Fallen

Chapter 14

We were in the elevator riding down to the lobby when she leaned into me... "I'm not wearing panties..."

I was still not quite over my lust for her... my eyes snapped to her. I pulled her in to me... kissing her hard.

I broke from her as the elevator dinged, signaling that we were in the lobby. Fucking fast elevator! I thought...

She was a little wobbly from the pleasure my kiss gave her. She clung to me and I kept my arm wrapped around her as we walked. I leaned in and whispered in her ear, "You're going to pay for that little stunt missy..."

She bounced her eyebrows at me, "I'm looking forward to it!"

We paid and found her parents seated at a booth. They looked up at us with a smile!

Marsha looked at her daughter, "Took your sweet time coming down!"

Karly smiled at her, "We got tied up!"

I looked down in embarrassment while Joshua rolled his eyes. "I really don't want to hear about your sex life!"

I held my hands out... "No sex. We just were getting cleaned up..."

It wasn't a lie per se... I did lick her clean a few times...

He laughed. "Go get food you two. I'm sure Shawn could eat a whole cow!"

I laughed and ran to grab food. Karly and I made our way back to the table. I had an enormous salad, and she had a plate full of ribs. She slid in before me. I figured I'd eat more than her and didn't want her to have to move out of the booth constantly. I leaned into her and bumped her to be playful.

"Quit crowding me!" She crowned. "There are ribs to be considered here!"

We both dug in. I went back four times for food before I had finally had enough. Everything was absolutely delicious. It was one of the best meals I had ever had!

We all shared conversation, visiting amiably. Marsha asked how we liked our room and Karly and I both told her how much we liked it. They told us about their room, including her mom giving a deion of the hot tub in their room...

I was a little jealous of that. I would have liked to have made love to Karly in a hot tub...

I made a promise to myself that I would try it one day!

Joshua and Marsha finished up before us, having gotten so much of an early start on us. Josh looked at me, "We're going to hit some table games for the rest of the night. You two okay on your own for the rest of the night?"

Karly snuggled into me, "I am. I have a big ol' angry grizzly bear to protect me."

I knew he was a bit worried that I might be getting anxious with the crowds. It felt really nice to see that he was worried about me, but it also stung my pride a bit. I wasn't a little kid. I knew what he was asking me. He was checking to see if I wanted him to stick around and help me through my fears. I mean it wasn't my proudest moment, but it still felt nice to know that he cared enough about me to be willing to sacrifice quiet time with his wife just to look out for me.

How had I gotten so lucky in life? I wondered. I had so many good people that had found their way into my life. People that cared about me, that wanted to look out for me. It was more than I deserved I knew, mostly I felt like I deserved to be alone...

I met his eye, "Yeah, you two go and have fun. I'm doing really well! We'll meet up in the morning for breakfast?"

He nodded eagerly, "Sounds like a plan!"

He and Marsha started to slide out of the booth, "Oh, one more thing."

I looked at him expectantly.

"The Strip is pretty damn safe. There are always a ton of people wandering around, and the cops don't take any shit down there. The Strat isn't on the Strip though. There is a couple of pretty rough blocks between here and there. Don't go walking through that. If you decide to go out on the Strip, take a cab, or a shuttle till you get down farther." He looked at me in particular, "Shawn, I know you can handle yourself, but things can get out of hand pretty fast and you don't have a ton of experience with dealing with situations getting out of hand. Please, be smart and don't take any risks."

I shook my head at him. "Thank you for the warning. I thought we were on the Strip. If we went out on the Strip I probably would have insisted we walk to save money. I won't now."

He seemed satisfied and smiled at me, "Have fun tonight you two!"

Karly hugged me hard, "I got my teddy bear! I'm already having fun!"

I smiled at the older couple, "You two have fun too! Don't lose too much money!"

Karly and I continued to eat, working on finishing our meal. Mid-way through the meal Karly leaned into my ear and whispered, "How are you doing?"

I looked at her and realized my anxiety wasn't spiking at all. I mean the buffet was bustling, and things were louder than I normally liked, but I wasn't anxious. It felt great to just be with her in a busy place while I was enjoying myself!

I kissed her, tasting a bit of the barbeque sauce on her lips. "Really good. I'm having fun!" I told her.

She gave me a 'don't lie to me mister' look. I smiled and kissed her again. "Really. I'm having fun." I put my forehead to hers, "You make me calm, keep me grounded. I love you."

