CLARA
After getting home from school from such a weird day, I slept peacefully. And by peacefully, I mean, it took me an hour to finally sleep after twisting and turning in the bed and thinking about the day, mostly Stefan and all his gestures. For one, I was sure that all this was for the dare that Casey's stupid ass got me into but somehow, it still felt genuine and real. Like he was really trying to woo me.
But who am I kidding? Stefan Chase King? Trying to woo me, Clara Emery James? Ha, in my dreams!
And the worst part? My stupid brain was so sure that it was real. And that's what kept me turning more than Stefan's gestures did.
It was almost past seven thirty when Casey found me and woke me up to not make the mistake of lying to Josie again. After dinner which was quite fun with all nine of us getting along normally, we all retired to our rooms. All I had planned on doing on this homework-less night was to go on a date with Deadpool on my Netflix and we were having quite a nice time until all my plans were washed downed the drain by someone knocking on the door of my room.
I was halfway through the second movie and it was a few minutes past 12:00 am when a soft knock disturbed me girl-crushing over Domino. I groaned and paused the movie, stretching and yawning before I somehow pulled myself out of the bed to go and see who had a death wish.
Guess who I found disturbing my romantic date?
Yay, you're right. It was Satan himself.
"Hey," He said in a whisper,smiling sheepishly. "What are you doing?"
Let me rephrase that. It was Satan with his charming grin.
Wait what? Charming? Ew no?!
I openly glared at him, showing my distaste of his presence. "What do you want, Stefan?"
Stefan pouted and pushed the door open wider, entering my room without permission. "I just wanted to know what you were doing. Were you sleeping?"
I scoffed. "Yes, I was sleeping, douchebag." I huff sarcastically before telling him the truth while pointing towards my open laptop. "I was on a date before you disturbed me."
Stefan followed my pointed finger to the laptop and turned his neck to look at me so fast, it gave me a whiplash. He looked at me up and down, making me squirm under his gaze. "You were having a skype date with someone? Wearing that?" He asked incredulously.
"What's wrong with what I am wearing?" I asked offended, looking down at my cami top and pajama shorts. "And wait, skype date.....?"
But Stefan ignored me as he made his way towards my bed. "Who's he? I wanna see who's this guy you were .........." He kept on mumbling as he carelessly and forcefully turned my baby laptop towards him only to come face to face with Deadpool being awesome as always.
"D-Deadpool?" He asks, as if barely choking the words out.
I narrow my eyes at him, now understanding what he meant by 'skype date'. "Stefan, I think you should really check into a mental asylum."
"I thought........" He trails off looking sheepish and guilty.
"So?" I fold my arms and lean my wait on one leg. "What do you want? Why are you here?"
"I wanna take you somewhere." He says and shrugs, closing my laptop and my favorite movie as well.
"To kill me and throw my body into the river to never be found again?" I ask sarcastically.
"You wish. I'm not letting you die until the Homecoming Dance is over. I have a dare to win and you have a date to accompany me to." He grins making me glare at him.
"Well," I start lifting my chin in fake arrogance as I go to remove the laptop from bed. "as you can see, it's past midnight which means that I should sleep because we have school tomorrow and I need a good night's rest. Good night, honey. Switch off the lights and close the door on your way out."
Stefan rolls his eyes and snatches the covers when I go to get cozy for sleeping. "Get up. This won't take long....... probably."
I glare at the boy in front of me. "Stefan, I'm not going anywhere with you."
He raises an eyebrow at me. "Are you sure you don't wanna use those sexy legs of yours and come with me on your own?"
My eyes widen at what he was insinuating. "You wouldn't dare."
"You know I would." He says smirking cockily.
I grumble, groan and wriggle my body on the bed like a fish out of water in irritation. This guy is so infuriating. "This better be good." I glare at him as I get up and go to my closet to pick up something warmer to wear.
I put on some yoga pants after removing the shorts and a plain white full sleeved tee over my camisole. I walk out of the closet, tying my hair in a bun, still glaring at Stefan. "I'm ready."
He looks at me up and down and nods in approval. "Good. Meet me down the block in five minutes. Can't take the car of it'll wake the others' up." He says and rushes out of my room before I could say anything.
I groan and huff and grumble in annoyance and decide to wear flip-flops instead of my sneakers to wherever I is that he's taking me. After tucking in some money in the back case of my phone, in case Stefan leaves me stranded in the middle of nowhere, I'd have money to get home, I slowly and quietly make my way downstairs.
