***This chapter's a bit spicy so if you're a child I recommend you don't think too deeply about what any of this means…***
"Come on! Let's go to the roof!" She shrieked as she ran up the first story of stairs. Chris wandered behind her making fun of her silently and cursing her as he trekked up the stairs. "You're so muscled I thought you'd be faster." She stuck her tongue out at him and travelled up the stairs faster with each step.
"Gees, I don't want to!" He complained as he trudged up the stairs, pretending to be weak. Suddenly he saw her figure stop. She turned around with a sly grin on her face. He saw her reach under her tight dress and pull a small fabric down from her waist, he watched the lacy underwear slide down her legs and under her shoes as she stepped out of it. Light outlined her face as a smile decorated it and she held it near her shoulders. His eyes went to her bottom and then to the object in her fingers. She spun it around her fingers before continuing up the stairs. His throat became noticeably dry. "Alisha!" He called hoarsely as he ran up the stairs.
"Hmmmm?" He heard as the fabric on her fingers fell to the ground before him with a trail of giggles echoing in front of him. He picked it up and stared up at her, the stairs turned around as another storey came about and he saw her look down at him sadistically. "Is there a problem, Chris?" She asked before cackling and running up even higher.
He felt his heart pump with excitement and increased his speed tenfold and began sprinting up the stairs. His running halted when he saw another piece of lingerie dressed on a pillar. He grabbed it and continued his running. "Alisha! You're not kidding right?" He screamed as he sped up the stairs. Finally, he reached the top, all that separated him and Alisha was a glass door. On the handle was a dress, the one she had worn that night. He gulped as he grabbed it and opened the door.
He stared at the clear reflection of the water on the walls and followed the pool tiles to a hot tub. He found Alisha's clear skinned back staring at him as she rested herself on the edge, waiting for him. "You're finally here." Her voice rung so clearly in his ears and his entire body was rigid. "Won't you join me, Chris?" Her voice softly hit his ears this time and he started taking his clothes off and slipped into the water.
His hands touched her waist and his lips hit her neck as she let out a satisfied sound "mmm" and turned around and stopped his lips with her finger. "Why?" His desperation made her smirk evilly.
"Weren't we going to look at the stars?" She asked innocently whilst pressing herself to his chest. He groaned as she poked his shoulder and spun him around. "Sit down." She ordered before hitting a button on the side of her hot tub that made the edges wider like recliners. He felt his body lower and then felt her slide next to him, his hand pulled her into him and she let out a small groan. "I used to come here when it all became too much. When I could barely put up with what everyone was saying. Those days I would come here and stare at the stars and remember why I had to persevere. Why I needed to live." Her voice was therapeutic to him and he turned to stare at her.
"What's weighing down on you?" He asked, his eyes not leaving her side profile. She turned to him, not realizing he was staring at him, shocked that his eyes saw her watery ones. His finger reached out and wiped a tear from her cheek as hers rose to his chest. Her head falling into it since he had turned to his side.
"Can I show you something only a few people have seen and fewer remember?" She asked, courage swelling in her stomach alongside the nervousness. He nodded and she rose and turned around. She reached to her purse and pulled out some make-up remover and cotton pads and began to pat random parts of her body. The end of her back, the inside of her shoulder, above her hip bones and finally her calves. He watched as marks appeared on her otherwise unblemished skin. He watched as tears began falling from her eyes even more frequently. He watched as she turned away, ashamed.
His hand reached out to her chin and moved it to look at him. Her eyes were shut and tears kept pouring from them as her arms reached up to block her face. Suddenly she felt his lips on the scar on her shoulders, then on her hip bone, then she was flipped and felt a hot kiss on the lowest part of her back, where her scar rested. Finally, he left trails of kisses on the two long scars on her calves and she gasped. "What are you doing?" She shrieked quietly.
"Don't hide them from me." He kissed her forehead and pulled her into his chest. He felt her hug him back and felt his heart rise happily. "You're so beautiful." He adored her before kissing her lips tenderly, as if he was kissing the most precious woman in the world.
"I don't even know why I'm showing you these. I just felt like I could. Why is that Chris? Why do you make me feel like I can trust you?" She asked before leaning back into his lips. She felt his hold tighten.
"I don't know either. However, there are some stars I want to look at." He smirked before turning her back over and laying her on his arm. "When I was really young my family was super poor. We actually lived pretty close to here. I would stare at the sky and wonder if there was anyone looking at the same sky as me feeling as helpless as I did. I think there was." He kissed her temple as she sniffed and snuggled into him.
"I lived somewhere here too and when I was spending my nights in the cold I would wonder the same. Wonder if there was anyone at all. I wonder if we knew each other." They both stared at the stars silently, but the silence was filled with emotions. It wasn't awkward, it was perfect in every sense of the word. Alisha felt the emptiness within her disappear, not just for a moment but for hours. As if spending time with him finished the puzzle within her thoughts, he was the final piece. It was a feeling she had never felt, as if a flower was blooming in her chest. She kept her feelings deep within her and decided to focus on him instead. "What was it like, before you became who you are now, what was it like?" She asked.
"No one ever asks that," he commented before answering her, "it was better than it is now. Until right now I always felt so empty, but next to you I feel like the emptiness disappeared. I used to love the freedom of doing whatever I wanted, then I grew up and met my real mother. Ms Rodrigo. She saw that I was smart, smarter than her other children, that I had the drive to be better, to be the best. She fuelled it so much that I propelled myself into overwhelming success so quickly. I'm still in my twenties and I have no time to find myself. Then, then I found myself following you to the country-side where it all started. So randomly. I have so many meetings I should be at but I'm here. It's been like that from the start. I never intended on sleeping with you… but there was something drawing me to you. I always feel so complete near you, it's so weird." He chuckled with his deep voice and she felt the vibrations on his skin on her own.
"I was twelve when I asked my father to save me from my mother. For nine years I've just been trying. Trying to survive in the world of the rich. Hiding my scars, hiding everything. I never intended on sleeping with you, I forgot I was a virgin." She chucked with him as they recalled her 'oops' when he broke through her. "I wouldn't just sleep with anyone, Chris." She whispered so softly he could have missed it, but he felt his heart's beat quicken. Dum-dum dum-dum dum-dum.
"I know." He whispered before lifting her to his lips. They felt each other's warm breaths on their lips for a second before they kissed again. The night moved quickly as they soon left the stars behind and fell into the crisp sheets of a bed. Passion enveloping their senses and affection fuelling their actions. For the first time, they felt happy sleeping with someone, as if the stars had aligned for them.
"Don't leave me after this." She whispered into his chest when they were done. Her hands clenching the blanket, nervous.
"I was planning on hiding you away to myself." He heard her shake slightly, chuckling, and lifted her head up so she stared into his eyes. "I wasn't kidding." His voice sent shivers through her body and the butterflies in her stomach flared up and made her heart beat even harder.
"Do-would you- tomorrow- today I guess - want to get food and watch a movie?" She stuttered as she hid her face into him, blushing furiously.
"I was waiting for you to ask me out. It took you long enough!" He joked before his eyes turned tender. "I would love to but you're paying!" He laughed as she grinned.
"I am the richer of the two of us." She slyly added before kissing him. His hands began to tickle her as she yelped.
"Way to flex!" He maniacally tickled her until they were both tired. They fell asleep hugging each other, her body fitting into his perfectly. "Good night, Alisha."
"Good night, Chris."