Owen's p.o.v
"Tyler I can't keep up," I grumbled, watching as the dark haired man turned around with a beaming smile on his face.
"Give me your bag," he walked back towards me, holding out his hand.
I sighed when the bag slipped off my shoulder. "How much longer?" I asked, handing it over to Tyler. He took it, and swung it over his shoulder as if it weighed nothing.
"It's just through the trees," he stepped closer to me and pressed his lips to my forehead. "It'll all be worth it. Promise. If you're hot take off your shirt. I did so a while back, I'm surprised you're still wearing yours."
I shrugged, biting my lip as I let my eyes wander down from Tyler's face. If I had a body like his I wouldn't wear my shirt either, but that wasn't the case. I shook my head.
"Is it because of the scars?" he said quietly, as if we were in a room full of people.
I nodded my head. "Yeah. I look weird."
Shaking his head, Tyler pressed his lips to my forehead once more. "No you do not. Let me roll these up at least." I nodded, letting him roll up one side of my t-shirt, and turning so he could do the other. "That should cool you off a bit. When we get there are you going to come into the water with me?"
He held out his hand for me to grab, and I took it with a nod. We fell into step side by side, and walked the rest of the way together.
"Wow..." I mumbled. I grabbed on awkwardly to my bag to help Tyler put it down before taking a couple steps forward. "Tyler, look at it."
Tyler nodded, stepping up next to me with a smile on his face. "Beautiful, ain't it. Are you gunna come in with me?"
I looked over at him with a frown on my face. "Is it safe?" I turned my head, feeling my face heat up when he winked at me.
"Of course. It's a tourist spot. Why?"
I shrugged. "I just don't wanna get all itchy. I got really itchy once."
He nodded his understanding. "Well take your shirt off, we can go in together." He then proceeded to shake his head, and grab my hand. "Actually I brought a change of shirts for you, let's go."
I let him pull me in, trialing behind him. When my toes first touched the water I let out a hiss. "Tyler, you said it was warm."
"That's what I thought as well, but hurry so we can take some photos before people get here."
I pursed my lips, and nodded slowly. The further we went in, the tighter I held onto his hand.
"We won't go in far, and you can always hold onto me," Tyler teased, leaning in too rub or noses together before letting go of my hand abruptly before falling in sideways.
"Tyler!" I gasped, reaching out to grab him. His head submerged into the water, and I stood there in shock until I watched his head come up, with his water sticking to his face. "Scared the heck out of me!" I hissed, walking in further.
Tyler chuckled, laying back, and sighing as the water surrounded him. His dark eyes were closed, and he looked completely at peace.
"Where is your glasses?"
He held up his right hand, showing me the folded set before waving me over with his other hand. "Come here, handsome."
I pursed my lips, moving in deeper. The water barely reached my waist when Tyler popped up, and pulled me flush to him.
"That's cold!" I gasped, gripping onto him as my body adjusted to the temperature.
"Sorry," he whispered in my ear, pressing his lips to the side of my head. "Hold on, I'm going in deeper."
I nodded my head, holding on tightly as we walked in deeper. Tyler picked me up my feet, and said something about wrapping my arms and legs around him.
"Be careful," I whispered in is ear.
"Always," he replied. He wrapped his arms around me, pressing me too him as he walked to the middle. "It doesn't go that deep, but I think you're just a couple inches too short."
I pulled away, shrugging my shoulders. "It's beautiful," I mumbled. "Have you been here before?"
"Nope. Tamarah showed me this. I called a couple of days ago to make sure the water is swimmable. Apparently the resort we are at owns this land, and takes care of it."
"It reminds me of the lake, but it's just more green."
"I don't think so, Owen," he laughed, pressing his lips to mine quickly. "This is much more nicer than the lake."
"There is a lot of rock. Maybe you should put your glasses on so you can see."
"Here," his hand poked out of the water. "Put them on for me."
Nodding, I took them from his hand, and wiped my thumbs over lens before placing them on his face. I ran my hand through his hair, leaning in to kiss the tip of his nose.
"Are you going to give me a proper kiss?"
"Do you want one?"
Tyler raised an eyebrow, but nodded his head none-the-less. "I'm going to put a kiss me, Owen. I'm needy sign on my forehead."
I chuckled, shaking my head. "Don't do that. I just didn't know. You're holding me and everything."
"True," he agreed. "I can multitask, but I understand. You in my arms, and kissing me at the same time might be slightly distracting." Tyler's smile never left his lips, if anything it just tempted me further.
"Ready?"
"That's my middle name."
"Tyler Ready Williams," I mumbled, pressing the tip of my nose to his.
He nodded his head, "That is me, sir."
I pulled away just as he tilted his head to connect our lips. "What is your middle name?"
Tyler looked confused, but he just chuckled. "Give me a kiss, and I'll tell ya."
He had a teasing smile on his face until I leaned in and kissed him. It was like my body exploded in tingles when our lips touched, and I didn't hate the feeling.