Instead of taking the front door, I take the backdoor that open through the laundry room and walk out down towards the end of the street.
The road is quite with three out of seven streetlights working and even if it should seem hella creepy, it isn't because of the friendly neighborhood. I see a guy and a girl walking holding hands and grin inwardly at the love in air. They're so cute!
It's barely ten minutes when I hear a loud rumble behind me and I turn around to see headlights of a motorbike blinding me. Surprisingly, it stops right beside me and as soon as the helmet if off the head off the driver's head, I roll my eyes.
"And the noise from this machine won't wake anyone up? Are you crazy, Stefan? You'll wake up the whole neighborhood with that rumbling. I seriously thought we were walking when you said you wouldn't take the car." I ramble angrily.
Stefan shrugs his shoulders. "Well then, hurry up and get your sweet little ass on before anyone comes out and sees up."
I glare at him and snatch the helmet he was offering me off his hands and put it on. I then put my hand on his shoulder and climb up the high at Mount Everest backseat. "Whose bike is this, anyway?" I ask curiously.
"Drew." He answers in one word as he starts and rumbles the high-power engine loudly, just for show off.
My instincts know what's about to happens next so I wrap my hands around Stefan's waist even before he tells me too or lurches the bike forward like in the movies to make me do so. Boys are so predictable.
I can feel him grinning as I tighten my hold on him. "Hold on tight, Princess." He says and without hearing my reply, rushes out in high speed on the empty streets.
In all honestly, I love motorbikes. Those Yamaha commercials might as well give me orgasms. When I was a kid and we'd visit grandpa's farm during summer breaks, he'd take me out on his classic and vintage motorbikes and it was him who made me gain interest in these beauty machines. The speed, the thrill, the feel of cool air on your body when driving one of these is just out-of-the-world feeling.
So instead of being a scaredy-cat like the girls in novels and movies, which seems so unreal to me, I swear, I loosen my hold on Stefan's waist and spread my arms, taking in the therapeutic feel of the smell of earth at midnight.
I don't really recall how long it takes us before Stefan finally parks in the parking lot of a cliff overlooking beach. Clevette's Beach is one of the most gorgeous beaches of New York according to me. It is a low lying beach with somewhat hidden by the bushes stairs to the side of the main road right opposite to the area that was converted into a parking lot.
Most people don't like coming here because of the number of stairs one has to take to finally go down and dip their feet into the soft white sand but I love it. The beach looks kinda exotic and so un-New York-y with soft white sand, rocky terrains here and there and bluish green water with white foam that seems to glow at night. The water is surrounded by rocky and edgy cliffs from two sides with the city up on the cliffs and this exotic low-lying beauty down here. Many college guys even cliff-dive in the name of extreme sports here.
I remember Carl introducing me to this beautiful place when I was only fourteen and had my first heartbreak and even if it was a chore walking down all these thousand and millions of stairs, I loved every moment I spend down near the water.
Mesmerized by the night view of Clevette's beach, I knew I won't regret coming here tonight.
"Wow, you should have told me you were bringing me here." I say, awed again at one of my favorite place in NYC.
"It wouldn't have been much of a surprise then, would it?" Stefan grins as he pulls off the helmet from his head and shakes his head to set his hair or shall I say, mess it even more? I remove the helmet too and get down the bike without Stefan's help making him raise his brows at me. "You don't seem afraid of this 'death machine'." He asks air quoting the last two words.
I roll my eyes. "Quite contrary actually, I love motorbikes. Definitely a better option than guys and extremely good looking - be it vintage or sports."
Stefan chuckles. "Oh sweetheart, you haven't met a real guy yet."
I chuckle sardonically. "If you're referring to yourself then I have met you, remember?" He just shakes his head at me and gets down too, holding a small polythene bag that I failed to notice before. "What's that?" I ask curiously.
"You'll see." He says and takes my hand in his, dragging me away from the lot towards the other side of the road.
I am stunned when his fingers wrap themselves around my palm, a tingling sensation rippling through me. I've never really held hands before and call me crazy but it seems more intimate to me than kissing. I want to snatch my hand away but I don't want him to think I'm making a big deal out of it so I pay attention on something else that seems important.
"Woah, where are you taking me. It's the wrong way." I force pull Stefan to a stop when he starts dragging me away from the stairs to the side of the road. I am so not cliff diving if that's what he had in mind. Or what if the plan was to push me off the cliffed road?
Stefan rolls his eyes while turning to me. "I'm not going to push you off from anywhere. Just trust me, okay?"
