“As long as you love me, we could be starving’, we could be homeless, we could be broke. As Long as you love me, I’ll be your platinum, I’ll be your silver, I’ll be your gold. As long as you love…”-Justin Bieber ‘As Long as You Love Me’
Dea was quiet, humming to herself as she finished Chem lab right before recess. I leaned on the door outside and thought about how cute she looked in the oversized goggles, contrasting the boyish black skinny jeans, white kicks, and a Spider-Man tank top. Her long wavy brown hair was all around her face, and every now and then she’d curse and try to thrust it away.
I pulled down my lime-green sweater and sauntered towards her, resting my palms on her stool, leaning over her shoulder and saying, very quietly, “Boo.”
Dea giggled and kept on with her experiment. “I heard you, Carty.” I tried to stop the shiver that went down my spine. She’d been calling me that a lot lately. Her mom was going to give her her phone the very next day-it would mark the seven month anniversary of, well, you know. I planned to be there when it happened-Dea was sure to have a lot of questions.
“Dea, can I pull your hair back for you?”
“Would you?” She sounded relieved. “Darn hair.”
It’d been forever since I’d touched her satiny hair; my fingers were trembling. The curtain was waving softly, just out of my reach.
I should’ve known it was too much.
Touching her hair brought an onrush of DeaandCarter, CarterandDea. I gathered it gently in my hair and raised it to my nose for a minute-it smelled like her. Brand new kicks, buttery popcorn, and her minty shampoo.
I heard Dea’s intake of breathe as she whirled around, gorgeous eyes wide. She whipped off the goggles and looked at me, stared at me, for the first time since the accident.
“Carty? Oh my Gosh. Nanja?”
All the restraint I’d been using since Dea lost her memory flew out the window and I cradled her face in my hands, taking possession of her lips.
Dea didn’t even fight it.
DeaandCarter, CarterandDea. NanjaandButterfly. We were one and the same. Together. Like it should have been.
I lost myself to her.
She tasted just like she’d always had-sweet pomegranate juice, fresh Krispy Kreme doughnuts, cookie dough ice cream. Dea’s kisses were a drug, they’d always been, and I was beyond addicted.
I lived solely off of Dea.
I don’t know how many times we kissed, right then and there-all I felt was immense relief, relief, and love. I couldn’t get enough of her; heck, I’d been Dea-kiss starved.
A deep aching hole in my chest, the one created with the loss of Dea’s memory, had been filled, once and for all.
The flashbacks started to come fast, hitting both of us.
FLASH
“Dude. If you’re doing what I think you’re doing, Dea is gonna kill you.”
I glanced up at Matt, squinting against the sunlight, clad in nothing but a white wife beater shirt and my black, blue and purple swim trunks.
“Matt, I’m not checking out chicks. I’m waiting for my own chick to check out, unlike you.” I retorted, eyes returning to the crowd to search out my girlfriend.
Dea finally appeared with a frown on her face, trailed by a slightly sun burnt Sophie. I immediately approved of her choice of swimwear-a halter one-piece entirely white, much in the style of Marilyn Monroe’s dress in ‘The Seven Year Itch’ except, it had no skirt. It fit Dea’s body snugly, highlighting her curves in all the right places.
“Carter, you better not have been-“
“I didn’t! I didn’t!” I held my hands up in an ‘I’m innocent!’ expression.
Dea sighed, then plopped down on my lap, my arms easily curving around her waist.“Well, you still better not have been. You’re swim trunks look like a bruise.”
I started dropping kisses on her face, trying to distract her. “Mhm.”
“And you did leave your shirt on, which is good. I wanted to be the one to unveil your probably awesome six-pack.”
“Mhm.” I reached her cheeks, which made it kind of hard for her to talk, so Dea slapped me away.
“Stop that. Okay, lemme see the shirt,”
Still trying to kiss her, I let her raise the shirt until it was flung a few feet away, my top clad only in the opal necklace. Dea’s eyes turned as wide as saucers as her pretty little mouth dropped open.
“Carty…you have an eight pack?”
FLASH
“No way.”
Dea laughed softly as she met Riss, squeezing her eyes shut as my puppy licked her for all she was worth.
“You have a dog? Whats her name?”
I stood by, grinning. “Riss.”
“She’s the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen.”
I frowned, pretending to be offended.
“Hey, hello? What about your boyfriend?”
Dea giggled and shrugged.
“Eh. You can’t compete with Riss.”
I dragged her up by her elbow and roughly kissed her, filling it with passion and possession. When I was done, I glared angrily down at a confused Riss, her tongue lolling out, ignoring the flushed girl with tender lips beside me.
“I DARE you to beat that, Riss.”
FLASH
The whole auditorium was silent as I prepared for the next bout, sweating slightly, adjusting my karate uniform. It’s the second national competition I’d competed in, and I was incredibly nervous. Thousands of people watched my ever move, buzzing softly as I stretched, took a small sip of water, and stared at my opponent.
“GO CARTY! WOOOO MY NANJA!”
Everyone, including me, stared at Dea, who was cheering like mad, in between a sullen Will and James holding a ‘CARTER KICK BUTT’ sign and a glum Sophie and Matt wearing shirts with my face on them.
Dea winked as she caught my eye, and I knew instantly what it meant -‘this is the last bout, then you win. I’ll have an extra special surprise for you afterwards!’.
Needless to say, I won my second world championship, and boy was my reward worth it.
FLASH
“LIFE IS A HIGHWAY, AND I’M GONNA RIDE IT, ALL NIGHT LONG!”
Dea and I were singing along to a Rascal Flatts song, totally rocking out as I drove her home from our date.
The song ended and Dea collapsed into giggles while I chuckled at her, deep and low.
She inched as close to me as she could and looked up at me, eyes glowing in the darkness.
“Iloveyou, Carter Michael Lane.”
I grinned at her, but kept my eyes on the road. “And Iloveyou, Dealia Alexa Fairland.”
I squinted into the darkness and made out two approaching lights from a car-I grew quickly alarmed as tit failed to swerve. The situation was pretty hopeless-we had minutes before impact.
I unbuckled quickly and did the same to Dea, placing her on my lap and buckling us back up.
“Oh God help us, IloveyouDea. Iloveyou, Iloveyou.”
Dea’s huge eyes were filled with tears as she stared at me, and I realized that my Dea, my beautiful butterfly, was back at last.
“Oh Carter. Carty. Cart. Nanja. I can’t believe-how could I ever-“
I chuckled drily, eyes dilating as I drank in her face. “Forget me? Oh trust me, you showed me it was possible.
Dea just wept quietly, and then threw herself at me, wrapping her limbs around me. I took her place on the stool and buried my face in her hair, murmuring to her.
If anyone tells you I cried a little, I’ll deny it with all my heart.
Unless it’s Dea.
“Dea, don’t ever do it again, just promise me, you’ll never do it again.”
Dea looked up at me. “Don’t ever do what?”
I took a shuddering breath. “Forget me. I can’t take it, not again, not after everything we’ve went through.”
Dea nodded her head and kissed me, softly at first, and then insistently, hungrily.
Dea was mine, and I was hers.
DeaandCarter.
CarterandDea.
Just like it should be.
Fin