Rome & Julie

Chapter 24

I woke up groggily to the alarm clock on my phone, feeling cranky and ready to smash the obnoxious device into the floor.  Somehow I managed to lean over and find the button to turn it off, all with my eyes still tightly closed.  There was a weight on my waist, but I didn’t bother to investigate, opting instead to lay my head back on my warm pillow and try to find sleep.

Just as I was about to break over the edge of succumbing to deep slumber, there was a light feathery feeling just below my ear, and the tickling sensation made me toss my head around a bit, thinking it was hair or dust or something.  But it came again right after, this time with a little more pressure.

“Julie…”  I felt a smile form on my face at the sound of my name in such a sweet, low voice.  I could listen to that voice every day.  All day.   It was longing, soft yet strong.  So sweet to my ears.  “Julie,” It came again, this time a bit louder, clearer.  Another bout of pressure on my neck, and I smiled at the sensation.   Then there was soft laughter.  Music to my ears.

With the next feathery feeling on my neck, I woke up enough to realize that someone was kissing my neck, and it felt heavenly.  And with a quick recount of last night’s events—Rome and me eating some late night Ramen noodles, then making our way to my bedroom to sit and talk, before eventually we’d both fallen asleep—I figured that that ‘someone’ was Rome.

I muttered some incoherent words, tossing my head around a bit more.  There was the chuckle again, and I felt my lips lift up at the corners.  Rome kissed my neck again, even softer than before, and it gave me goose bumps on every square inch of my skin.

“Cold?” Rome asked me, and I could hear the smile in his voice.  I was facing away from him, and his arm was draped across my waist.  Did Rome and I… did we spoon?  I flushed at the thought.  “Come on Jules.  We gotta get going.  We have a big day today.”  Between every sentence, he’d place a kiss down my neck, and I pretty sure I almost swooned.

God, I was pathetic.

But, damn.  Rome was good with his lips.

“I don’t wanna get up,” I groaned, hiding the shake in my voice with a moan and extending the ‘p’ in ‘up.’  I heard Rome chuckle in that way that made my toes tingle, and then I felt him lean over my body to kiss me quickly on the cheek.  After, he sat up in the bed, in the process taking some of the covers away from my now-cold shoulders.  I moaned some more in misery, although the last thing I really felt was misery at that moment.

“Julie.  Don’t you want to go shopping?” Rome asked condescendingly.  Terror struck through me.

Shit.  Rome’s birthday was today.

I sat up and tossed my hair around to make it look less slept on, and then rubbed sleep out of my eyes.  Then I turned towards Rome, who was staring at me with a smile on his face.  I quickly returned the smile, only hesitating a moment before jumping at him in a hug.  We fell backwards onto my bed, and I heard his chest vibrate as he laughed beneath me.

“Happy Birthday, Rome,” I said softly, lifting my head up to see him.  Our faces were close, and I grinned again.  He smiled at me with such a warm expression that it had me shaking a bit inside, and I pushed myself off of him.  I really needed to clear my head of peculiar things, although I was almost positive that going on a road trip with Rome wasn’t going to help.

Eventually, Rome coaxed me off of the warm, soft comfort of my bed and prodded me enough so my annoyance with him would motivate me to get ready.  I took a warm, refreshing shower, and then proceeded out of my bathroom, dressed in dark washed skinny jeans and a white v neck t-shirt.  Rome was sitting on my bed, already changed into his clothes for the day.  He’d settled on one of my favorite pairs of jeans that I’d bought him in the Caribbean, and a v neck sweater.  I tried not to stare too obviously at how insanely amazing he looked.  Like I wasn’t kidding myself.  He was almost too gorgeous to actually be a human being.