I dumbly nod and losen my body's hold on the ground and let him guide me to wherever he was taking me. A little walk away from the stairs behind the bushes is a downhill slope guiding the road down to the beach, again, hidden by tall bushes. I did not know of this!
"So I had been foolishly taking stairs all this time I came here when I actually had an easier option?" I ask myself dumbly.
"Well, we have an even more easier option." Stefan says and leaves my hand. He walks to what looks like a broken, haunted, one roomed cabin behind the bushes and comes back with a tube like the one they use in water-parks for tube-coaster water slides.
"Woah." I say, amused and excited. "We're sliding down there?"
"Yep." He grins as he places the tube on the top of the slop, still holding onto it. "Get in."
And I do, I get in and slide forward a little to make space for Stefan. He throws the bag he was holding at me and I hold onto it, tight.
"I'm kinda scared." I say honestly before he pushes the tube down.
"I promise you'll love this." He assures and gives a little nudge to the tube.
I hold in my scream as the tube starts sliding and look back in time to see Stefan jump in too, right behind me. He gives me one of his charming grins and spreads his legs to my sides. His one hand snakes around my waist making me gasp inaudibly and he pulls me back, a little more closer to him. My back is touching his chest, our legs our touching each other and his arm, now both, are around my waist.
I'm freaking sitting between his lap with the poly-bag in front of me that I'm still holding onto tight!
"There, it's more comfortable now." He whispers near my ear and I gulp, nodding.
I try to ignore the feel of Stefan's body against mine because this happens all the time in water-tubes, right? At water-parks? There's not much space in the tube so it's fine. It's normal. It does not mean anything more so I should stop feeling so tingly, right?
"Close your eyes, Emery. Feel the wind, the breeze, the soft smell of sea and ground meeting each other. Feel the nature." Stefan whispers in my ears again and I obey.
I close my eyes and feel in my surrounding, the soft, cold breeze from the see hitting my face, the wind caressing my hair, the smell of sand and water feeling so therapeutic. Nature is indeed, beautiful - with or without eyes.
It doesn't take us long before finally the tube hits the sandy ground and comes to an abrupt stop sending me lurching on the front and then back to collide more into Stefan's body. Is it just me or did his hold on me tighten a little?
"That was just - wow." I say breathlessly, smiling as I open my eyes.
"Yeah, yeah it was." He whispers behind me, still not letting me go.
I cough awkwardly when I realize how attentive I am to his every movement around me. "We're here. If we took the stairs, we'd still be halfway up by now." I say and try to get up.
"Hold no." Stefan says and pulls me back down in his lap.
"What?" I ask, startled and stunned.
He takes in a deep breath and then exhales, removing his arms slowly from around me. "Nothing." He says and gets up from behind me. "Come on." He offers me his hand to stand and I accept. Taking the polythene bag in his hand, he first places the tube to the side of the slope and then takes my hand, guiding me closer to the water.
"Did I mention that this is my favorite place in NYC?" I say casually, trying to ignore the weird sensations in my tummy because of the hand holding.
"Oh?" He cocks a brow turning to face me.
I nod dumbly. "Yeah. It's kind of peaceful and quite."
"Yeah, it is."
Stefan nods but he doesn't say anything more. When we're finally a few feet away from the shore, he leaves my hand and sits down facing the waters. I'm suddenly disappointed and I don't even know why. I look at my hand that he was holding and frown but shrug it off, sitting down beside him.
It's quite around us accept the sound of the waves crashing at the shore and a few vehicles moving up the road. He doesn't speak, neither do I.
After a few minutes, I'm restless because of the quite. Usually I am a silent and private person but when someone is around, it's like I have to speak or it's super awkward, at least for me.
"So why did you bring me here?" I ask to end the silence and also because I was curious.
Stefan shrugs, still looking at the ocean above us. "I just wanted to come here and I wanted to come here with you. I wanted to bring you here so I did. There's no reason for it. Why? Should there be one?" He asks and turns to look at me.
To say I am stunned by his words would be an understatement but I remind myself - the dare. So I nod and meekly say, "Nope." I turn to face the ocean too, smiling softly at the dark sky, the bluish-green water than seem so much darker shade right now and the white sand around me.
The blowing winds are making a mess of my hair and I regret opening it to wear a helmet. Hair on my face is irritation level 101. Before I could tie it up in a bun again, I feel Stefan's cool fingers on my skin as he tucks a lock of hair behind me ear.
