Spotlight

44

please listen to 'fix you' by coldplay when reading this chapter

***Tristan's POV***

I heard a soft knock at the deck door. Or perhaps it was a pigment of my imagination.

There it was again.

Perhaps all the playing of my Xbox had started to get the better of my mind. I took off the headphones on my head ear by ear, and then turned my head towards the deck door. If there was one more knock perhaps I would go check.

I got up from the couch and carried the empty bottle of beer over to the bin. I threw the leftover lasagna down the sink and turned on the muncher so that it would disintegrate.

I heard the knock one more time and this time I knew it was not just my imagination. I stumbled into the room that used to be used as my recording room and looked to the door and saw her.

Mae.

She was covered in a short flowing crop top and yellow board shorts. Her legs were tanned and slender than I remember. Her hair was flying in the wind.

I quickly made my way to the door and pulled it open with my only good hand.

"Hi," she softly said. I wondered what she was doing here unannounced. Perhaps she was in some sort of danger. Before I could answer her, she entered the room forcing my body to turn around to face her.

"I hate to do this to you, but do you reckon I could stay here the night? I have a scene to film at three and there's really no point in me going home this late at night and-" she began pacing.

"It's fine," I cut her off. She fell silent.

"Really?" her hopeful, yet tired eyes lit up. I honestly didn't mind if she was staying here. It would just be like old times. Only then I had two working hands and band mates surrounding me.

"Make yourself at home," I laughed. She stumbled over to the fire that was settled in the center of the room. Her legs were shaking from the cold temperature outside as she tried to heat herself up from the fire.

Something outside caught my eye before I turned back towards her.

"Did I wake you?" she asked as she blew hot air into her hands to warm them up.

"It's nine p.m. It's unlikely anyone in California would be asleep at this time on a Friday night," I laughed. She also giggled. There was something softer in her voice that I had not managed to pick up on before.

"Well you didn't answer my knocks, so I assumed you had fallen asleep." I noticed it now, her voice was more mature. I tried to calculate the age difference in my head. I was twenty two, meaning that she must be twenty now. I still looked at her as if she was the same sixteen year old I stumbled across on the plane that day. That felt like a lifetime ago.

I closed the distance in between us and reached for a segment of her hair that had slipped over the front of her chest. Her hair was parted in segments due to still being wet from the scene she filmed in the water earlier. I could smell the slight tinge of salt water lacing her un-brushed hair. Her big eyes looked away at me and her body stopped shaking from the cold.

I softly pushed the hair over her shoulder so that it joined the rest of her hair. I forgot how soft her hair was. Even though it was stiff and cold from the salt water, I could still feel the softness of her natural hair in my fingertips.

Her eyes met mine. I fell in the dark brown abyss that was her iris color. My hand reached for the basis of her neck, where it connected to her tense shoulders. I could feel the warmth of the fire slipping through the gap where her shins were, and hitting my bare skin in my shorts.

The heat of the fire comforted me. I suddenly understood how the fire wasn't needed to warm yourself up when you held someone so close to you.

I softly drew circles with the tips of my fingers on the soft, unblemished skin of her neck. I drew her face in towards mine and felt her soft breath tickle my chin. The distance between us was near non-existent as I reached towards her forehead slowly to leave a longing kiss on her head.

I had neglected to treasure the woman that was in front of me. I had witnessed her grow from a teenage girl to a woman with a fiery passion. A passion for love and to be loved back.

In that moment I had witnessed in front of me, everything I had been missing for so long. She was true beauty.

I reached for her hand with my left. I knew that I wouldn't be able to feel her with my other hand. She grasped onto my hand and interlocked her fingers between mine. We were still for a moment and a half.

I motioned my lips down to hers; I softly and gently touched mine with hers. I had missed the flavor of strawberry lip-gloss on my own lips. Her lips sank in unison to mine and for moments we kissed undoubtedly for the first time in the greater half of two years. It could have felt like a life time though.

Her hand softly grazed my neck and motioned towards my hair. I had missed the feeling of her hands tangling in my blond locks. Whenever someone else had run their hands through my hair I avoided the feeling because it would never be the same.

I pulled away from the kiss in a breath of fresh air.

"I have an idea," I whispered into her lips.