A Little Love Collection

Five

A soft smile creeps up his cheeks.

"Yes" he whispers in my ear. His lips trail from my ear to my forehead; he places a small kiss on it.

"Would you like to come to my house?" His parents are almost never home and his brothers remain tucked away in their rooms.

I nod my head in reply and we drive to his house. When we arrive, he jumps out of the car and quickly comes around to my side to open the door for me. We approach his house and he grabs the key under the plant next to the door. The doorknob turns...and we're inside. We become swallowed into the darkness.

I try feeling my way up the stairs but he quickly scoops me up in his strong arms and carries me up. I place my near his chest and can hear his heart beating confidently, like a drum.

We arrive at his room and he gently places me on the duvet of his bed.

He leans in and kisses me. He begins softly and slowly, caressing my face with his ardent hands. He tugs my hair and presses his lips harder against mine. I lift my face upwards while he softly nibbles at my neck. I begin to moan. I can feel his smile on my neck. He picks me up so my legs are straddled around his torso and places me on the wooden desk across the room. It's covered with drawings and notes. My hand lands on his pencil cup, clumsily knocking all of his pencils off the desk.

"Sorry" I murmur, breathing heavily.

"Shhh" he says as he knocks off everything else on his desk. Pencils go flying as papers soar to the ground. I giggle.

His hands move from face to my back. He slowly trails his fingers down my back until he finds the zipper on my dress. I raise my arms up and he lifts it off, tossing it aside. I felt exposed now, only wearing my black, strapless bra and lacy blue underwear. He lean in to kiss me but I look down instead.

"Ella? Is everything okay?" he asks, immediately stopping.

"Yeah, no, I'm okay. I just feel so...so...naked" I feel stupid.

"It's just me and you Ella" he says, lifting up my chin so that our eyes would meet. His strong arms pull me into a tight hug. I place my head on his shoulder and closed my eyes. He smells wonderful, his cologne makes me dizzy in a delightful way. I feel safe.

Regaining confidence, I decide it's my turn to lead. I grab his neck and pull him in between my legs. I begin pulling off his shirt and unzipping his pants until he stood only in his boxers. I begin sucking the side of his neck and he breathes in heavily.

He pulls me back into his arms and carried me to his bed. He places a pillow under my head and his arms stand next to each of my shoulder blades. He kissed my stomach and pulled my underwear down to my ankles and lightly tosses it aside. I sit up on my knees and remove his checkered boxers. Green and Red? Getting ready for Christmas? I smile. He kisses my neck and then my shoulders while simultaneously unlatching my bra.

I'm naked, completely naked in front of him. He stops kissing me for a moment and his head drops down. He meets my gaze once again.

"What's wrong?" I ask.

"You're so beautiful Ella" he sighs. I can tell his words are genuine. My heart is racing. Every muscle, every vein, feels like a live wire. I am electric. I want him so badly. I want him and only him forever. He is the one. Some things you just know in life. This is one of them.

I lie down and his warm chest presses against mine. I grab his back and straddle him with my legs. We become like one and all I feel are swirls of concupiscent emotion and color inside of me...

...He then lies beside me. I turn with my back toward him and he wraps his arm around me. It's quiet. Peaceful. We fall asleep like that.

"Ella?" someone whispers in the dark.

I don't respond, instead I pull the covers closer to my chin.

"Ella?" the voice repeats. I can feel warm breath on the back of my neck and I'm slowly coerced out of my sleep.

"Yeah?" I reply drowsily.

"I should drive you home; I don't want to your parents to flip out if they find out that you slept over," he says softly.

"You're probably right" I reply, now sitting upright and coming to my senses.

He helps me get dressed, nearly going on a scavenger hunt to locate all of the articles of clothing tossed about the room. We furtively sneak out the back door and walk briskly to the car.

The evening air is cool and smells faintly of sweet honeysuckle and lavender. There are very few streetlights and I have to give my eyes a moment to adjust to the darkness. I make out Charlie's shadow several feet in front of me and quickly jog to catch up. It's chilly and Charlie notices me vigorously rubbing my arms to prevent the inevitable goosebumps from lingering up them. He takes off his grey sweater and places it over my head. I crawl into the sweater and give him a peck on the cheek.

We don't say much on the way to my house. I can't tell what he's thinking but I'm too tired to ask. I roll down the window and let the wind whip across my face fly through my hair. I suddenly feel more awake. My mind skips back to earlier this evening and a kaleidoscope of memories swirl through my head.

"Cadence if it's a girl" he says, interrupting the silence.

"What?" I'm confused.

"When we're older and if we have kids," he says quietly, "I like the name Cadence if we have a daughter" he finishes as he looks out the window.

I'm shocked. I'm amazed. I'm jubilant. I like that he's picturing us together in the future and the children we will raise together. I've thought about it before but I've never mentioned it to him before; I didn't want to frighten him.

"I like Cadence" I smile.

We arrive at my house and I turn toward him. He tucks a stray piece of my frazzled hair behind my right ear and pulls me in for a kiss. It's a gentle kiss that makes my knees go weak and my heart thump in my chest. He nibbles at my lower lip and then slowly backs away, leaving me wanting more.

"I love you" I say looking into his warm eyes. The words come so naturally from my lips.

"I love you too, goodnight Ella" he says, holding a steady gaze. His words are like molasses, I let them drizzle over me.

I hop out of the car and tiptoe across my lawn to the side gate where I let myself into the house. Only when he sees the light go on in my room does he wave and drive off, disappearing into the darkness.

I fall onto my bed not even bothering with the covers and slip away into a distant dream...

His eyes are twinkling and he looks absolutely dashing in his tuxedo. I can hear the pelicans cry out and can taste the saltwater playing on my tongue.

"Will you take Ella Marie Langston to be your wife, your partner in life, and your one true love? Will you be faithful through good times and bad, in sickness and in health as long as you both shall live?" recites a priest.

"I do" he says confidently.

"And do you take Charles Mathew Patton to be your husband, your partner in life, and your one true love? Will you be faithful through good times and bad, in sickness and in health as long as you both shall live?" the priest repeats.

I can't find my voice. My lips won't move even though I'm screaming "yes" inside. I stand frozen, beads of sweat forming at my hairline. I give Charlie a worried look.

"Ella?" the priest questions.

Still nothing. No words escape my lips. My knees begin to tremble and my throat tightens.

"Ella?" he repeats, more firmly this time.

"Ella!" someone yells, shaking me. I look up: it's my mother.

"Mom?" I ask relieved, glad the nightmare has come to an end.

"Honey, get up" she said sternly. I look at the clock: 3:07 AM.

"Mom, it's 3 in the morning" I yawn, struggling to sit upright. I look at her; her face looks pained and she can't meet my eyes. Is that a tear?

"It's Charlie" she whispers, almost inaudibly. There's a tone in her voice that I don't quite recognize. My heart sinks.

The rest is a blur.