Where You Are

Hopewell Rocks

Jesse

I definitely wasn't cold anymore when I woke up the next morning.

Blimey, it had been ages since I'd woken up next to a woman. I'd nearly forgotten how nice it was to have a soft, warm body pressed up against me first thing in the morning. The tent was so tiny, there wasn't much room to stretch out or for her to get away. I had one leg hooked around her knees, keeping her as near as possible.

Birgitta's wool cap had fallen off on the night and her dark, wavy hair was a tangled mess on the pillow. I reached for her, her back was to my front, and tucked some of the hair covering her face behind her ear so I could nuzzle my face into her neck.

'Mmm,' she mumbled and pulled away a bit.

My heart sank a little. I'd forgotten this part about waking up with someone. None of my ex-girlfriends had ever been particularly keen on cuddling in the mornings. They'd usually rebuffed my attempts and complained about bad breath or my scratchy morning face. Though, I suppose there wasn't much to rebuff, we hadn't even had a round one the night before, we both knew there would be no round two in the morning.

But then she turned around so we were facing each other and wrapped her arms around my neck, tucking herself into me and my heart soared.

'Good morning,' she said softly, face pressed up against my t-shirt.

'Good morning, my love,' I replied, placing my arms back around her waist and squeezing her tight to me.

I don't know where the term of endearment had come from. To be honest, Birgitta was a bit of a mouthful and I hated that she didn't have a nickname and didn't like any shortened versions of her name. Birgitta just sounded so formal, so impersonal. Everyone called her that. But she was my love, and now that's was what I would call her.

'It's so nice waking up and having you right here,' she said, smiling lazily and opening her bleary eyes to look at me.

'I agree,' I whispered back and nuzzled back into her neck. 'I have a suggestion.'

'Oh? What's that?' She asked, still tucked in comfortably to my chest.

'Whenever we're together, we sleep in the same bed,' I said.

She grinned a bit wider.

'You really don't like being alone,' she teased.

'It's not just that,' I assured her. 'I really like being with you in particular.'

'Okay,' she said. 'I like that idea.'

'Brilliant,' I sighed contentedly and held on to her.

Maybe it was a good thing that we hadn't actually slept together last night. There was something oddly comforting and intimate about simply holding each other like this without any expectations. I still wanted her, but she was worth waiting to do it properly for. For now, I was enjoying this cuddling without being in a rush to get up and do anything.

Birgitta

After breakfast, I took Jesse to see the Hopewell Rocks. There was only a two-hour window while the tide was out when they let people on the beach to explore before it came back in and I didn't want to miss it. I'd only seen the rocks once before myself, so it was still pretty cool for me. The beach was already busy when we descended to cliff to walk on the red, sandy coast.

'You're sure the tide goes all the way up there?' Jesse asked as we walked, looking back up to the tops of the rocks.

'It's the highest tides in the world,' I reminded him. 'We'll come back later when the tide's in and you can see for yourself.'