Dark Ocean

Part 8

Juliana shivers when Valentina’s hands settle on her shoulders, her thumbs gently trailing along the hollowed curves of her collarbones. The warmth of the contact seeps into her bones and her heartbeat feels oddly powerful in her chest, the blood pounding in her head like a bass drum and sending a prickling warmth all the way to her fingers and toes. She’s sure Valentina can hear it this close, but she doesn’t care.

A heavy silence settles between them as the waves continue to sway them gently back and forth in place. Valentina’s gaze darts over her face, back and forth between her lips and her eyes, and when something deeper and darker flashes across her beautiful features, Juliana can feel a flush of heat spreading from her neck down her spine.

She’s never been one for nerves before, in fact, she was almost convinced she didn’t have them. But the twisting, fluttering in her stomach that she feels right now, it needs a name and the only thing she can think to call it is nerves.

Valentina’s hands are so incredibly soft, and her touch so tender and delicate, that it makes her ache in a way that pulls tears to her eyes. She blinks to stop them from falling and when their gazes connect once again, Valentina looks at her with so much care, her eyes so vibrant blue and too tender for someone who’s only known her for a few days, Juliana almost doesn’t know how to deal with it.

She isn’t used to being treated like this, and she’s certainly not used to being touched like this; like she matters, like she’s actually wanted, and it feels more precious than anything before. It ignites something within her that she didn’t know existed.

A shy smile slowly grows over her features, feeling a wave of wonder wash over her so powerfully that it must shine out of her face, but she doesn’t mind. She wants Valentina to know how good she makes her feel. She bites her lower lip and lets out a quiet, shaky breath.

Suddenly she’s scared, really scared, because it’s almost too good to be true. It’s scary how strong her newfound hope is, because she shouldn’t be able to connect like this - so unrestrained, so freely, so willingly - and certainly not with a girl. It shouldn’t be possible.

And yet, here they are, drawn together like magnets, craving each other’s presence. There’s a palpable tension between them and it envelops them, forcing muscles to tighten and breaths to stay trapped in lungs.

Valentina’s looking at her like she’s the most precious thing in the world and Juliana almost wants to pinch herself to make sure it’s real, because Valentina defies all the laws of nature she believed to be true. Valentina doesn’t envy her, doesn’t judge her; instead, she appears to be completely immune to her powers.

And it scares her because it changes everything; it changes her whole perspective on life. It scares her because it’s something she can’t control, it’s something that has the potential to affect her in ways she can’t possibly foresee.

Things used to seem so clear and predictable to her; things were either black or white; people were either good or bad, boys loved her and girls hated her. It had always been that way, so she’d assumed it would continue to be that way. But there’s something in the air; a shift, final, irrevocable, and it makes her second-guess everything she thought was true.

The thought scares her, but not nearly as much as Valentina scares her. Everything about the stunning girl in front of her scares the hell out of her, including the way she touches her in the dark, and the way she feels under her gaze right now. She’s terrified because she never wants to lose this feeling; she never wants to lose the intimacy and the connection between them.