"Er, I was going to tie it up." I say awkwardly as I start gathering up my hair together.
"Don't." Stefan says firmly, holding onto my wrist in a tight grasp and bringing it down. "I like it better down."
Why am I turning red because of what he just said?!
"Do you know that you're really beautiful?" He continues and it feels as I just lost my ability to speak. My lips are parted but I can't see to get any words out.
"Er. Thanks?" I somehow choke out.
Stefan chuckles. "You're blushing."
"I'm not!" I defend myself, turning away from him.
"Yes you are. Your face is red and warm." He insists.
"That's because of the cold winds." I reason out a somewhat believable lie.
Stefan chuckles. "Sure."
From the peripheral view, I see him taking off his sweater which I was a fool to not wear and I suddenly feel too cold in my flimsy full sleeved tee. But in no time, the coldness is replaced by warmth and I realize that Stefan has put his sweater on me.
"Put it on." He says.
I shake my head. "No, it's alright. You'll need it too."
"My tee is warmer than yours, Emery. Don't argue with me. Take it."
I hesitate but Stefan's firm eye make me hold onto the beige sweater and I put it on. I'm immediately engulfed by warmth and what I'd say is Stefan's scent - musk, wood and sea. And damn, this guy smells so good.
"Thanks." I say shyly, tucking my hair behind my ears after putting the sweater on.
He just smiles and brings forward the poly-bag he had brought. "Here."
My eyes widen and gleam with happiness when I see it's contents. "You brought food? Oh, this is amazing."
He chuckles and passes me a sandwich while he takes one for himself. We eat in silence, him occasionally cracking jokes to make me laugh while we finish the sandwiches, pretzels and mountain dew.
"I'm so full." I groan with satisfaction. "Best midnight snack at the best spot."
"With the best person?" He asks.
I laugh and grin. "No?"
"You're going to be punished for that, lady." He says in a fake deadly tone and without warning, tackles me and starts tickling the sides of my tummy. "Tickle monster will take my revenge on you." He growls animatedly.
I groan and laugh and try to wriggle my body free off his hold but he is straddling me, preventing me from getting away.
"Hahahaha, okay, Stefan, stop." I voice out between the fits of laughter.
"Not until you say Best midnight snack at the best spot with the best person." He says, laughing and tickling me.
To set myself free from this sweet torture, I agree. "Okay, fine!"
Stefan stops, his hands on my waist and him still straddling me, waiting for me to say the words.
"I just had the best midnight snack at the best spot with the best person." I say with the most bored face I could ever make.
Stefan grins and leans down, kissing my cheek, freezing me in place. "Good girl." He says and gets down from me, laying back beside me but with a little distance between us. "Ah, this was fun." He groans and rubs his face. I can feel him smile behind his hands.
It's true, it was fun. I don't remember laughing so hard in a long time and enjoying simple things like this. This night feels nice. Like a midnight dream. I close my eyes wanting to preserve this moment forever in my heart.
"Emery?" Stefan's soft, slow voice brings me out of my dream like state.
"Hmm?" I hum.
"I'm cold." He tells me.
"Oh." I sit up. "Do you want your sweater back?"
"No." He says immediately. "But you can help me out in another way."
I frown. "I can?" He nods. "How?"
"A hug, perhaps?" He says and grins.
I give him a flat look. "Ha, nice try, King."
Stefan pouts. "Oh come on! It's just a hug. I'm cold and you have a warm sweater. We'll both keep warm like that."
I hesitate but Stefan's pout and my guilt of using his sweater makes me agree and nod. I shift a little closer to him, unsure when he grabs me by arm and pulls me down beside him. His one arm is under my head and he is turned on his side. The hand that pulled me to him is now wrapped around my waist, pulling me closer to him and his nose is buried in my hair.
"This is nice. And warm." He mumbles out.
I gulp, my heart beating faster than normal and a whole zoo doing timba dance in my tummy. I don't know what's happening but I'm not sure if I like it. Once again, I remind myself of the dare by my heart and mind both refuse to believe the lie I'm feeding myself.
This feels too real and too good to be true and I don't know what to do.
* * * * * *
Hey guys!
Happy Valentine's Day and to celebrate this day of love, I present to you this awesome chapter and a date-ish night from Stefara's life.
Vote and comment if you enjoy.
Oh, and Clevette's beach is fictional.
Also check out my other book Love Happens - an emotional roller coaster of chicklit and women's fiction with the right amount of romance spiciness.
Love, Rennie.