Forever and ever 2. The adventure starts now.

Part 26.

I sat at Harry's kitchen counter the next morning with a glass of orange juice in my palms, thinking about what I would say to Y/N once I got home. But after 15 minutes of rest, Harry woke up and walked into the kitchen.
"Good morning." He greeted, with a little too much energy for the fact that it was only 08:36 am.
"Mornin'" I mumbled.
"Someone's not in a good mood, huh?" He smirked and took the milk from the fridge to make himself a bowl of cereal.
I just hummed. My head was throbbing. Didn't feel like doing much talking. "So, I was thinking, that maybe... before you have to leave for Cape Town, we should have another guys' night out."
I furrowed my eyebrows, not impressed by the idea.
"I don't know.." I sighed. I guess Y/N wouldn't think much of the idea either. The thought of me getting drunk, not having a good end.
"Come on! You're so fucking boring man!" He poured the milk into his bowl, swallowing the rest in one huge gulp. Then he took a spoon out of the drawer before continuing to speak. "Just us, da boyz!" He said. "Harrison... Hero... Sam.. maybe Paddy." Mhm. I still didn't think much of it, to be honest even less, but explaining that to Harry now was too much trouble.
"I'll think about it." I told him.
"Awesome!" He ate a spoonful of his cereal and sat down at the counter opposite me. "Also-" He spoke up, mouth still full, chewing on his chunks. "What is that new look of yours?" He asked, pointing to my face with spoon in hand.
"What do you mean?" I questioned.
"Well your beard. Is it for the role next month?" He asked, I shook my head, not caring about my beard at all. After all I knew I was letting myself go, but I hoped it wasn't that noticeable, especially with my facial hair. I've never been one to grow a lot of beard, but when you don't shave your beard for as long as I have, I think it becomes noticeable at some point.
"No." I mumbled.
"Mhm." He hummed. "I like it." He stated. He did? That surprised me.
"You do?" I asked.
"Yeah." He took another spoon. "Makes you look rougher. Kind of... like a mafia boss or something."
I nodded, it wasn't my goal but I guess as long as it didn't make me look worse it was okay.  Then he got up and took his empty bowl to the sink. "What does Y/N think? Does she like the beard too? I bet she does!" I shrugged my shoulders, not having heard Y/N talk about my beard yet.
"Don't know." I took a sip of orange juice and looked up as Harry was pouring cereal straight from the box into his mouth. Then he came over and put the colourful cardboard box in front of me.
"Eat, and then I'll take you home once I've taken a shower." He walked past me back into his bedroom, leaving the cereal box in front of me. Guess it couldn't hurt to eat something....

~

Two hours later we were in the car on the way to my house. Harry, of course, was driving while I was staring out the window, watching the trees lose their last leaves.
"Did you know that your post from yesterday is making the rounds all over the internet?"
"What?" I raised my eyebrows, confusion lingering on my face.
"The picture of Y/N? It went totally viral overnight, the ring on her finger causing a big fuss." Oh damn, I forgot all about that. "Until yesterday there were still people who thought you were with Lea. Can you believe that? And all because of that one golf picture back then." oh yeah, I remembered. Me posting a picture of the golf course while she posted a picture of me ON the golf course. That's when the first rumours started to spread of Y/N and me having broken up. Yikes. But that was a long time ago and I thought the new paparazzi pictures of Y/N and me had confirmed things.
"That's fucking disgusting." I scolded. "So glad Sam is finally over her."
Harry nodded his head, slowly and hesitantly, but eventually agreed with me.
"Yah." He said. "He deserves to be happy, that's all that matters to me." And damn it, he was right. Sam deserved someone good, I was glad Harry and I agreed on that.

When we got home, I thought about getting Y/N some flowers, just so she knew how much I loved her. But Harry would surely laugh at me and in the end I decided to just get her flowers when I took her out on a date. I unlocked the door and stepped inside with Harry right at my heels.
The TV was on and Ciara was sitting on the couch with Parker, book on his lap.
"Hey there!" Harry yelled. He walked over to the couch, gave Ciara a kiss and dropped onto the soft cushion next to Parker.
"Hey sweetheart." She answered, then she threw me a velvety smile.
"Where is Y/N?" I asked, still standing in the middle of the room, waiting to see my wife again.
"Parker thought it was funny to play with his toast and ended up accidentally throwing it against Y/N's blouse. She is upstairs getting changed." I gave Parker a dirty look, but he was too ashamed and therefore looked into his book before I nodded and went up the stairs to see my beautiful girl.

