Teach Me Something // LH44

Chapter Seventeen

"See... now wouldn't you have been sad that you missed out on all of this?" Lewis whispers in my ear as I lounge back, comfy on his chest. It was a perfect scene as we looked out at the sun setting on the water in front of us, colours dancing across the sky from gold to purple. I'd never seen anything like it and so I'd been frozen here, not by the cold but by the beauty of it all, which was somehow made more aware to me by the fact I could feel his breathing matching mine.

We were the only ones on the private beach watching as the sun slowly disappeared. Everyone else that we'd spent time with over the last two weeks had gone home yesterday which meant we had a couple of extra nights in the insane villa all to ourselves. The first ones alone since we'd arrived the day after term ended.

His fingers trace up and down my stomach, pulling the remaining drops of water from the sea along with him as he drew an abstract pattern and we relaxed. We were both just taking in the once in a lifetime kind of moment, the heat from the sun still hitting our bones. It was so picturesque that it felt like it could the credit scene of a movie following a happy montage of our life together. That's what the moment felt like. Not just the beauty of the world but the hope that I felt when it was just us enjoying it, nothing that could make me stressed was even allowed as a thought in my head. I would be convinced this was the end of a movie montage if I hadn't been so busy living it.

Occasionally his fingers travelled over the scars that were displayed from this bikini but I didn't mind. They were permanent and I wasn't the type to be shy over some scars when he'd seen me naked on more than a few occasions. I think it was the same as I how I viewed his tattoos. Both were permanent etchings in our skin that helped to silently tell the story's of our lives to those who were interested to look. I had also begun to realise that he found it... I don't know, maybe reassuring? Like he knew who he was with when his fingers felt the raised bumps. I'd caught him sighing a breath of relief on more than one occasion when he woke up wrapped around me, fingers travelling down my stomach until they found the tell tale marks. I guess I found it almost reassuring that he didn't try to avoid the most obvious imperfections near him, especially when there was so much perfection around us.

It had been a great trip, if not overwhelming and confusing at times. I was introduced to a massive number of his close friends, his brother and even a small stint with his niece and nephew, including seeing a confused Kaiden about me being with them. I hadn't known they were going to be there which was probably good as I likely would have said no to coming if I had. Fortunately that was just over Christmas before they left our wonderful retreat and his friends arrived for New Years, no time between the two groups for us to breathe let alone recover.

Despite his age I learnt that Lewis enjoyed partying with the best of them... and many of the best were in the carefully cultivated group of artsy and successful people that stayed with him. It was quite a difference to me and my friends who would try to meet up every so often for two beers. Clubbing more than one night in a row had been unheard of for at least the last three years and that wasn't down to covid. It was just who we were now... so far different from this. I tried to keep up and I honestly thought that I did a good job all things considered. I sat out on some of the daytime fun activities, finding space for me and a book when Lewis needed to go for a run or go to the gym, but I joined in on the hike, the water sports, a memory of clinging to Lewis for dear life as we jumped in a jet ski along the water far faster than I think I'd ever been in a car let alone something so exposed. The best part of that had been a reward for being so brave, the two of us daring to do some stuff I would have never done outside of a bed, let alone the house on top of said jet ski.

Safe to say I had some memories that were going to last me a lifetime.

The weirdest part of the trip was probably around the clubbing experiences though - specifically New Year's Eve. Some hushed conversations here and there resulted in one of the girls in the group, Juliana, and Lewis entering the club together in front of many fans and cameras while I and a few others went a more private route. One that was available to him as well but we got separated in the crazy, I think anyway. I hadn't understood when he'd let go of my hand but I hadn't fought it, and I also didn't ever really bring it up because once they entered the club and were away from the cameras, his hand was back resting on my hip. His lips were on my neck and his whispered promises were to me. When I did try to ask what was going on the next day Lewis promised it was just some publicity for a friend and we'd left it at that.