The pic on the side is of the girl I casted as Grace (Alexis Ren) in her sundress this chapter <3
Chapter Thirty One: Painting
The sun streams through the trees. The weather is in the high seventies and I'm sitting on the back patio in a blue sundress. There's a slight breeze to the air, and Danny is sitting across from me, finishing the last few questions with me on our Economics study guide.
Once we finish this, we can stop working. It's a beautiful Saturday as I shut my textbook in sync with him.
He's still acting weird, and it's been three days.
We put our things in our books and set them aside.
"Danny, what are we?" I wonder.
"What do you mean?" He asks.
"I mean...us. What are we?"
He studies me for a while, and then he just shrugs.
"I don't know."
We fall silent after that, and a few minutes later, he speaks again.
"How slow do you want to take things?"
I frown.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean..." he sighs. "How slow do you want to go? Physically? I know you said everything will happen when it happens, but how many times do things almost have to happen before you let it happen?"
I think back to Wednesday when he went to kiss me and I avoided him.
"Is that why you've been upset?" I ask.
"Why?" He asks.
He wants me to say it.
I take a deep breath and then I sigh.
"Because you went to kiss me and I moved away?"
He sighs slowly.
"It's hard to control my hands around you." He says. "And my mouth on your skin, and everything and anything involving you, so when you stood up that day...it hurt. Why do you always hesitate with me?"
"Danny, I don't want my first real kiss to be in a dingy high school hallway."
"So I can kiss you right now?" He asks.
"Nope."
"Why not?" He sighs. "I don't get it."
"Because it can't be planned. Planning moments like that makes both of us nervous. It needs to just happen. You can't plan it and neither can I."
He folds his arms across his chest and pouts like a little kid. I smile.
"So I'm not gross?"
"You're not gross." I smile. I pause. "Were you mad at me?"
"I wasn't mad." He says. "I was confused, because if you feel the same way I do, I just don't know why it hasn't happened yet."
"It will happen." I say. "I promise it will happen." I pause.
"After the first kiss, can I kiss you whenever I want?"
"Yes." I nod.
He huffs.
"Fine. I'll be patient, but only because your lips look worth it."
I laugh.
My Dad is in the house and Beatrice and Caleb are coming over later, but I don't mind if he can see us. I feel happy lately, so nothing really bothers me.
I pick my phone up and start scrolling through tumblr for inspiration, pausing on a picture of a girl laying on her stomach. She's topless from the waist up, and somebody painted a sunset on her back.
I think to the toolbox of acrylic paints I have under my bed, and then I look to Danny.
"Can I paint on your back?"
"What?" He asks.
"Can I paint on your back?" I repeat.
He hesitates.
"Sure." He shrugs.
I grin and set my phone next to me.
"I'll be right back."
I go to my room to get my toolbox. I have paint brushes and a cup in it. I get him a sheet to lay on and two pillows.
I fill the cup with water and go back outside.
I set everything down on a patio chair and walk over to the grass. He's wearing black basketball shorts today and a white t-shirt, but he pulls the shirt off and sets it down.
I swear to god, I'm drooling.
I've seen Danny shirtless. I've seen Danny naked, but now it's different, and he looks so attractive. He has a six pack and a v-line. His arms are buff and he's a walking God.
He lies down on the sheet I laid out and adjusts the pillows.
"What are you going to paint?" He asks.
"A dick. Maybe two."
He laughs a little.
I use my paint tray from my toolbox and start mixing colors. Usually people base paintings off of another painting, but I'm going to freehand it and just draw something that calms me or something.
I sit to the left of his hip, my left leg bent and pressed against his side, and my right leg bent over his butt and my foot in the grass next to his right hip.
When I have what I think is what I'm looking for, I start painting.
He starts playing country music through his phone and just lies there, talking to me about anything and everything.
We haven't had a chance to sit down and just talk lately, so it feels nice to have him here.
