Daylight [Breakable Heaven #2]

Prologue

Three years ago

This isn't the way I thought I'd be spending my last night in Los Angeles, at a twenty-four-hour laundromat. When I realized I didn't have enough clean underwear to get through my first days in Spain, I mentally slapped myself.

"How could you not know that most of your underwear was dirty?" Lilian repeats for at least the tenth time as she loads the washing machine with my belongings.

"Hey, it's not my fault there was a bedsheet on top of it in the laundry basket. Besides, we've always been sloppy with our laundry, so it really shouldn't be that much of a surprise," I try to defend myself.

Truth to be told, I'm kind of enjoying hanging out here tonight. I know that if we had stayed home as we had planned, we would have ended up feeling miserable for my impending departure, while here we can pretend tonight is just another night we have to do the laundry because we don't have anything clean for the next day. In almost six years of relationship, it has happened way more times than we actually care to admit.

"So what are we gonna do while we wait? Wanna grab something to eat at the IHOP down the street?" Lilian asks, pushing the coin slots to make the washer start.

"Later, while the laundry dries. Let's just wait here for the washer to finish."

"Doing what?"

I pay attention to the song that is being currently aired on the radio, which is filling the whole place with music. Not exactly what I would normally listen to, but I don't care that much right now.

"Dance with me!"

Lilian snorts. "Yeah, right."

"I'm serious, Lil," I stretch out my hand. "Dance with me."

She rolls her eyes but I can tell she's smiling. She takes my hand and follows me in the middle of the laundromat, her hips starting to swing following the rhythm of the song.

"We could have gone clubbing, instead," she complains, and I laugh. I'm having so much fun, and so is she, I can just tell. Six years is a long time to know a person, and while Lilian is still a mystery to me in so many ways, I can read her well enough to know that she wouldn't want it any other way. Besides, it's a good story to tell, and Lilian is always in for a good story.

We end up playing with the carts and jumping from one folding table to another like two kids, hoping no one gets in and spoils our fun. When the washing machine ends its cycle, I am almost disappointed.

"Come on, let's get some food," Lilian suggests after we move my laundry from the washer to the dryer and we set it to forty-five minutes.

We walk to the International House of Pancakes because moving the car is just pointless. The air is still hot - summer hasn't finished yet and this is California after all - but it's not a suffocating heat, so taking a walk is pleasant.

The diner is almost empty when we get there, and we can't tell if the look the waitress shoots us is a grateful one because we're saving her from the boredom, or if she wants to kill us for walking in while she was minding her own business and getting paid minimum wage for it.

"I'll have chocolate chip pancakes with a side of bacon, please," I order to the bored waitress, and Lilian smiles, as she always does when she hears my order.

"You have the tastes of a five-year-old," she usually says, and this time she doesn't disappoint. She then proceeds to order her regular Harvest Grain 'N Nut pancakes and to already ask for a coffee refill.

"Alright, I dare you," she whispers after she gets back to the table from the restroom, when we are done with the food. "Dine and dash."

"Are you insane??" I shriek, but then immediately lower my voice. "We can't do that, it's illegal!"

"So was all the sex we've had in public places, babe, but it has never stopped us."

"Ok, but sex in public places doesn't hurt anyone, while this..." I try to explain, pointing at the poor middle-aged waitress.

"Well, it's your dare. What's it gonna be?"

I sigh but nod. I can't resist a dare, especially because I know how she's going to reward me, and I really need an extra fuck before I leave.

We wait until the waitress is on the opposite side of the diner and we sprint out, running in the night air, laughing our asses off. I know I should feel terrible, but I don't.

"Oh god, should we hurry to get the laundry in case she comes looking for us?"

Lilian laughs even louder. "I paid and tipped her when I got back from the restroom," she confesses. "I just wanted you to think we were dining and dashing. I'm not that much of an asshole, you know?"

"You're still a jerk!" I insult her, hitting her on the arm. I cannot believe she tricked me, but somehow this is a very Lilian thing to do, and starting from tomorrow I'm not going to have the chance to see her in action anymore, so she's allowed to do anything she wants tonight.

"Let's head home?" Lil asks once my laundry is back in my bag.

"No. Let's go to the beach!"

My girlfriend looks at me as if I was crazy, but then she just agrees to it. That's how we roll: one of us comes up with some insane idea and the other follows stat.

She drives us down to Venice Beach, which is unsurprisingly not totally deserted. I'm a little disappointed we're not alone there, but I was sure we were going to meet other people on one of the most famous and crowded beaches on the West Coast. It's ok, though, I just needed to see the ocean for one last time before leaving.

We sit on the sand and just chat. Sometimes I wonder how it's possible that after all this time living together we still have something to say to each other, yet here we are, making sure nothing is left unsaid before my departure.

"I dare you to go in," I suddenly say, pointing at the water.

Lilian smirks, but she doesn't back down. She takes her shirt and pants off and runs toward the ocean, gesturing me to join her. I do, of course I do. The water is freezing, so we only stay in there for a few minutes, then we run back to the car all wet, finding the beach towels we left in there the last time we had gone to the beach. Thank god Lilian never cleans her car!

"What now?" she wonders getting back in the car.

"Now we go back home and up to the roof."

She smiles and nod, starting the car and stopping to buy some whisky on the way back home. She loves whisky, I'm not too much of a fan, but there are some nights like this one that it just makes sense.

We climb the stairs to the rooftop of our apartment building and lie down on the concrete, our sight to the bright Los Angeles sky.

"I wonder if I'll be able to see the stars in Seville, or if it'll be too bright, like here."

Lilian doesn't reply, she just rolls on the side so she's halfway on top of me and kisses me until I almost forget that I'm about to leave the only place I've ever lived in for a new great adventure in Europe.

I am excited to go, but tonight I can't think about the future. Tonight it's just Lilian and I, making love on the rooftop until the sun comes up.