Moving Forward

Chapter 3

Surprise was the first emotion I was filled with when I opened the front door the next day to find Alex stood there. His eyes flitted across my face before he finally spoke. "Hey, Avery."

I smiled back at him in response as I pulled open the door further to allow him to step inside the house. There was no use in letting him stand outside. I may not have been the happiest with him at the moment, but he was my boyfriend and I did love him.

"What do you want?" I asked as we walked into the kitchen. Heading over to the counter furthest away from the kitchen door, I flicked the kettle on in order to make a hot drink. I needed one; coffee preferably. Last night I hadn't had the best sleep and so I was relying on caffeine to wake me up and make me feel more with it.

"I just wanted to check up on you," Alex began as he shuffled up behind me. He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me tight into him, his chin resting on my shoulder. We were both around the same height, him slightly taller, so resting his chin on top of my head was out of the question. "I'm sorry about what I said. I can't even begin to imagine what you must be feeling."

It was odd to see him this clingy. When my grief was at the peak over this last month, and the tears wouldn't stop coming, Alex reacted in the same way. He stopped coming over. He stopped comforting me as much as he previously had. I had just assumed it was because he was sick of seeing me cry all the time. Or if he didn't know how to deal with all the negative emotions that I was constantly spewing out.

But now he was acting in a new way and I was confused.

"I'm fine, Alex. It was just a blip." I grabbed a cup from the cupboard above as I let the kettle boil, Alex's tight grip on my waist making it slightly harder for me to move.

"I don't want you to think that I'm being a bad boyfriend or anything. I didn't mean anything that I said; it was all a load of nonsense. Ignore me, please. It wasn't right of me, and it was kind of a dick move."

I smiled to myself before I struggled to turn around in his grasp. He loosened his arms slightly allowing me to turn around completely and wrap my arms around his neck. I played with the short hair that was beginning to lay at the top of his neck; a clear sign that he needed a haircut. He always kept it short at the back so being able to play with his hair was new. It was different... but it was nice.

"I didn't like what you said. And I'm not going to pretend like it was fine. But I'll forgive you for it," I said, leaning forward and pressing a kiss to his cheek. "But only because I'm feeling nice today."

Alex smiled back and moved his head forward to press a kiss to my lips. It was short but sweet. I tightened my arms around his neck and pulled his head down to kiss him back again. This time not as short... and not as sweet. It had been a while since he had shown this much affection towards me, and I missed it.

He pushed me further back against the counter as his hands wondered down and grabbed my thighs. Lifting me up, he spun us around and placed me on the side counter which had nothing occupying it. My legs wrapped around his waist as he pulled away from the kiss and began to trail small kisses across my cheek before heading down my neck. Tilting my head to the side, I gave him more access to my neck whilst letting out a small, breathless moan as he moved his lips slower.

My hands fisted his hair as I dragged his face back up to mine so that I could kiss him once again. It was nice to be like this with him; just to be in his company with him and feeling his love. Just kissing him made me feel wanted and helped to take my mind off things.

I loved him.

His hands suddenly began to trail up my back as he moved towards my bra. One hand moved to my waist, before heading lower to the band of my pants as the other one attempted to unclasp my bra strap.