Close To You

Chapter 2

"Knock it off!" Ellie cried, laughing, as Sean climbed onto her back, tickling her mercilessly. She halfway struggled to remove his hands, but he could tell she was enjoying this too much to be serious and, to be quite honest, so was he. When he realized he was making it rather hard on her breathing from both the giggles and the fact he was sitting on her back, he finally rolled over beside her and pulled her into his arms, smiling as she laughed into his chest.

"You...you are too goofy," she choked out between gasps for breath. He grinned cheesily. "See? How long has it been now? Five, six months?"

"Six, I think...has it really been that long?"

"I think so. You asked me out a few days after that, remember?"

"Yeah, I do. Wow. It just doesn't seem like we've been dating for that long."

"Tell me about it. It also doesn't seem like we've survived my dad that long ago." She let out one final laugh, then settled in his arms, lying peacefully. "So what do you want for your birthday?"

"Sleep would be nice."

"No, seriously."

"Who said I wasn't serious?" She jabbed his ribs playfully.

"C'mon, I'm serious! It's just a week until you're fifteen and I wanna make it special, and I don't know what to get you." He looked down at her, losing himself in her eyes like he always did, and realized exactly what it was he wanted. Of course, he couldn't tell her that, but something gave him the idea she knew exactly what he had in mind. "Well, I was thinking maybe..."

"Come on, spit it out!"

"It's stupid, I can't tell you."

"Sean," She started, looking into the same, sad, brown puppy eyes she'd adored for so long, "You know that you can tell me anything and I'm not going to leave you alone until you do, anyhow, so you might as well tell me." Sighing, he obliged.

"Peace." He said it so softly, she had to struggle to hear him.

"What? I don't get it."

"I want peace. You know, quiet...rest."

"You weren't kidding about the sleep thing, were you?"

"Well, that was a joke, but I really would just like a peaceful day with you. You know, no one else around, just us."

"And where might we find such a place?"

"Now wait a minute, it's my birthday present, that's supposed to be up to you!"

Now she laughed, looking up again. "Sorry, forgot about that. I'll see what I can do."

"I'm easy to please."

"Obviously." She leaned up to kiss him, letting him pull her lip into his mouth, sucking on it gently. Wrapping her arms around the back of his neck, she let him lay her back down, let him begin softly kissing her neck. "You know, if I was a cat, I think I'd be purring right about now."

Sean looked at her, eyebrows raised, and laughed. "What? A cat? Why do you say that?"

"No reason, really, just thought I'd say it."