Sliding Doors - 2 (English Version)

Chapter 13

HeroI stand here, in front of her with my hand outstretched waiting for her to decide whether to trust me or not.Time seems to stand still, as does my heart, waiting for her to answer me.I look into her eyes and lose myself in the deep blue of that gaze that enchants and stuns me every time!

Her hand touches mine and it is as if suddenly the world has started to turn in the right direction again!
The last piece of the puzzle that was missing to finish the picture is now in my hands! I swallow, watching her tiny fingers touch mine in a very delicate gesture, as she looks at me waiting for me to do something.

I gently tighten my grip on her and a smile arises spontaneously on my face!
How could I have stayed away from her all this time?

"Come with me" I whisper to her.

"You do know we're in the desert, don't you?" she looks at me sceptically, though she's smiling too.

"I had noticed." I would stay hours staring at her, at the risk of sounding crazy.

We turn away from the corridor and head outside, in the direction of the pool.When we arrived today, I noticed that there was an area with sand between the plants.
I just have to remember where exactly I saw it! I look around for directions until I find a sign that says 'Beach', not even on purpose I would say.

I turn to Jo who is in turn looking around, probably wondering what my intentions are or if I've definitely gone mad.The idea of being here, alone with her, reminds me of the many times we've spent evenings and nights together, even just chatting.Being with her laughing and joking is the most intimate thing I've ever experienced with a person, beyond sex, it's something that connects you deeply with who you have in front of you and that's how I feel: connected with Josephine deep inside!

I take a deep breath and try to concentrate on what I would like to say to her, what I would like to explain to her, but as always happens to me when I am agitated, nothing comes to mind!I actually feel thrilled, more than agitated.
I'm fine with her, really fine, and I wish I never had to leave her!
Living in two different parts of the world certainly doesn't help!

"Here we are!" I stop in front of a pool with sand and palm trees all around it.

"Wow!!!" she looks around in amazement and frankly, I'm amazed by this area of the resort too. It's spectacular and at night even more so!

The sun is about to rise and on the horizon we can already see a few rays of light.One thing occurs to me but I quickly banish the idea.

"Hero is... it's beautiful here!" she smiles without letting go of my hand and I couldn't be happier than this.

I sigh and look at the horizon, still with the same idea rattling around in my head but avoiding saying it out loud.

"What's wrong with you?" she asks as I turn towards her.

"Do you like it?" I play dumb, ignoring her question.

"Very much! " she smiles "You remembered..." she lowers her gaze and sighs.

She doesn't seem as angry with me as I thought.

"What's on your mind?" She tries to ask again.

"I was thinking that..." Okay, I'll say it and we'll see what happens "... I was thinking we could go swimming!"

She bursts out laughing "I knew you had something going on in your head!"

I immediately regret saying out loud the stupid idea that came to me as soon as I saw the pool.

"Yeah but don't worry... it's such an idea..." I attempt to recover.

"Okay..." She whispers.
"Okay?" I look at her and can't tell if she agrees with me that it's stupid as a thing or if she wants to go swimming.

"Yeah..." She grabs the flap of her t-shirt and lifts it up, taking it off completely.

I think I just had a heart attack, I can't breathe! She stays in her bra as she bends down to take off her shorts.I've wanted to take it all off from the moment I saw her tonight at the concert!
I never thought I would actually get the chance to do it!I approach her instinctively and she stops with her hand on the first button of her jeans, her eyes in mine, unmoving and inscrutable.

"May I?" by now I attempt everything.

I place my hands on hers and feel her breath suddenly quicken as she nods.I unbutton her last buttons and pull down her shorts, revealing a pair of red panties, not at all matching the white bra she's wearing, but which I love!
From what I remember, she never wears anything matching and I love her for that too! She remains motionless under my gaze that is totally undressing her with my eyes.

"We're going to miss the sunrise if we keep this up..." She whispers in a hushed voice.

Who cares! I think instinctively but I know I brought her here for a reason and I can't get distracted now!

"Right!" I smile shaking my head and taking the flap of my t-shirt in turn to remove it.

"Wait!" I feel her hands on mine as she signals that she wants me to take the t-shirt off herself.

I swallow again and take a deep breath, removing my hands and letting her do it.The problem now will be getting my trousers off without letting her see my growing erection!We came here to talk, at least that was the intention, and we find ourselves like this, almost making love with our eyes at this point! I quickly remove my trousers, not wanting to miss a moment more and take her hand as she smiles looking down at my panties.

"Are you laughing by any chance?" I relieve the tension.

"Donald Duck is cute!"

I have the boxers my friends gave me for my birthday with lots of little Donald Duck on them, they seemed appropriate for such a special party like Coachella, but now I'm bitterly regretting it!

"I know..." I smile "I'm proud of it, so don't make fun of me!"

"Ah please! I wouldn't do that!" She leads me towards the water and we start going inside slowly.There's no real edge to the pool because they've recreated just an area as if this was a real beach, so as you get in, the floor decreases.

"It's warm..." I breathe a sigh of relief at the idea that it might be icy.

"And we're alone..." She whispers almost to herself, rather than to me.

"Is that a problem?" I look at her a little worriedly hoping that it isn't actually a problem.

"You know I didn't think I'd find myself like this tonight..." She lets go and plunges fully into the water.

Now the sunlight is getting stronger and around us the landscape slowly begins to take on colour.

"I promised you sunrise on the beach..." I look around smiling.

