Finding You

The Storm

"Open." I raise an eyebrow and look at Brad, whose holding a strawberry up.

"Promise you won't leave me but I don't like strawberries." I close my laptop slowly and sit up, placing it on the coffee table.

"You're kidding." He smiles, sitting up, strawberry still in hand.

"I've never liked them. Not with chocolate, not in cake, not artificial. Nothing." Maybe with you though. I take the strawberry from him and pinch the top of it between my fingers. Turning to him, I smile.

"What's on your mind?" He asks softly.

"Open." I tell him and he listens, opening his mouth for the strawberry. He bites it in half and I sit the other half on the plate, letting him chew and swallow. "Now, kiss me." I whisper. He leans to me and kisses me, softly at first. I'm amazed to see that I was right. They do taste divine from him.

"Maybe I do like strawberries." I whisper and he smiles.

"I love you." He brings our lips together again and I grab his hair, pulling it enough that he makes a small noise. I reach over to the plate for the half of strawberry and pull away far enough to push it into his mouth.

"I can't believe I'm willingly doing this." I smile and he pulls me back to him. Sweet and refreshing and so addictive. I could do this all day. I could want this forever.

There's a knock at the door and we both jump. We compose ourselves, with Brad shifting himself into a better position. He stands and walks to the door and I turn to look at him as he opens the door.

"What're you doing here?" Brad asks and I sprain my neck to try to see whose out there.

"I just want to talk." Sarah. Sarah is here. Fuck.

"Now isn't really a good time." He tells her and looks to me.

"I should have called first. I'm so sorry." She apologizes and I stand up.

"I can take a walk. Give you guys some space." I tell Brad, walking to his side. I look at Sarah and my face drops. More beautiful than before.

"You don't have to do that. I can come back another time." And then her hands move to her stomach and I stop breathing. That's how Quinn touched her stomach when she was pregnant. How I touched mine. Like my touch was all the protection it needed. I don't think Bradley even picked up on that.

"I think you should come in and talk to Bradley. Get out of the cold." I tell her softly and her eyes shoot to mine. There's a pretty high probability that it isn't Brad's.

"Brad was right about you. You are observant." She looks down again.

"I've just seen it before. Come on in and I'll fix you some tea." I touch Brad's arm and look up at him. He seems confused but I half smile.

"Go sit down. I'm not going anywhere." I rub his arm and kiss him softly. He moves to the couch and Sarah steps in. I close the door behind her.

"You redecorated." Sarah pulls her jacket off and hangs it on the rack. Since we've committed to spending more time with each other, we've both decided to make our apartments more homey for the both of us.

"A new couch?" She sits down and I sigh.

"My puppy thought it was a good idea to use the potty on the old couch. I felt so bad I bought him a new couch." That was a rough day. I scrubbed and blotted dog poop up for far longer than I'd like to admit. Then it still smelled. But it gave me an excuse to try out a modular couch I'd been looking at for months now.

"It looks nice in here." She sits down and I walk to the kitchen to start boiling some water.

"So, what's going on?" Brad asks and I hear Sarah sigh.