The songs for this (much longer) chapter are "Look After You" by The Fray and "Secrets" by Onerepublic... I swear I listen to other bands!
Sidney's POV
I'm jolted awake by Gena stretching her hand out onto my chest at 11 in the morning. I grab it immediately, glancing over at her to make sure she's still alright. Her blue eyes are staring at me, hooded with sleep and clouded with nostalgia. She looks at me and smiles crookedly. "This has to be the fortieth time I've woken up next to you," she sighs; the adoration in her eyes is overwhelming. "and I fall further and further for you every time." I blink the sleep away from my eyes and push my hair off my head. I know she's tired and rambling, so I don't interrupt her. "I know that not a day goes by that I don't think of you." Her hand moves from my chest to my face. She traces the small field of stubble covering my chin, and it takes every ounce of willpower in me not to lean in and kiss her. "I've known you thirteen, nearly fourteen years... That's almost five thousand days. Plus the leap years." She smiles again and I kiss her fingers.
"It sounds like forever when you say it like that." I speak up for the first time and she rolls over, snuggling against my bare chest as a single bird sings softly outside.
"Five thousand days, twenty four hours each. Do the math, it's over a hundred thousand. Count the minutes, seven million. Over four hundred million seconds, billions of milliseconds." She rants, staring up at the white ceiling of her bedroom. "When you think about it like that, it really is forever."
"It's the only forever I need." I breathe. Her eyes dart back to mine and I grin, leaning over to kiss her cheek. My lips linger without thought, and before I pull away I whisper against her cool skin. "You changed me forever over the course of thirteen years. I didn't realize it now but when I look back on the way I was, a young... stupid thirteen year old boy who thought he had no future. And then I met you, in the middle of that awful library in the spring of 2000."
"We started arguing over who could check out the last copy of that Harry Potter book." She laughs, pinching my cheek. "And you ended up giving it to me because I guilt tripped you and said I needed the book more than you."
"And then it turns out I bought you the whole series for your twenty first birthday." I reminisce, smiling when I remembered the look on her face. "I remember writing you a note on the inside cover of every single one."
Her angelic laughter rings in my ears. "I remember my father giving me that bottle of wine. He wrote on the label, 'Please don't die.' I don't think I'd ever laughed so hard in my entire life." She turns her head to look at me, and we stare at each other for a moment before bursting into hysterics.
"So much shit has happened in only thirteen years." I say quietly after we calm down. "I mean, just look at it at a glance. We had that whole thing happen way back in 2002, when we went to Disney with my family and you fell into that fountain."
"You pushed me so you could have the rest of my pretzel!" Gena protests, shoving me and pretending to be upset.
"Ended up getting soaked anyway." I laugh. "Then, in I think... 2008, when we took that trip to New York. Remember when you and I took that road trip to celebrate my eighteenth birthday, and we were driving in that mountainous area and you were crying because that celebrity couple got engaged or something, and then we hit that deer and you almost choked because you were laughing and crying so hard." Gena shrieks with laughter next to me.
"Oh my god, I remember that. Your dad was ready to kill you because you practically totaled his car."
We reminisce until the clock hits one and she kicks the white sheets off of her tan legs. She moves to get out of bed but I grab her arm and stop her. "Wait." I say, my voice cracking as she turns back to look at me. "I wanted to talk to you about something, but we got caught up." Her lips part as she sits next to me.
"What happened?" Her voice is terrified. I sit up and pull her close to me so that she's sitting in between my legs. I hold her hands in mine and kiss her forehead.
"I'm fucking with you. I love you."
"I love you too.." she breathes, chills running up her spine. I rub the pale skin on the top of her wrists with my thumb and kiss her cheek. I turn her chin up to face me and kiss her gently.
"Don't be afraid of anything." I say quietly, looking into her ocean eyes as she brings her lips to mine again.
...
"It's three in the afternoon and we haven't done a damn thing." I laugh quietly and kiss her forehead. She smiles next to me and shakes her blonde hair out of her face.
"Are you hungry? I was going to get up and make some breakfast." Her eyebrows furrow and she shakes her head again. "Lunch." She corrects herself. "An evening lunch. Jesus." She covers her face when she realizes it still doesn't sound right and I can't help but laugh at her. "I was going to get up and make some damn food."
I'm trying my hardest not to burst out into a huge fit of laughter for her sake but the cheesy smile she gives me sets me off and we're both laughing. "I just can't seem to make a coherent sentence when I'm with you." she laughs.
"You're so cute when you try to make up for your awkwardness." I tease and she smiles.
"You're so cute when you try to be funny."
"We need to be medicated." I crack up.
"I won't argue with that." She winks at me and although it's a simplistic, playful move the way that she does it makes my heart stop and my voice crack.
We end up finally pulling our lazy asses out of bed and making our way to Gena's kitchen, where she immediately puts a pasta and alfredo plate together with chicken and broccoli. I mill around the small kitchen while she cooks, snatching tiny pieces of food from the plates purely to annoy her. I know she hates when I eat the food before it's finished but she just playfully rolls her eyes at me and smacks me with with a sliver of cold chicken.
She nearly throws my plate at me when she's finished, probably because I've been so obnoxious while she cooked. "I love you." I tease and poke her nose as I take my plate. She rolls her eyes at me again and plops down in the chair next to me.
"I love you too, you annoying dipshit." She softens her words with a swift kiss to my temple and if I wasn't laughing so hard I would have snapped my head to the side and kissed her lips instead.
"I'm the dipshit? You were the one dipping your hands under my shirt last night." I say, trying my best not to crack up as she coughs on a pasta noodle and grabs her glass and a spoon. "What are you..."
She quickly tugs my shirt collar open wider at the back and pours ice cubes down my back. I shriek and shake the cubes from my back before gently pushing her in a childish manner and throwing the ice into the sink. "I wish we could have a normal meal without dumping ice down each other's backs." I joke and she smacks my arm.
"Sorry, I'll plan some knife throwing next time." She pokes me with her fork and I smile at her.
"Don't worry about it." I kiss her forehead and pull her close to me. "You should just move in with me already, we've spent about twelve hours apart in the past week." I laugh.
"Sidney, I can't afford..."
"I'll pay for you." I push her away gently to look at her. Her eyes flash and she shakes her head.
"No, I have money, I can do it if I plan."
"But seriously will you?" I beg, literally beg and turn her chin up to mine.
"Yeah, I guess so." She shocks me by saying.
;-) Sorry for the short update!