She kissed me, an electric brush of lips against lips. "I love you too teddy bear."

When we finished eating we got up and left. We were walking, hand in hand, her head on my shoulder. "Let's go back to the room." She told me.

I stopped and pecked at her lips, shaking my head, "No. I'd like to go to the casino. I'd like to run around and do some people watching with you."

She put both her hands in mine and pulled me in for another electric kiss. "It's okay. We can go to the room and have some fun, just you and I"

I kissed her again, "Don't you worry horn dog. You're definitely getting laid again tonight, but I don't want to spend the whole trip hiding in our room. We should go have some fun!"

She shook her head at me, and wrapped her arms around my neck. "You don't need to impress me with how tough you can be. I know you're tough."

I kissed her again, "I'm not being tough. I feel really good right now. As soon as I start getting uncomfortable, I'll let you know and we can head up to the room!"

"You're sure?" She asked me. I could tell she didn't trust me to be honest on it...

That stung a bit, but it also felt good that she knew me well enough to know I usually wouldn't be comfortable, and that she loved me enough to spend the rest of the evening alone with me...

I nodded eagerly, trying to convey to her how excited I was. I kissed her again. "In fact, I might lie to you and say I'm uncomfortable just so I can get between those legs a little bit sooner..."

She smiled like a schoolgirl and dragged me by the hand to the casino.

We got to the casino and I could feel the electric current of the room. So much light, so much sound! For the first time in my life I felt what everyone else must have felt! That excitement, the energy!

I shook my head, and realized that all of the excitement and energy were nothing compared to how I felt about her. About my excitement to be here with her, to see her joyous energy. She had left her hair up and I again marveled at the lines in her face, wanting so much to just push her to the floor and have my way with her... with Karly I could probably get away with it... well at least until casino security threw us out!

I pulled her into a walking hug, lifting her a bit and guiding her along the path I wanted her to walk.

I know we were getting in people's way, but I really didn't give a shit. Fuck them! I had an angel in my arms, they should expect me to be absorbed in her!

We wandered the room, watching people maniacally pressing buttons and losing money...

We made fun of people, we made observations about them. It was interesting to watch people become like robots. Press the button, wait for the pellet of food to drop. Press the button again. And again. And again.

After a while it started to make me sad. I could understand the manic energy and the excitement of trying to win money. A part of me was disappointed to feel that I wanted to join in on that chance. I also knew, mathematically, these people were essentially paying to see some shiny lights for a few seconds. Essentially, they were throwing money away. That seemed like a sin to me, and every time they pressed the button they expected a different response.

Karly caught me shaking my head as I watched a blue haired lady blow through the maximum bet on a slot ten times. She had just thrown away twenty bucks for maybe two minutes of enjoyment. Two minutes of excitement. Her voice interrupted my thoughts, "What is it?"

I looked at her as a wave of sadness crashed over me. "It's kind of depressing." Worry crashed into her face. I smiled to let her know I was okay still. "People are so desperate to win they just throw money away."

She looked at the little old lady with me for a few seconds. Finally, she shrugged, "If it makes her happy though, what does it matter?"

I looked into her beautiful eyes. "It makes her happy right now. For a few seconds at a time. Later though, she'll hate herself, once she finally realizes how much she spent for how little return." Just then her machine hit a win and the little old lady lit up. I looked at Karly and she smiled at me like a smartass.

I shrugged, "Maybe I'm wrong."

She kissed me, "You're not. Just bad timing. In fact, that's what sucks people in. The win that makes the losses seem like a lie. People sink money into those things and after a while you start to feel like you're due. You're already so sunk in you can't justify walking away. People start to feel like the instant they walk away the big payout will come. They just get sunk into how much they've lost, and that makes them lose more."

She sighed and shook her head. I could see some of my melancholy had rubbed off on her.

Time to cheer her up...

I pulled her in and kissed her hard, our tongues mingling. When we broke, I told her, "See, that was so much better than pressing some buttons and looking at the blinking lights."

We met up with Karly's parents as they were gambling at a blackjack table. Joshua smiled at us. "What are you two up to?" He asked kindly.

I smiled at him, "Just wandering, people watching mostly!"

He returned the smile, "You two know you can't gamble, right?"