She was standing in front of the mirror when I walked in. Her blouse off, upper body fully exposed, except for the piece of bra that covered her breasts.

In her hand she was holding a hair tie with which she tried to make a bun, while she spotted me in the mirror and a broad smile appeared on her cheeks.
"Hey." She grinned. I just started to smile and walked over to her with slow steps. Luckily, the top she wanted to put on was still spread on the bed, so I knew I had a few seconds left to take in the view in front of me.

I stepped right behind her, staring at the both of us in the mirror before placing my hands on her bare hips. My lips slowly coming closer to her neck until I began to leave a trail of wet kisses.
Her skin all soft, goose bumps rising.
I did something with her and I liked the feeling. She enjoyed it too, I could see it in the way she looked in the mirror.
Eyes closed yet with this sexy smirk on her lips that she used to have every day. And her dimples were even more prominent by the little bit of sunshine coming from outside. She looked so happy, at least happier than in the last few weeks. Or maybe that's just what I thought because I had hardly seen her smile anymore lately. That made my heart hurt a little, but it didn't stop me from trying to widen the smile that was already on her lips.
"You're so sweet." I grumbled, didn't just mean her looks or her character, but also her taste. She was as sweet as candy!

I started to run my fingertips up her tummy, stopping when I reached the waistband of the bra.
Just one more kiss behind her ear!
I told myself, but that turned into 10 more down her jaw and 3 more on her soft cheek, each of those kisses as tender and delicately placed as my lips could do.
She had put her hand on my cheek when I stopped, resting my chin on her shoulder instead. Looking in the mirror, we both watched each other for a good minute, my large palms warming her belly while her hand stroked my cheek. Definitely noticing the beard, if she hadn't noticed it before.

And then she looked so thoughtful, her eyes going over every detail she could find. Made me a little nervous, I couldn't lie.
Started asking myself if she didn't like something. If she didn't like me... or the way I look.. whether my hands made her feel uncomfortable or my breath tickled her collarbone.
"What are you thinking about, my love?" I asked. Her eyes wandered up the mirror until they found those of my reflection... Gaze all soft. Then she shook her head and began to smile.
"How beautiful you are." She replied and I was sure my heart had missed a few beats. It certainly didn't beat evenly any more after that, that was for sure.
It felt strange beeing called beautiful, but strange could also feel beautiful. While I was thinking about the worst, worrying she wouldn't like me anymore, she was thinking about the best, telling me I was beautiful. And that's why- "I love you!" I blurted out. It had to be said.

She was startled, it wasn't hard to tell because even her body tensed up beneath mine. Made me lift my chin off her shoulder, suddenly afraid she wouldn't return my love. Wasn't that ironic? I was afraid she wouldn't say it back, whereas I was the one who wasn't able to say it back all those weeks.

She turned around, suddenly not caring about the mirror anymore. All that mattered was seeing the Tom standing in front of her, not the one in the mirror.
"You do?" She asked. I nodded.
"So incredibly much!" I answered. And she didn't say it back, instead she pressed her lips against mine and wrapped her arms around my neck. Kissed me as if she knew she was in a time zone which she had to exploit. Other than the time zone she was usually stuck in.

She slid her tongue over my lower lip while her hands cupped my face. Moaned with a smile on her lips as I pressed her hips against me, trying to hold her as close as possible. The fear of letting her go, growing with every passing second.
Whether she felt that... how tightly I held on to her? If she noticed that I didn't want the kiss to stop? My lips moving away from hers...
She was the air I needed to survive. That's how I felt... yeah... like I was suffocating without her.

I guess my therapist was right when she said there were still a lot of unsaid words in the air, only some of them were good, and some of them were bad. Some of them I really wanted to let Y/N know about, others I was afraid of....

~That was the last of Tom's pov for now. Hope it was alright. Any clue what's going to happen next?~