"When we grow up, we should have a house on the beach in North Carolina or something." He says suddenly. "And we can have a backyard that goes right out to the water, and we can plant two full sized trees and tie a hammock to them, and we can go out there and lay out and I can watch you paint, because you're so beautiful."
I'm smiling as I whisk the paint brush around his back.
"I love you, Danny."
"I love you too." He says. "Where do you want to go to college?"
"I don't know." I say. "I don't care where we go, as long as I'm with you."
"So we could go live in the Bronx? In a studio apartment full of bugs?"
My hand pauses with the paintbrush.
"Are you killing the bugs?" I ask.
"Yes."
"Then yes, we can."
He sighs.
"I can't wait." He says.
"Can't wait for what?" I ask, painting again.
"I can't wait for the rest of my life with you."
I smile.
"Me too."
We're both quiet for a little while and it's just comfortable, and birds are chirping overhead.
After a long time, I speak.
"I forgave my Mom for what she did to me."
Doesn't say anything for a second, and then, "Really?"
"Really."
We both stay quiet for a moment, and then he speaks again.
"And how did that go?"
"I cried. She cried. Whatever. She apologized, which I think is what I needed to hear."
"Do you think she meant it?" He asks.
"I think so. I don't know."
"Are are you guys...like, okay?"
"No." I shake my head even though he can't see me. "We will probably never be okay, but I forgave her. I still don't trust her. She still makes me edgy and anxious, but I forgave her."
"I'm proud of you, Gracelyn."
My heart warms.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome."
I keep painting, and then I pause to just look down at him. His arms are up and folded. His head is rested on his arms, his eyes shut gently.
"You're so handsome." I whisper. I reach forward with the hand that holds the paintbrush to brush his hair out of his eyes, but the brush slips from my hand and I get a streak of turquoise paint on his cheek.
He sits up quickly, his hand on his cheek, his jaw half open.
"Hey!"
I start laughing.
"I didn't mean to!" I grin.
With a devious smile, he picks up the brush and gets a streak down my cheek too. I shove him playfully and he lunges at me, pinning me down in the grass. He climbs on top of each, straddling my hips, and starts tickling me.
It's so cliché, but this might be one of the happiest moments in my life.
I'm roaring in laughter, squirming to get away.
"P-lease stop!" I rasp. His hands tickling my ribs and sides for a few more seconds before he stops.
I smile up at him and he grins down at me, lowering his body. His elbows prop himself up above me.
"Next time you drop paint on my face, I'm throwing you in the pool." He warns.
I open my mouth for a witty response, but I close it.
He's so close to me, I can see every speck of color in his eyes. I'm at a loss for words.
The smile slowly fades off of my face, and I raise my left hand up to his right cheek. The paint is on the other side, and there's probably nothing more pure than this moment, with paint covering my hands and on both of our faces, and the next thing I know, he's leaning in, but this time, I don't pull away, I welcome it.
His lips brush against mine, and our eyes shut on the impact.
My body feels alive with sparks and warmth, radiating through me like the blood in my veins. After just a second, he pulls away slightly, and then he kisses me again, harder this time. He tastes like the strawberries we had when we were working on our study guides. His lips are smooth and warm, not wet, but not chapped either. We start to move together, in perfect synchrony with each other. I feel his tongue slip into my mouth and I open it wider to give him better access. I feel heat all over my body and chills, and then warmth spools out into my panties.
I feel like I've just been ignited with life. I reach both hands up and tangle them in his hair, and I want to feel him all over my body, and that's not a feeling I'm used to.
I shiver, and after a moment, he pulls away, opening his beautiful brown eyes to peer into mine.
Good lord, he's so handsome.
"Are you cold?" He whispers.
I run my fingers through my hair and bite my lip as I shake my head. I blink lazily, and I want more kisses from him.
He hasn't pulled back any more, and after a moment, he shifts and lifts his left hand to brush against my cheek.
"Be my girlfriend." He whispers. "Be my girlfriend now, and then be mine forever later."
"Okay." I whisper, and I know I'll never be single again, and there isn't a single thing that could make me happier.
*****
I'm melting
~Sam