"I meant that..." She closes her eyes and avoids my gaze.

"I know, me neither actually!" I approach her dipping into the water.

"Aren't you having deja-vu too?" She bursts out laughing.

"Indeed..." I smile "But when we were at the lake shooting the film, nothing had happened yet"

"Ohh I know..." She sighs "We were happy!
""I'm sorry Jo, really..." I look at her seriously "I didn't mean to hurt you!"

"I know..."

"Can we talk about it?" I strongly hope she says yes.

"Do we have to?" She closes her eyes again and backs away from me a little.

"I have to figure out what happened!"

"Let's pretend nothing happened, it wouldn't change the situation anyway!" She huffs.

"Why? I don't even know what happened! You suddenly ran away from me!"

"I heard things... things you never had the courage to tell me! It hurt me and I thought about this whole thing again." She points with her hands at me and her.I still don't understand what Khadijia could have ever told her!

"Try to explain..." I whisper reaching out and taking her hand.

She doesn't retreat immediately but does so as soon as she starts talking.

"She told me about when you were together, years ago..."

"We weren't together!" I quickly interrupt her.

What bullshit did she tell her? Suddenly I get nervous!

"Before we started shooting After, did you spend time together?"

"For rehearsals you mean?"

When was I ever alone with Khadijia!?!?

"I don't know... She said you were together though!"

"That's bullshit then! We did the affinity tests, the ones you and I didn't do because we didn't even need to, given how much we bonded right away."

"You didn't kiss then?" She looks at me questioningly "And didn't you say that out of all the girls, you'd gladly sleep with her?"

I try to get my thoughts in order and I can't think of anything like that.

"We kissed all the time for the movie, when they had to take pictures for the dorm..." I say continuing to dig into my memory "Nothing more! Then to call it a kiss is saying a lot, we just rested our lips and that was it!"

"You didn't sleep with her, then?" She looks at me seriously and I have to laugh.

"Are you joking? Absolutely not! When I said that thing during a game, I said it because obviously I couldn't mention your name. It was the first name that crossed my mind and I said it!"

She looks at me in silence.

"Is that why you pulled away from me?" I say a whisper "That's why?"

"I was afraid..." She closes her eyes as a tear lines her face "I was afraid that things couldn't work out if just because of what they told me, it burned the blood in my veins..."

"You ran away..." with a hand I wipe the tear from her cheek and she opens her eyes again "You could have told me right away what was going on!"

"It's obvious to me now" she strains a smile "But it doesn't change anything..."

"Why?"

I don't understand.
She was told bullshit and immediately believed it, turning away from me almost immediately.
Now that she has realised that nothing was true, how is it possible that things cannot change?

"Why would Khadijia make those things up?" she suddenly asks.

And I understand everything.
She does not trust me!
She believes her and not me!I don't know how this is possible though...

"I think she likes me but I never considered her more than a friend, really!"

She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath remaining silent.

"How come you believe her and not me?" By now I might as well clear everything up "Did I do something that made you doubt how much I like you?"

"No, I don't think..." she wipes away another tear and looks at me again "I'm just scared... so scared and I don't think I can do it now Hero..."

"Okay, I can understand that, however believe me when I tell you that there is no one else!"

"I've seen your Instagram stories..." she says all in one breath, as if there was something compromising.

"Mine?" I frown, knowing that I spend as little time on social as she does.

"Mia showed me your friends' instagram stories"

"I still don't understand..."

"Who is Melissa?" She asks all at once.

"A friend of Morgz's... Why?"

She is jealous. She is afraid to pursue a relationship with me, but she is clearly jealous!

"A friend..." she repeats as if she doesn't believe me.

"What about Oliver instead?" I ask in turn "Or Edward..."

"Are you jealous?" an amused smile appears on her face.

"You didn't answer me!" I point out as I move closer to her, so much so that now her mouth is really close to mine.

I look into her eyes and lose myself in how bright they are, though still shrouded in tears.

"They are friends..." she whispers looking at my lips.

"Friends..." I repeat exactly as she did just now, as I look at her lips and have a tremendous urge to kiss her.
I reach out my hands finding her hips and she gasps for a moment from surprise, but doesn't pull back.Her skin is soft under my touch and I bring her closer to me as she wraps her legs around my hips to support herself.

"I'm having another déjà vu..." I smile against her lips.

"So you're jealous..." She returns to the subject.

If I don't kiss her now I'm going to get really sick."To go crazy" I say in a hoarse voice, full of excitement.

"We can't..." She keeps looking at my mouth too and I pull her even closer to me.

I feel her breasts on my chest and I think now my arousal is more than evident to her too.

"Hero..." She continues, not too convinced.

"We ca Jo, we cane, really!" I whisper and I'm just a step away from kissing her but I want her to be convinced too.

She sighs "I can't... I can do it..." She pulls her face away a little, remaining anchored to me with her legs.

"We don't have to do anything." I bring a strand of hair behind her ear "It's enough for me to know that you believe me."

She looks at me with her eyes still filled with tears and nods without saying anything, while more tears stream down her face.

"We have time..." I whisper wiping her face again "All the time in the world..."

She nods "Thank you..." she says with a edge in her voice looking at me.

"For what?"She looks around and I notice that the Sun is powerfully peeking over the horizon colouring everything in a golden light.

"Because of that..." she smiles and my heart bursts with happiness.
I hate seeing her cry, especially because of me!

"Next time I'll take you to the sea!" I whisper on her lips
"Now kiss me!"