Tyler moaned against my lips, but the sound was so faint, I barely heard it.
"Mm, Tyler," I pulled away. "Not in the water. People use this."
Tyler groaned, but nodded his head. "I agree."
"But... I'd like to later," Tyler raised an eyebrow, opening his mouth as if he was going to say something. I shook my head, tugging on his hair a bit. "The kissing I want to do later. I liked it."
Tyler didn't object verbally, but as the day passed I noticed something wasn't quite right, and we ended up doing activities until it was stupid late.
"Tyler I'm too tired," I said from the bathroom as I pulled my shirt over my head, and wiggled out of my shorts. "I don't want to shower." I turned sharply away from the mirror, and slid the glass door to the shower open, stepping inside.
Thankfully the water was warm as it came down from the ceiling. I let the door slide closed behind me, and immediately stepped under the stray with my eyes pinched shut. I stayed in there for a couple of minutes, running my hands through my hair before turning the water off, and leaving the glass cubicle.
"Owen." I looked towards the door, offering Tyler a small smile when I noticed him standing there with my towel unfolded. "That wasn't a long shower," Tyler said as he walked towards me. I nodded my head in agreement. I was drained. Tyler placed the towel over my head, drying my hair a bit before wrapping the towel around my body. "Go lay down. I'm going to take a shower. I stink."
He pressed his lips against my forehead, letting them linger until I pulled away. I walked out of the bathroom, and immediately went to the bed on the far side of the room, and laid on it.
I didn't bother getting under the blankets, because I didn't plan on falling asleep, but it seemed that as soon as my head hit the pillow I was out.
***
"Tyler I want to stay in today," I mumbled as I watched him get dressed.
He slipped a dark green t-shirt over his head, and zipped his jeans up the rest of the way before looking over at me with a frown.
"Why, whats wrong?"
I shrugged, pulling the blankets up to my neck when Tyler approached me on the bed. "Nothing, I'm just tired."
He sat next to me on the bed, and slowly ran his hand through my hair, and under the blanket to squeeze my shoulder. He raised a curious brow, picking up the edge of the blanket. "Are you naked?"
"I'm warm," I said. Tyler nodded slowly, tucking the blanket back around me, and moving to lay down on top of them. "You just want to go out and get me tired." I told him.
"No..." he trailed off. "I thought you liked going on the little tourist walks, and stuff."
I rolled onto my back, and turned my head to look at him. "Its nice, but I never said that." I've been aching since we came down, and I never ache.
Granted I've not exercised as much as I had since we've been here, but still. Plus he wouldn't even take me swimming again. The closest to swimming I'd be able to go was the pool downstairs, but that always had a lot of people in it.
"I'm sorry... I guess I've just been..." he paused, exhaling through his nose. "Distracted."
I shrugged. "It's OK." I rolled back over onto my side, and relaxed into the pillow. It wasn't OK, but I didn't want him to feel bad.
I mean sure, this trip wasn't spent like I thought it would be, but it was Tyler's graduation, and I'd suck it up and spend it how he liked. It was just weird.
On the drive here, Tyler was going on about us being alone, spending time together, and not being distracted by homework. After our first trip to the hot pool, it was like everything changed. He didn't want us to be alone, we spent time with each other outside of be hotel, but we were never too close to each other in the hotel room.
He even was being sexual, like he wanted to do physical, body contact stuff with me, but now... he wasn't have none of it. At all.
We didn't carry on later with the kissing like I wanted to when we were swimming, and it was confusing. I really wanted to kiss him. He made it sound like he really wanted to kiss me too.
"You never told me your middle name," I mumbled.
Tyler hmm'd, moving around on the bed so he could wiggle under one of the blankets before throwing his shirt onto the bed he slept on.
I turned around, watching as he look his glasses off, and carelessly tossed them towards the foot of the bed.
"I didn't, did I?" I replied by shaking my head. "Matthieu."
I smiled. "Tyler Matthieu Williams?"
"In the flesh. My dad's dad."
"Is he as scary?"
"No," Tyler answered simply. "He was very nice. Spoiled me rotten when I was younger. He passed away, though. When I got older my dad and him barely kept in contact... I think it was something to do with my mom. Broke him, though."
I frowned, bringing the blanket up to my chin. "I'm sorry."
"You're too precious, honestly."
I pursed my lips, offering Tyler a small smile before shuffling closer to him. Tyler moved his arm so I could easily lay into his side, and rest my head on his chest.
"I guess the next question is what are we going to do today?"
"Something relaxing," I mumbled, closing my eyes as we laid there.
"Relaxing was the whole point of this trip, wasn't it? I'm sorry."
"Don't be. This was your trip..."
Tyler groaned under me, startling me quiet. "This was for the both of us. We drive home tomorrow and I feel like I've wasted it doing all that walking."
"It doesn't matter."
I closed my eyes, letting my body melt into the bed as we laid there quietly. Every so often I could hear kids running up, and down the hall, or even a quick pop from Tyler's limbs while shifting positions.
