Under the Lights | j.b

za need to slow down

A moment passed. 

And then two. 

Until finally, I let out a deep breath. All the tension in my body left at once and I deflated. 

"We're supposed to be celebrating your birthday. We couldn't even do that without arguing." I told him flatly, catching his gaze pleadingly. "Can we just...for the next few days can we enjoy the present?"

Justin stared intently, before the tension drained from him too and he pulled me into his chest. 

I relaxed into him instinctively and he tightened his arms around my waist. 

"You know..." He murmured into the top of my head. "I've had birthday sex and I've had make up sex, but I've never had birthday make up sex." 

As intended, I let out a laugh and looked up at him. "It isn't your birthday anymore." 

Justin's lips hovered over mine and my breathing grew shallow. "We can pretend." 

"You're----" Insatiable, I was meant to say. But Justin's kiss broke off the remainder of my sentence. But I wasn't complaining. I would happily never speak again if it meant I could spend the rest of my life kissing Justin. 

My heart hammered ruthlessly as my desire to be physically closer to him grew.

The kiss turned intense and I was clinging to Justin like my life depended on it. 

That was until Justin startled me by pulling away. 

I let out a noise that judging by the smirk on Justin's face, must have sounded like a whine. 

"I need to finish putting the tent up before dark." Justin smiled, pressing a quick kiss to my forehead before letting go. 

"I know a tent I could put up."  I muttered under my breath and then immediately flushed at the thought. "Need any help?" I asked, hoping to distract myself from my less than holy thoughts. 

Justin looked up from where he was inserting rods into the fabric of the tent. "I'm good."  

Picking my phone up from off my backpack, I nestled into an outdoor chair. 

I was thankful to see that I had reception, albeit one bar but it was better than nothing. 

After replying to messages from my family and friends I was suddenly reminded I had yet to respond to Will. 

Even thinking his name mustered feelings of nausea. There was a part of me that thought I should tell Justin. 

But how would I even begin to explain to him who Will was if i didn't really know myself? 

Maybe when we were back home, when things between us weren't already so tense - I would finally be able to Justin about the past I had been trying so hard to avoid. 

"What's the plan for dinner?" Justin's question prompted me out of my head. 

I rolled my eyes dramatically, pushing away the rest of my negative thoughts. "Of course all you think about is food." 

Justin finished putting what seemed to be the last stake into the floor, his muscles clenching with the effort it took to hammer the piece of metal into the hard ground. 

Rising from his position on the floor, he ran a hand through his hair as he admired his work. 

Once again the sight of his muscles flexing  had me thinking less than holy thoughts.