The Art of Living

[47] Present Joys

"Yeah, I do, and he did.." Ellie looked at Brian and chuckled softly. "He won't beat you up."

"How do you know?" He asked, sounding slightly intimidated.

Ellie kissed his cheek softly. "That's simple. Because you're not at all like Daniel. Because he will know that you care about me and that you make me happy, and because he cares about me he wouldn't jeopardise that. I wouldn't let him hurt you."

Brian looked at her for a moment. "You wouldn't let him?"

"Of course not. Why would I want him to hurt you? Don't be silly. I'm sure that when I tell him about you that he will be looking forward to meet you. I mean.. he might threaten you when you meet him, but he'll probably only say those things to make sure you know that you shouldn't hurt me."

"I wouldn't do that.. you know that, right?" He looked at her intently.

Of course Ellie nodded. She definitely knew that. "I do. If I didn't think that then I wouldn't be telling you all this. I know I mess up quite a lot actually, but I definitely know that you're one of the good people."

"Thank you..." Brian smiled and pulled her close again.

Ellie took a deep breath. "Can I ask you something?" After a moment, however, she shook her head. "No, never mind, pretend I didn't say that."

"That's kind of hard, you know? I'm a very curious person.." Brian kissed the top of her head very softly. "You can ask me anything. I'll be honest with you."

She still wasn't quite sure, but when she lifted her head to look at him, she couldn't resist his eyes. "Alright... but really be honest. Uhm.." She was slightly nervous about asking him that, so she sat up straight, bringing a little more distance between them. "This is crazy. Okay here we go... so... my parents' birthdays are four weeks from now, and... usually I go home for that. So... I don't know... it's perfectly fine if you don't want that, but I thought maybe you do want that, so... maybe you ... I don't know, would you want to come with me?" She bit her lip and looked at him nervously.

"You... you want me to meet your family?" He asked, slightly astonished.

Ellie shrugged and looked at him helplessly. "I don't know... maybe? Yes? I guess? I mean... yeah.. You want me to meet your parents, right?"

Brian shrugged as well and nodded. "Yes... I would really like that. And if you want it, I would love to go to your home with you. I was just really surprised. I didn't expect that at all, but.. I'm so happy." He surprised her by hugging her tightly.

Ellie chuckled a little and hugged him back. "You are? Why?"

"Because... well, because I really like you, and I'm guessing that I must mean quite a lot to you if you want to drag me all the way to Scotland with you." Brian smiled and kissed her cheek.

"Well," Ellie laughed softly. "That's true... yeah. That's definitely true." She looked at him and placed her hand on his cheek very gently. "It's still a mystery to me how you do this.."

"What exactly?" He asked curiously and smiled at her.

She shrugged and smiled back at him. "That you mean so much to me. We've know each other for three weeks, well, we've properly known each other for two weeks, and yet... here you are. On my couch, making me happy just by being here, I mean, I invited you to come home with me, home to Scotland, and I know that I wouldn't like to be without you right now. But I don't understand why. Because... well, because no one has ever managed that, especially not so quickly and so intense... does that make sense? I probably sound incredibly stupid, but I - "

"No you don't sound stupid. You sound adorable. You sound happy, and you sound like you've met someone who makes you really happy." Brian smiled and wrapped his arms around her waist.

Ellie moved a little closer to him and wrapped her arms around his neck gently, lazily playing with his curls. "Really happy indeed, yes.. really happy. Unbelievably happy. So happy that I ... I really want to do this.." She moved closer to him and let her eyes wander down to his lips for a moment before she looked him in the eyes again.

Brian raised his eyebrows and didn't say anything. He simplylooked at her, a small smirk playing on his lips. Slowly he pulled her closer, his hands gently moving over her back.

She could feel herself getting goosebumps and took a deep breath before she closed the last bit of distance between them. Very softly she pressed her lips against his, only for a moment, unable to keep a smile off her face when she pulled back a little. She let her eyes wander over his face, giggling softly when she saw his expression. He looked adorable, with his eyes still closed, and a smile on his face.

"I like that.. you should do that more, y'know?" He opened his eyes again and smiled widely at her.

Ellie smiled back at him and chuckled softly. She gently caressed his cheek, smiling widely at him. "I will, if you want me to. Because I really really want that. I like kissing you a lot."

"A lot, huh?" He asked and smirked. "Well then, who's stopping you? I don't see anyone."

"Ah, that's how you're going to do it, huh?" She laughed softly. "How could I resist that?"

Brian smiled widely and winked at her. "I don't know, I really don't know."

Shaking her head a little with a smile she leaned closer again. "You're lucky you're so wonderful." She smiled and placed her hands on his cheeks before she kissed him very softly, slowly. Almost automatically she closed her eyes and sighed softly. She could feel Brian's breath on her skin, and yet she was longing to be even closer to him. The soft and gentle kiss turned a bit more intense when she moved one leg across his lap, so she was straddling him. Slowly she sat down on his thighs, running her fingers through his curls very slowly.

She could feel Brian shifting a little underneath her, his arms tightening a little around her. Ellie leaned against him more and deepened the kiss even more. Brian sighed softly, and very slowly let his fingers wander along the gap between her shirt and her skirt. Ellie shivered and arched her back a little so it would be easier for him to find that gap, because she wanted him to let his hands wander.

Slowly Brian moved his lips away from her lips, along her jawline to her neck. His lips were warm and incredibly soft on her skin, and it felt incredible. Ellie leaned her head back and sighed loudly. "Brian...," she breathed softly.

"I'm right here," he mumbled, gently caressing the skin on her back. He didn't pull away, instead he kept kissing her neck softly, making Ellie slowly feel like she was losing her mind because he was incredible.

However, not long after, Brian did pull away.

"No," she sighed and looked at him. "Why did you stop? I liked that..."

Brian chuckled a little and kissed her softly. "Me too, but your phone is ringing."

"Oh come on," Ellie sighed and shook her head. "I didn't even hear that.." She looked at him and licked her lips. "I'm gonna go answer that. Don't go anywhere." She got up and pointed at him with a small smile on her face.

Brian lifted his hands and laughed softly. "I wasn't planning to go anywhere. Don't take too long though."

"I won't. Don't worry." She smiled and leaned down to kiss him again before she hurried into the hallway to answer her phone.

• • • • • • • •

So... this is Ellie, you either get nothing or everything, nothing in between. :D This is a rather short but since it's quite eventful (and I'm currently struggling to write my two exam essays) I hope you can forgive me for that. There might be a few days longer between the next updates, but I'm still going to update, so don't worry. I just have to find the time to proofread the chapters and that takes up more time than you'd think (also because I usually tend to get distracted). But anyway. I hope you enjoyed this, and as always I'd love to hear your reactions! :))