Stranded | Enemies to Forbidden Lovers ✔️

Chapter 22

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Chapter 22

When I awoke on the mattress. Joseph was gone.

His warm body, his arm that was draped tightly around my waist, is now gone. He's no longer by my side anymore. I feel empty without him being out of arms to reach. I enjoyed tracing my finger along his lips. His eyes, the curve of his jaw. He has a total of five freckles all lined up perfectly with one another, they're faint. I don't know if he realizes this small feature he has. I don't know, maybe he does.

I could have continued to stare at his beautiful face for hours. It wouldn't be hard too.

I extend my arm and stare at the empty spot he slept at after our time together. It's warm, he must have just left. I never knew how adequate a lover Joseph was, he didn't have a long streak of women. Four, he confessed. Two in high school, and two in college. A number that's not as high as my eleven, now twelve and I suppose his five.

Eleven men that failed to do what Joseph did to me last night. I run a hand over my chest, where he placed chaste kisses. Then my face, I feel its heat when I think of what last night entailed. Sex, three times, with little breaks in between. No words, just soft grunts, and the croaks of the birds that stayed outside.

Still, after all of that, I have no idea what it means. What sex means between us. I know what it means for me. I know how I feel after it. I want more, I want to do it again.

We need to talk.

Talk about him and me. His marriage and his feelings for me.

There's no denying his attraction. But nows the case is if he slept with me because it's been so long or if he genuinely likes me, even half the amount as I do him. Joseph, why must our relationship be so complicated. Why couldn't we have met in better circumstances?

You being a guy in one of my classes, us dating and then taking the plunge of being in a relationship. I would invite you to my parent's house and halfway through dinner after my mother saying something incredibly offensive to me. You'll stick it to my dad and mom, calling them egotistical idiots who should have raised their daughter. Then sweep me off my feet by taking me to some fast food spot. A place I would like to go to more than any expensive restaurant, which would make me fall for you even more.

But that's not our reality.

Our reality is that we were given a shitty card from some higher power. One that forced us to be stuck on this island and made me fall for you. A guy who is already taken by someone else. He won't let this happen again. It can't happen again. He loves her so much that this is it. I pick up the dress shirt that's discarded on the ground. I hold it to my body. It doesn't smell like him anymore.

The first time I wore this, it smelt of expensive cologne and soap. Now, it smells of sand, pineapples, and whatever else I've fallen in in this shirt. I stand up and slide the shirt on. I button up the shirt leaving the top three buttons unbuckled. My legs feel heavy as I climb down the ladder. The door is open when I walk through the door. I have to face my problem.

The rejection, the yearning for another answer other than the two-letter word that is bound to come from him.

Why couldn't this be easier?

I take a deep breath. I stand in the doorway and look ahead at Joseph. He's sitting in a makeshift chair with a book in his hand reading. He seems so at peace, in his own world, that doesn't include me. I know the moment I come over to talk to him, his face will change completely.