Even Angels Fall

Chapter 17

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Christina~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I lay in Mike's arms and didn't feel an ounce of regret. For the first time in my life, I'd done something just because I wanted to, and it felt wonderful.

But of course, old habits die hard, so I couldn't help thinking about a few things I didn't allow myself to think about before. Like how drastically this would change our relationship. I didn't really think it would be in a bad way, but I wondered what Mike was going to expect. Now that we'd taken this step, was he going to expect it not to be a big deal anymore and just another thing we did when we felt like it and had the time? I knew he would never push me, but I wanted to be fair to him. Didn't he sort of have the right to expect that now? What did I even want? I'd barely thought about doing that for the first time, let alone what I'd want afterward. This was just all so new to me.

And the thing that was monopolizing most of my thoughts was that Mike and I had been so entirely spontaneous that neither one of us had given the slightest thought to protection.

But what were the odds that anything would come from one time? We'd just be really careful from now on.

I sighed and snuggled closer to Mike, forcing those thoughts out of my head. I could worry about everything later. Right now, I just wanted to relax and enjoy the moment. We didn't get nearly enough time together and I didn't want anything ruining our time, now. 

"What are you thinking about?" Mike brought my hand to his lips and kissed my fingers. 

I twisted to look at him and smiled. "You." 

"No regrets?"

I shook my head. "Not at all."

"Good." he smiled. "Me either." 

I giggled, knowing it wasn't really funny. I just felt giddy.

Mike kissed my fingers again, slower this time. The look in his eyes made my pulse quicken and my body heat up all over again.

Well, I guess I had my answer to the question of what I'd be wanting in the future. But right now I was tired and sore. Also, I didn't feel like increasing those odds of something resulting from our spontaneity tonight. 

I settled for stretching up to kiss him, before I snuggled against his chest again. We stayed like that for a while and I was on Cloud Nine. Mike played with my hair and we talked quietly about nothing and everything. I had no idea what time it was when Mike brought me back down to earth.

"You should probably be getting home," he said. "I have a feeling your dad doesn't sleep in, even on weekends."

No, he definitely didn't. Even when he was sick, Daddy was awake by seven at the latest. On a normal weekday, it was five.

"Yeah," I sighed. "I guess you're right."

About ten minutes later, I was climbing out of Mike's window and I realized how cold it was outside. I guess before I'd been too worked up to feel the temperature. I was freezing now, but I wondered if part of that wasn't due to having to leave Mike.

He climbed out of his window much easier than I'd been able to and walked me to my dad's car. Once I had the car door open, I hesitated, feeling depressed at having to leave him like this. 

"I'll see you in a few hours." Mike leaned in to kiss me goodbye. "I love you." He smiled and rested his forehead against mine.

I forgot my melancholy thoughts at the sound of those wonderful words. That was one change in our relationship I was more than happy to make.

I hadn't thought about saying it before tonight, but I knew I must have loved him for a while now and I wondered why it took so long to actually admit. We'd said it quite a few times in the last few hours, but I only craved hearing it more.