In the Sixth Hour

6:00 am

Her feet hurt. They felt frigid and sore, they ached in the heels she regretted wearing that night. Each step felt like a mile as they struggled to take a second step, but she had never been happier. Something flowed through her veins that morning that she hadn't felt before, and as much as she wanted to know what exactly what that something was... she was alright with leaving it a mystery. Because maybe everything didn't need to be explained, and the feelings she felt then weren't supposed to have answers.

"Look at this view." Beatrice breathes out a breath of pure wonder as she stares out the hotel balcony window. The lights of the city shining brightly in the horizon and for the first time that early morning she didn't feel as small as she gazed down upon the vast city.

"Yeah," Tobias sighs beside her, and as he stands beside her she can feel his body warmth radiating off of him. And it's a comforting heat. "She's pretty beautiful, huh?"

His voice is soft, almost breathless. As if he too is taken aback by the city of lights below them. And Beatrice continues to gaze out at the glimmering city below them, for she feels that if she looks over at the man beside her, she'll find him gazing at her instead. For his words make her feel it's not the city of Chicago he speaks of right now in this small but comfortable hotel room. But her.

The walls are plain with paintings of random places hung here and there, and the sheets on the bed are soft and warm. Beatrice's hand runs over the fabric as she looks around the small hotel room they got. She's much warmer as she took a shower and is dressed in one of the hotel's fluffy white robes, and she gazes in comfort out at the city as she waits for Tobias as he too showers.

The room is quiet, the only sound that of the running shower. Hearing the flow of water rushing on the other side of the door to the bathroom, her mind travels to the man who also stands on the other side. The man she only met hours ago, yet feels it's been all her life. The man she stays with now here in a hotel room for the last hour till her train, and the man who sparks so much confusion inside of her.

Questions are endless as they swirl in her head, and they all revolve around this man she hardly knows.

How one person... how one complete stranger... can make her feel things and think things she never had before. Things that scare her yet she can wholeheartedly believe won't harm her. How one person... how one complete stranger... can look at her and she suddenly feels calm. His eyes of blue like a blanket or a wave of serenity, draped across her to still her racing being. How this man has the ability to lend her clarity. How he can create so many new questions and wonders, yet answer and heal so many others.

The sound of the bathroom door clicking open makes Beatrice jump slightly, whirling around to spot Tobias walking out in a matching white robe. Steam follows after him, escaping the humid bathroom. He spots Beatrice as he runs a hand over his still damp chocolate curls, and walks over to her. His feet bare, just like hers, walking against the soft dark blue carpet.

"Still admiring the view?" Tobias asks her, resting an arm on the wall as he too takes another look out the large window.

Beatrice smiles shyly, shrugging her shoulders. "I guess I am. Although, this," She says pointing up and down at the fluffy robe he wears now. "Is a view I might like better."

As Beatrice laughs, Tobias cracks a smile. "Are you making fun of me?"

"Me? Never." Beatrice says shaking her head, but can't wipe her smile off of her face. It's stuck, like someone sewed it to her lips.

The silence of the room washes over the two of them as the laughter dies down, but it isn't completely quiet. For a low thumping fills Beatrice's ears, her heart beating faster as neither of them looks away from each other's eyes.

Lost. Both of them drowning in the other's blue sea, without an anchor to hold either of them back.

In that moment, it's as if something greater is in play. If fate pushes their movements, beat by beat, bringing the two of them closer to each other. For when Tobias moves towards her, slowly, she doesn't want him to stop. Looking up at him through her lashes as he stands so close now, so close that she can smell the soap on his skin and the peppermint on his breath. So close she can feel the light blow of air as he breathes in and out, so close that she reaches out her hand. Resting it against the soft cotton of his robe, her palm feeling the beating of his own racing heart.

He gazes down at her as she does with him; and she knows he's thinking the same things she is in that moment in time. She sees it, there in his blue eyes, she sees that his feelings mirror her own. And as her own eyes flutter from his eyes down to his full lips back to his eyes, she inches forward. As she does so, Tobias does the same.

Until, there is no more space so close.

They are as soft as they look. The first thing that crosses Beatrice's senses as she feels Tobias's lips. The way the soft skin cresses her own lips softly, and oh so slowly. But it isn't long until they both ache together for more, and that gentle stroke turns heavier. Peppermint stronger now on her senses as her tongue dances with his, and mint is the lasting memory of the touch.

It is not rushed. It is not forced. It isn't even rough... it feels... just right.

Pulling back for a breath of air, Beatrice gazes up slowly at Tobias. Finding he's already looking back, and it feels as though they just stopped time. As though that moment was theirs and only theirs, that everything else halted and that time was just for them.

Her lips tingle, as if already missing the feel of his own. And shutting her eyes she leans forward, where fate meets again. For Tobias's forehead is brought downward just as hers, and meets her halfway. Their foreheads pressed gently together, as both their blue eyes close. Relishing in this moment, basking in the moment that is theirs. Even only for a minute, even only for this morning, this one... is theirs.

A/N: Ahhh! I love this chapter, who else?? I loved writing this so much!💕🙈✨