches into her picnic hamper and hands me some floral plastic plates - she at least had come to the wedding prepared for the following days. Tyler is eagerly uncorking the wine whilst Alfie is trying to get to the food. Zoe keeps slapping his hands away, obviously wanting to set out everything before letting him eat.
"But I'm hungryyyy" Alfie growls, his hands still trying to reach into the hamper.
"Alfie, you are twenty-two! You can wait five minutes for food" she quickly scolds him, a flicker of a smile revealing her true amusement.
Soon Zoe is happy that everything is laid out nicely, Ty has poured us wine into the little plastic cups that came with Zoe's hamper and we are all happily enjoying the picnic. Zoe sips on her juice having had to refuse the wine due to being the designated driver and she shares with us how nice it is that we have the chance to hang out like this. She's right, we often get the chance to meet up as we are all constantly travelling the world together for You Tube conventions but it's rare that we have the chance to enjoy lazy days like these together. We all continue to eat, laughing and joking, taking pleasure in the simplicity of our afternoon.
After eating, the four of us lie in the sun content and relaxed. Alfie has Zoe snuggly tucked between his legs, her back against his chest as they sit upright. Tyler is laid flat in front of them, my chin and hands resting on his stomach facing the other couple. I subconsciously play with a daisy in my fingers, plucking its petals off one by one, scattering them onto Tyler's button down. Zoe looks down at me and laughs,
"I used to play that game when I was little!"
I look up at her confused but click into her thought pattern as I clock her gaze on my half plucked daisy. I start to sing out, "he loves me, he loves me not", yanking the remaining petals, playing along with Zoe who has now picked her own daisy and is repeating the same sing-song words. Alfie watches her amused at our childish game. I roll onto my back, my head still balanced on Tyler's stomach as I continue plucking petals with enthusiasm.
Illogically disheartened, I sigh "he loves me not" as I tear off the last creamy petal. Tyler sits up making my head fall to the grass. He leans over me, gazing into my eyes and takes the naked daisy into his fingers. He carelessly tosses it to the grass, whispering a velvety,
"he loves you".
My heart skips a beat and butterflies start to dance in my stomach as I hear his soft words. I look into his blue eyes and my breath notably hitches as I watch him start to retreat back down onto the grass. Without thinking I throw myself forward, grabbing his face, prohibiting him from leaving my sight as I desperately connect my lips with his. He kisses me back softly but jerks away when I nibble at his lips and try to deepen the kiss. He indicates to the others and I blush, suddenly being forced to remember their presence and the related inappropriateness of my hungry kiss. I turn to mumble an apology to them, but see that they too are having their own special moment, oblivious to me and Tyler. I know that we could kiss all we like and neither Zoe nor Alfie would notice, let alone mind but I also know that Tyler isn't into PDA very often- kissing him would have to wait until later. The butterflies that have made home inside my stomach flutter harder at the thought.
I scoot round, lying so that my body is parallel to my boyfriends. I nuzzle into the crook of his warm neck, happily inhaling his smell; a mixture of light cologne and his sweet skin. It isn't often that we tell each other that we love each other and although that sometimes proves to be difficult, its moments like these that I remember how much it is actually worth it. It seems so much more special and meaningful with it being a rare treat and not just three words that we continuously throw at each other. I continue breathing him in as he starts stroking his fingers through my hair. Tyler loves me and right now my day could not get any better.
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