I laughed, shaking my head, "That would be a dumb thing to do. They don't pay out in cash here, they give you little tickets that you have to take to the cashier's station. That would be a dumb bet, I'm not really interested in giving money away!"
I pulled Karly to me and kissed her cheek. "I think I'd like to take your daughter shopping if you don't mind!"

"Shopping!" she squealed.

Joshua smiled at him, "You may as well sit down here son... if you're not interested in losing money I wouldn't go shopping for Karly!"

I laughed and Karly slapped her dad's chest.

Marsha offered me her keys, "Do you want to borrow our car?"

I shook my head, laughing, "That will never happen. No way I'm wrecking an Escalade... No thanks, I thought we'd just hit some of the stores in the hotel."

Joshua nodded, obviously eager to get back to his game, "Have fun you two!"

I took Karly shopping. It was super fun. We agreed that we both wanted to go swimming, and we both needed suits so she let me buy her a one-piece suit, black, and a pair of swimming shoes. I got a pair of baggy swim trunks. She also insisted that I buy myself a new pair of shoes, and I picked out a new set of heavy black boots from 5.11 I found in one of the stores. She snuck off and bought me a really nice dress shirt. I started to argue and she told me that I really needed to get some nicer clothes. I had to give her that one... I didn't actually own a shirt with buttons...

We also picked up some snacks for the room... Karly told me she intended to put me in need of them...

After that we went up to the rooftop pool. We changed in the dressing room, and met out by the pool. The night was frigid and we dove into one of the hot tubs, cuddling up and snuggling. The cold air must have kept most of the people away as we had the tub to ourselves. We didn't talk, or plan, we just sat there enjoying each other's company.

Her voice surprised me when she finally spoke. "If you could go back and do one thing different in your life, what would it be?"

That was a good question...

I shook my head. "I really don't know."

She snuggled her shoulder into me, drawing my arm around herself.

I knew she wasn't going to let this go. I needed to come up with some answer.

"Do you ever feel like you maybe aren't a good person?" I asked her.

She pulled away from me, giving me a funny look. "Not really. Do you?"

I frowned. "Sometimes."

She narrowed her eyes at me. "Why do you think that?"

I thought about it for a second. "Well, your question. See, on one hand, I look at that and a part of me wants to say that I should go back and do something that changes the worst thing I ever did. Another part of me says I should go and work on myself in some way. Be stronger, or get help for my, well for whatever the fuck is wrong with my head..."

She tisked at me...

She was going to say something and I knew it was going to be more platitudes about how I was okay, and I really didn't want to hear that, so I interrupted her.

"And the last part of me wants to go back and find a way to make you be with me." I smiled at her. "I mean earlier than I was."

She raised an eyebrow at me. "And that makes you feel like a bad person?"

I frowned again. "Kind of." I shrugged. "I mean, a chance like that, something that special, seems like it would be wasteful to not use it to go and wipe away some bad karma... but I find myself pulled more towards the other two choices."

I looked down at the water, suddenly very focused on the distorted image of the bubbles spraying the surface.

My mind snapped back to what I was saying. "And that makes me feel even worse." I looked over at her.

She shook her head, "Why?"

I chewed at my lip. "Because a part of me wants to fix myself before I met you."

She raised her eyebrows and frowned at me. Then she leaned into me and I felt a little bit better. She shook her head against my shoulder. "Because you're too stupid and proud. You always make yourself miserable being too responsible. You see something wrong and you twist it and worry at it until you find a way to make it your fault."

I chuckled. "But isn't it my fault if I can change it? If I can find a way to look back and see that I could change it?"

Her fingers found the hem of my shorts under the water and she played with it. Plucking at it and worrying it. "Not really. There are some things you can't change, and not everything is your fault."

That bothered me. I saw so many times in people's lives when they made themselves a victim over and over. Where they refused to take responsibility for their own choices and in turn put themselves back into that very same position.

"Isn't it though? I mean isn't every choice, every situation we put ourselves into our own fault?"

She looked at me. "What do you mean?"

I sat for a moment and collected my thoughts. "I think people too easily walk away from responsibility." A thought occurred to me then. "Take this example. You walk down a dark alley and get robbed. Who's at fault?"

She looked at me like I was stupid. "The guy that robbed you. You can't go and victimize someone and have it be someone else's fault."

I nodded at her. "So, the next day you walk down that same dark alley, and that same guy beats you up and robs you. Who's at fault now?"