It was like every time I closed my eyes, and opened them Tyler was doing something different. At first he was just mindlessly playing with my hand, he seemed to be in his head. Then he had his hands in my hair which made it even harder for me to keep my eyes open as his fingers massaged my scalp. When I opened my eyes next, I smiled faintly when I noticed Tyler was texting our moms.
He was telling them that I was sleeping. It wasn't until he went to take a photo of the two of us lying there, that he realized I was awake.
"Oh, shit. Hey, handsome."
Tyler wasted no time in snapping the photo anyway, and going to his gallery.
"You've got lots of photos of us," I mumbled. Reaching towards the screen to scroll. Tyler stayed silent as I slowly scrolled passed all the recent photos of us on the trip, stopping briefly at his grad photos.
As I continued to scroll, I couldn't help but smile. Mixed in were photos of my mom, us around the house, either smiling at the camera, or being engrossed in something else, and having no idea we were on camera.
Further back were photos of his mom, and me both standing in front of his Jeep. Pictures of food, a photo of a ripped fifty dollar bill, some shirtless photos of Tyler, mostly in the bathroom with his hair sticking up in wild directions. There were three photos of his Jeep that he must've took after just washing it, photos of what looked like notes on his whiteboard, more of me sleeping, my casts. It went on and on. The further I scrolled, the older the photos were.
"Tyler..." I said slowly as I scrolled through a cluster of him naked. "What the..." I trailed off, immediately pulling my hands away. I pursed my lips, looking up at Tyler, only to blush when our eyes connected. "What?"
A smile spread onto his lips, and he shook his head. "Nothing. You said my name."
I sat up, leaning on my elbow. "What're those for?"
"What are what for?" he laid his phone screen up on his chest, putting his arm behind his head, his eyes still never leaving mine.
My nose wrinkled. What did he mean? "Could you see your screen?"
"Are you talking about the photos?" I nodded, my eyes shifting from his, to the phone. "I thought it was obvious. No?"
I shrugged, unsure what to say. "They're out in the open. Anyone can see them."
"Only these ones. There are only four or five here," I frowned at the answer, adverting my eyes when he picked up his phone and unlocked it. "You should see my hidden section."
"Tyler..." I mumbled shyly, pursing my lips as I stared at the phone from the corner of my eyes. He switched between folders, and what he pulled up next had my gagging on my breath. "That's inappropriate."
Tyler burst out laughing, sitting up in the bed to grab his glasses. "It looks like it because they're all pooled together."
"Your naked," I said plainly. Quietly.
"I know... but," he locked his phone, and letting it once again drop to his chest before laying back down. "I couldn't help it, still can't. I don't want you to feel uncomfortable, though, so maybe we should go downstairs or something."
"I ain't, and stop that."
Tyler's brows furrowed in confusion. "Stop what?"
"I don't want to get up, and go walk up a mountain. We are talking about something."
Tyler nodded his head. "Yeah, but I figured maybe we could—"
"What can't you help? Why do you have all of those? That's a lot."
"Owen," Tyler groaned, covering his face. "I used to take them where ever I could."
"Why?" Tyler said something, but it was too quiet for me to hear. "Why?" I repeated. "Did you use to take them to send them to other people?"
When we were together? I wanted to ask, but withheld the question, frowning instead.
"No. Some of these you were lying next to me. I wanted to send some to you, but at the time I chickened out. I sound like a predator." Tyler sat up, and kicked his legs over the side of the bed, holding his head in his hands.
I wanted to smile. "Do you still want to?"
I watched patiently as Tyler tensed, and inhaled deeply. "Yeah," he grumbled. "It's just hard, and my mind runs itself in circles all the damn time, and not only do I annoy myself, but I confuse the hell out of you."
"It's fine," I reassured.
Tyler looked back at me, his face a deep red. "No, it isn't. You're just trying to be nice. I walk on eggshells around you all the time, even after you tell me you're good, you're comfortable, you don't mind if I touch you or kiss you, but here I am making a big deal out of everything," he sighed, cursing under his breath before throwing himself back on the bed just barely missing me. "I've ruined the damn trip because I've been overthinking about us getting physical, and now here we are talking about my nudes I've taken them over the course of our relationship, even admitting to taking them when you were right beside me in the bed, and my head is screaming at me. We have had this conversation about 12 times, but I can't help it. Honestly."
"Probably," I agreed.
Tyler looked over at me, and I couldn't help but reach out and caress the side of his face. He looked upset, as if he was raging a war with himself in his head, and he lost it.
"It's not okay. I tell you all these things, and now look at me."
I didn't know what to tell him. Instead I leaned down to press my lips to his. "It's fine. Don't be sad or feel guilty, please."
"I'm not," he lied.
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I didn't know how else to end this chapter. Hopefully this is alright. A month later and I'm limping back all guilty because it took me way too long to write this.
Not edited. I might've been dozing off writing this at 5AM.
Enjoy!