To Write Love On Her Arms (COMPLETE!:)

Chapter 9

Ethan

“I give up!” Casen exclaimed, slinging her Algebra ll homework away from her and putting her head in her hands.

I felt bad for her. With only a little over a week remaining of first semester, teachers, including Ms. Barton, were piling on work in order to prepare us for exams. It’d been an extremely grueling past few days.

“Okay,” I said slowly, drawing the word out as I picked up her Algebra ll stuff and set it off to the side out of the way. I sat down behind her. “How about we call it quits for tonight and we can work on it during class tomorrow? Sound good?”

“It’s due tomorrow though!” Casen argued tiredly.

“Well, you need a break. Besides, she’s going to go over it with us in class tomorrow, Case,” I coaxed gently, gripping her shoulders and beginning to massage them.

She sighed in defeat. “Fine. We’ll call it quits for tonight . . . um, what are you doing?”

“Giving you a massage. Your muscles are really tense; you could use one,” I responded, working my hands over her shoulders.

It took a minute or two, but I finally got her to relax and her head tilted back slightly in pleasure. “That feels so good…” she murmured.

“Good, it’s supposed to,” I teased, my lips twitching in a smile at her obvious enjoyment.

A comfortable silence fell between us as I gave her her massage; her relaxed and me focusing on what I was doing. I could feel her muscles relax under my fingers until, finally, she just leaned back against me with her eyes closed.

“Feeling better?” I chuckled.

She partially opened her eyes to peer up at me from underneath her lashes. “Mhm…” she mumbled, “where’d you learn to become such a good masseuse?”

“I don’t know. Always been good with my hands I guess,” I responded with a slight lift of my shoulders.

“Well, it felt really nice. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. I’m glad it helped,” I said, brushing her bangs out of her eyes, “You need to go get a haircut,” I whispered teasingly.

She smiled softly. “I know. Does your mom cut hair?”

“She cut mine and Abby’s when we were little but she quit bothering when we reached junior high.”

“Then maybe I’ll ask her sometime soon,” she murmured and snuggled up against me. I leaned back and stretched out on the floor, making her grunt in protest and nestle back up against me again with an agitated expression on her face. I chuckled and kissed her temple affectionately; she was really cute when she was like this.

Ever since we’d gotten past the rocky start of our relationship she’d been more open and affectionate and a little more energetic. Even during school, she’d become a little more vibrant. People were noticing and they were talking, but I didn’t care.

None of them knew Casen like I did. They didn’t know about her home life or what she went through every day. Her personal struggle to survive…

She was making progress though. Casen was slowly working to stop cutting. And she was doing it for me…

The thought made me fall for her a little bit more and I shifted so I should kiss her softly.

She inhaled lightly in surprise before tilting her head for a better reach.

God, I loved kissing her. I loved the way she reacted and I loved the way she tasted. It was intoxicating.

Slowly, we repositioned and Casen was lying on the floor with me on top of her. The kiss deepened and the heat between us thickened; everything melted away but the two of us. I could feel my blood running even hotter.