I saw her understanding as she thought about it. "Well, I guess both of you. I mean the robber is no less responsible for victimizing someone." She got a funny look on her face. "But I guess it's also your own fault as you should have learned a lesson the first time."

I raised my eyebrows. "So, the next night you walk down that same alley and get robbed again by the same guy."

She laughed. "Now it's your fault. I mean, come on. At some point, you have to learn your lesson."

I joined her in laughing. "Now work that logic backwards. Why do you take responsibility the third time it happens, but not the first time?"

"Well, some things are beyond your control."

I raised my eyebrows at her. "But is that true? The first time it happened if you had told yourself you did something stupid and only had yourself to blame, wouldn't that ensure that it never happened again?"

She frowned and thought about it for a second. "I guess that's true."

I pulled her into me. "That's all I try to do."

She pulled away from me and gave me a dirty look. "You take it too far though. Sometimes, I see you tear yourself to bloody ribbons making yourself responsible for something that you had no control over."

I smiled at her, "Like what?"

She hesitated. "Like a lot of the stuff you blame yourself for that happened when you were a kid. You didn't know any better. Adults that should have taken care of you refused to, and you suffered for it. You blamed yourself for all of that. That's not healthy. In fact, one could make the argument that your attitude removes the blame from anybody that victimizes someone else. They had it coming as they should have made a different decision."

She had a point. It was a dangerous way of looking at the world. "I wish I had pushed you to want to be with me when we were freshmen then."

She laughed. "Your brain is so weird. You're the only person I've ever met that could have tied that whole separate series of events together and then came back and tied the question up."

I chuckled. Then another thought occurred to me. "Do you think it would have worked?"

Now she grew quiet. "I don't know."

I pulled her in close to me and put my cheek against her head. "Why do you think that."

She snuggled in closer to me. "I want to say that I would have been mature and dove at the chance. I look back though and realize that I may have been too stupid to realize what a chance it was."

She leaned away from me and looked up at me sheepishly through her eyelashes. "Maybe part of what makes you so special is that you aren't the person Mike was. I realize now how lucky I am to have a guy that loves me and really cares about me."

She broke eye contact and snuggled back into me. "Maybe if I hadn't learned that lesson I would take you for granted."

She started to play with the hem of my shorts again. "Maybe that would have made me less patient with you."

Shrugging she said, "Maybe that would have caused me to take you for granted."

I smiled and kissed the top of her head, feeling her wet hair beneath my lips. "See how hard it is to not look back and start thinking you might just be a terrible person?"

She laughed and hugged me. "Maybe the past is the past for a reason. Maybe it is designed to make us realize that we need to learn and live and that should be the end of it."

I put my head to the side of her face and kissed her head again. "Good point. Maybe both of us should stop beating ourselves up for not getting together earlier and just start appreciating the time we have now."

She looked up at me and smiled. Finally, she moved in and gave me a nice, soft kiss...

Karly and I were tied up in the bed, making love again...

We had barely made it back to the room before our need for each other overtook us again...

I slid down into her, enjoying the velvety feel of the inside of her... she was so intoxicating...

My lips slid down her jaw, raining kisses down her face as I worked my way to her ear...

Everything about her felt so intoxicating. So, delicious. So, perfect.

I made up my mind, right there and then... I wanted to marry this girl. I wanted her to be mine... forever. I wanted to be hers forever. My brain screamed to me that I was an idiot. That I had only known her, had only loved her for a week, but even my common sense seemed to melt at the idea of her being with me forever. It just felt so right.

I didn't know if I felt that the idea of a soul mate was right... but this was how that felt. I just felt completely at tune with her. Like our minds and our bodies had synced together...

Sliding in and out of her... I decided. "Can I... can ask you... oh fuck..." I moaned... pausing at each sensual thrust into her body. "Can I ask you... a question..."

Her lips were working on my ear, kissing and nibbling there. She had started to pick up my habit of dropping little love bites on me as we made love...

Her head bobbed as she panted into my ear... "You can... fuck... you can ask... me... oh god... me anything..."

I was overjoyed to see her mind didn't work any better than mine did while I was in her...

"Oh god..." I moaned into her ear, nipping at her there... "fuck you feel so good..."

She shook her head... "I don't... I don't think that was a question..."

My breath was hot on her neck... "You have to... you have to promise..." pleasure rocked through my body and I lost my train of thought...

