A Drink To Remember

Chapter 10

Hand in hand, we walk under the light of the full moon. The different animal noises sound through the warm summer night. Kaiya leads me to her favorite walking destination, a small lake. The water is cool to the touch, but still warm from the sun today. Kaiya giggles and starts to remove her clothes. "Care for a swim Tomcat?" She asks, flicking a little bit of water my way.

God this woman makes me crazy. "This cat isn't afraid of water, so of course!" I say with a big smile, removing my own clothes. We laugh as we splash around, like we're a couple of kids. The way the moonlight hits her makes me weak, once again. I can't help it, I'm so madly in love with this woman. It came out of nowhere, but the feelings are there. They've been there since the moment I laid eyes on her if I'm being honest. "Kaiya, I have a question for you." I say as I hold her against my chest in the water.

"What is it Kitty?" She responds with a hum.

Kitty, huh? I kind of like it. "At what moment did our game turn into not a game for you?"

she hums softly as she thinks, swaying gently in my grasp. "Well if I'm being completely honest, I was always using a bit of truth with every move I made in our game. If you are asking when I knew I had feelings for you, I would have to say the day you tried to clean Havoc's stall for the first time. The way he had you hanging upside down and your goofy face and panicked yelling, it made me laugh. Then you looked at me and gave me that genuine smile of yours. I felt my heart melt, and I couldn't keep it from spreading everywhere."

I blink hard as I think back to that moment she is talking about. "That was only a month after I healed up."

She nods. "Yep."

"You've had feelings for me for that long?"

"When did it stop being a game for you?" She asks, avoiding my question.

I decide to let it slide this time. "I'm with you on the point that there was always a bit of truth behind my jokes and moves in the game. The moment that I realized what I feel for you is love... That's hard to pinpoint. It just happened. Like one day I woke up and went, 'Wow, I'm in love with this girl. How did that happen?"

"Okay, then can you give me around the time you realized that?" She asks.

"I would have to say about five months ago... but I'm pretty sure I started developing feelings the very first moment I laid eyes on you." She turns around and stares at me. I give her a goofy smile in response.

"I thought you hated me at first!" She exclaims in a surprised tone.

I shake my head. "I was weary of you, but I knew you meant no harm. I mean, I woke up to the most beautiful woman at my bedside. She nursed me back to health, even when I was being a stubborn ass about it." I start heading back to shore. "Honestly, I was scared with how fast you got me to lower my guard. I've never been this open with anyone ever."

She follows me in, holding my hand as she goes. "Well I'm sure the alcohol helped." She jokes.

I chuckle at her. "yeah, I really do love alcohol."

We both get out of the water and air dry, not afraid that someone could see us naked. We're in the middle of nowhere after all. Kaiya starts to yawn, so we get dressed and head back home. When we get back, I start heading back to my room with a wave of goodnight like we normally do. "Hey, where the hell do you think you're going?" Kaiya asks.

I give her a puzzled look. "My room? You want to sleep, I'm not ready to so I'm going to sit up in my room for a while."

She rolls her eyes at me. "We were in your room last night though. You make the best pillow ever, so come on. I want some good sleep tonight too." She takes my hand and leads me to her room.