"You have to promise me... not to... not to... get mad..."

She kissed my neck and chest, "I can't... I can't be mad at you..."

"Will you... will you..." I couldn't bring myself to say it... the fear of rejection was too much...

Just fucking say it! My brain screamed.

"Will you marry me?"

She pulled me into her... nodding her head... "One day... one day I will."

I closed my eyes... rejection.

I lost myself in the feeling of her. The raw sensual pleasure I received from her body. I almost let it drop... almost.

Finally, I worked my courage back up. "No... I don't mean... oh god... I don't mean one day..." I kissed her neck, lost in pleasure. "I mean now... while we're here... in Vegas..."

She pushed my head back and looked into my eyes...

The light to our left was on.

It clicked then. The vision I had had in her car that first night we were together. That moment that seemed like a vision. This was that moment. Somehow. Somehow, I had seen this moment then. My heart swelled with feeling for her. I had seen this moment. But how was that possible?

Her legs pulled me into her, guiding me back to our closest. I took it as a good sign.

"Are you..." her eyes slid closed in pleasure... "Are you being serious?" she asked me. She seemed so fragile right then. Like if I said the wrong thing she would shatter into a million pieces that I would never be able to put together again...

I waited for her to open her eyes again. I looked straight into those emerald pools of beauty. My angel's eyes... I nodded slowly. "Yes... I want you... I want you to be mine... forever..."

She licked her lips. I could tell she was trying to think, but the pleasure I was giving her was too much.

Her eyes filled with tears, overfilling suddenly.

My heart crashed. I had hurt her!

I pulled her close and whispered to her, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry!"

I had started to pull myself from her. Her hand on my ass stopped me. "No. Please. Don't stop..." She squirmed her legs into me, trying to pull herself back onto me...

Thrusting shallowly into her again I pulled away and looked at her face. I needed to see her face, to see how I had hurt her, why I had hurt her...

She felt so good!

Her eyes were still pooling, she said to me, "Nothing to be sorry for..." Her head arched back in pleasure, "They are good tears..."

How were tears good?

I put my hand to her face... trying to get her to look at me again...

Finally, she met my eyes again. "Do you... do you really want... want to?"

I shook my head eagerly. "Yes. I want to. I want to sneak off. Just the two of us, and do it. Just us."

Her face melted, the conflict of emotions there palatable. I continued to make love to her... I couldn't stop. Even had she asked me I don't know that I could have stopped.

Her head made strange movements... finally it settled into a firm nod... "Okay... yes..."

Tears fell from my eyes now... she said yes!

My mouth fell on hers and we shared a breathtaking kiss. I began to thrust into her harder and she moaned, feral and full of need. My hands tangled into hers and she and I shared each other...

Her breathing turned more rhythmic, faster and shallower and I knew that she was close to falling over the edge. I used every ounce of my willpower to not speed up... to thrust into her harder...

Her head crested back, "Oh god! I love you!" She screamed as I knew I carried her over the edge. She tightened on me and pulled me over with her.

I pumped wave after wave of myself into her... I couldn't stop. Her legs locked over my back and I felt myself drawn into the longest orgasm I had ever experienced. The best orgasm I had ever experienced.

She fell limp beneath me. I fell limp on top of her, too weak to even move. Finally, worried that my weight might be hurting her I fell to my side next to her.

She rolled to me and put her face to mine... her lips brushing against mine.

Her eyes were half open. Her hand came up and played with my ear. "Okay... now that I've milked the stupid out of you... are you serious?"

I pulled her closer to me. "Yes. Absolutely. I want you forever. Everything in my brain is telling me to marry you before you wake up and realize how crazy you are for even thinking of me..."

She smiled at me, her lips wrapping up in mine.

I found a way to pull her body closer to mine. "Are you saying you don't want to?" I asked her...

She shook her head. "No. I want to. Fuck I want to so badly... I want to be yours until the end of time..."

I kissed her again... it should have been a happy kiss, but somehow it wasn't... I could sense a but coming...

I finally broke from her lips, "But?"

Her face nearly broke with emotion again, "I will. God, I want to so badly. But. It will change things. I'll run off with you and marry you. I'll even do it in secret so my parents don't step in the way and convince me not to." She shook her head at me, "But I won't live in secret." Her lips met mine again. "If we do this. We have to accept the consequences of it. When we get home, we have to tell everyone. My parents. Yours. Everyone this impacts. Then I have to move in with you..."

That would kill her. I realized it then.

I shook my head, "You don't have to. I can live with it. I mean I would want you to, but I know it would damage your relationship with your parents..."

She rubbed my ear, "It wouldn't damage my relationship with my parents... it would destroy it. At least for a while..."

My heart bled. I couldn't do that. I wouldn't do that. But I also wanted her so badly. I mean I know I had her. Her mind, her body, her heart. I had all of that, and somehow it wasn't enough. I wanted the commitment. I wanted to tell her that I was hers forever and have her make the same commitment to me. I wanted to know that she would be mine forever. I knew some stupid words and a legal document wouldn't mean she couldn't walk away from me. I knew she could if she had to. It was more the intangible element of making the commitment to each other.

"Why? Why do we need to tell them? Isn't that a commitment between you and me? Isn't it only our business?" I asked her in desperation.

She smiled at me, kissing my lips. "Oh, my stupid baby boy..." She shook her head at me, "No. If I marry you... I'm yours. You are my family then. Yes, they are too. But you are the most important then. I have to commit one hundred percent to you. I have to be there every night when you fall asleep, and I have to be there every morning when you wake up. We have to take care of each other. We have to be each other's rock and I can't do that for you while I'm running off each night to hide the fact from my parents. Don't you understand that? Don't you see that once we say those words to each other... we live for each other?"

I kissed her. "I don't understand the words part." I smiled at her. "You are already that to me. I have no one else. You are the only reason I have to take my next breath. I'll be that for you no matter where you have to run off to. I would suffer any torture for you. I would accept any burden, no matter how heavy, or how awful. In my heart, you already are my wife. I don't need a preacher or a piece of paper to tell me that."

She clung to me then. "Goddamn it! Why do you have to be so fucking perfect?" She whispered into my ear.

She shook her head against mine. Finally, I told her, "I'm not perfect baby girl. I have my problems, it's just that doubting you and me isn't one of them."

Her grip somehow managed to tighten on me. "That makes you perfect. I know you would die for me right now. You would jump in front of a bus for me, with zero hesitation. You would give up anything in your life if I snapped my fingers..."

She sighed, "I have to do the same."

Pulling back away from me she met my eyes, "Do you want to do it tonight?"

I kissed her and shook my head. "No. I take it back." I told her.

Tears of real sadness filled her eyes now...

I felt horrible hurting her, but I understood now. I understood what my selfishness would cost her. It would cost her her family. It would make her... into me...

I realized that would drive her even closer to me. That it would bond us in a way that would be truly unbreakable, like forge welding two pieces of steel together. I didn't care. I'd cut my own heart out before I made her like me. Before I made her to be alone. I'd pull my own eyes from my head before I cost her her family.

I hurt her, but I chose the lesser of two hurts. There was already one of me in the world, that was one too many in my opinion and I would not let my selfishness create another.

Brushing her tears away I told her, "One day. One day, baby girl. I'll stand in front of you, and your family, and all of our friends and I'll say the words. On that day, you'll come home with me, and we'll start to build a life together." I kissed her, her lips soft and sad.

Smiling at her, "You are so beautiful even when you cry..."

Her face melted even further, "I messed this up, didn't I?"

I shook my head at her, kissing her tenderly, "Not at all. Never. I asked you because I wanted to make the commitment to you. Not because I wanted the commitment from you. I realize that now. What I didn't realize is that I've already made that commitment to you. I'm already yours, from now, until the end of time. From today, until the day that all the stars fall from the sky. Until the oceans boil away, and all the universe goes cold. I will be yours forever." I kissed her. "That's good enough for me. One day, when you're ready... when it won't cost you anything to give the same to me... on that day. That day I will accept the same commitment from you." I shook my head, "But I won't accept that love from you until that day comes..."

She wrapped her arms around me and cried. I could tell they were good tears this time...

"I love you so fucking much..." she whispered. "God, how did I ever come to deserve you...?"

I smiled at her as I roll her onto her back and looked into her eyes, losing myself in their depths. "Well, I just assume you were a really bad person in a past life."

She laughed.

I continued to press it, trying to cheer her up. "Maybe you kicked a lot of puppies."

She giggled harder.

"I mean, like maybe, you were an Olympic level puppy kicker or something."