That night we stayed in a nice little motel so Chance and I could get some sleep. We were on the edge of Nebraska now. In the morning we would be able to cross the border of Iowa in less than an hour.
When we got in the room, the kids laid down on one of the beds and were immediately asleep. Chance and I glanced at each other as we realized we would be sharing a sleeping place yet again.
I set my stuff on the floor and grab clothes so I can go shower. When I walked back into the room there was a little bed on the floor. What I mean is, there are extra pillows and blankets on the floor.
Chance has his stuff and walks into the bathroom after I come out. While he's in the shower, I grab the blankets off the floor, fold them, and put them in the closet.
When he comes out, he looks at the floor and won't meet my gaze. Hair falls over his eyes, shadowing them so that they look black. I step closer to him when he finally looks at me with hair still falling over his eyes. I smooth his hair back while he stares at the floor behind me. He clears his throat and asks:
"What happened to the stuff on the floor?"
"I hid them so you wouldn't try to be so chivalrous."
"That's a big word, especially for your vocabulary."
I grabbed his shirt and with my other hand, pressed his face close to mine. I whispered:
"When you can stop being so mouthy, you'll know where I'll be."
I pushed him away from me and walked out the door of the room. I'm walking down to the car when I hear a thump from our room. I look back up the stairs and start walking back down to the car when someone grabs me and hauls me back upstairs. I claw at their arm until a voice says:
"Unless you want me to knock you out, then I suggest you stop struggling."
My eyes widen as I crane my neck to look behind me.
"Eclipse?"
"Yeah."
He sets me down at the top floor landing. I don't know what it is with Chance and heights! Eclipse looks at me with his scary calm face while he leans against the railing. His raven black hair falls into his ice blue eyes. He tucks his hair behind his ear as he says:
"Chance is really mad and when Melody tried to calm him down he snapped."
"Why's he mad?"
"Because you walked out."
I felt my mouth forming an o shape when we heard another thump.
"Should we go help him?"
Eclipse nods once and turns to go to the hotel room. Adeline stands there waiting with the door open. Chance flies out through the door while Eclipse and Adeline go in to calm Melody down.
It's kind of weird being alone with Chance now that we, you know… kissed. I couldn't remember the first time he kissed me so that's why it wasn't awkward for us till now. He lays still on the floor and when I walk closer he tries to sit up. He winces until I push him back down.
"Take it easy. Chance! Melody really packs a punch!"
"Try to focus on the situation at hand here."
"Who died and made you king grumpy."
"Melody punched me. That means I'm in a considerable amount of pain right now. Can you help me up?"
I grab his arm and pull it across my shoulder as I try to pull him up. He pushes off the floor and is now standing next to me.
"Your eye looks like Todoroki when he was a teenager."
Chance grunts and I realize he's trying not to laugh.
"Cute." he says
I start going towards the room when he pulls me another direction.
"Nope this way, Panami. I do not want to light that firework ever again."
Chance guides me to a door at the end of the hall and uses his back to push it open. Inside, there's a four poster bed with an elegantly carved wood bed frame and toul tied in knots hanging from the top of it.
"Canopy bed frame and memory foam bed, cannot ever go wrong with that."
He pulls me with him to the bed and before I know it, his hands are in my hair and I'm pressed against one of the bedposts. He looks at me and says:
"I was hoping to take you here when we came back, but plans change I guess."
He looks at the window when I twine my fingers at the back of his neck. I pull him closer to me as he looks back at me and presses his lips gently to mine. His hands untangle themselves from my hair and soon, both of us are lost in each other's kiss. His arms slip around my waist and I run my fingers through his hair. I bring my hands down to his chest and push. At first, he just keeps kissing me. Then, I push a little harder and he realizes what I'm trying to say.
He pulls away and presses his forehead against mine. We're both breathing really hard, but I know how to ruin a moment because I start coughing uncontrollably. I sit down on the edge of the bed while Chance sits down next to me and rubs my back. He gets up then comes back with a glass of water that I gulp down ungracefully.
It's been this way since I was first rescued. I cough really hard when I strain myself too much and can only stop by drinking water. That's why I had the food and water in my bag. So if something happened I would be able to keep going. I knew at that moment just how much Chance truly loved me.
I mean, I knew that he loved me. I just couldn't quite grasp how much. Chance leans against one of the bedposts with his arms folded and stares longingly at the floor. I clear my throat and squeak out:
"Chance?"
He looks up from the floor to me so fast he could've gotten whiplash. He comes over and grabs the cup out of my hand and sets it on a counter. When he turns around, I scoot over and pat the spot I just moved out of. He hesitantly walks over and sits in the spot I motioned towards. I place my hand on his arm, but he just flinches away. He won't look at me and I tap his arm repeatedly until he turns around. He looks at me and says:
"Melyssia, stop. Please just stop."
I must've had a weird expression on my face because he says:
"What?! I could've hurt you! Worse than that, I could've killed you."
"But you didn't." was all I managed to say.
"Could've would be the key word in that sentence."
I grab his shoulders and force him to look at me and prevent him from looking away from me at the same time.
"How many times will I have to say 'I love you' before it goes through that thick skull of yours. How many times?" I yell.
I place my hand on his face and rub his cheekbone with my thumb. Chance reaches up and grabs my hand, but he doesn't push it away. He strokes my hand then looks at me with tearfilled eyes and says:
"As many times as it takes you to realize every single truth behind those words. Panami, I love you more than anything in this existence. Losing you would be like losing everything that helps me live. If I lost you, my heart would stop beating and I would die."
"Chance?"
"What?"
"Can I ask you something?"
Relief fills his eyes as he searches mine.
"Anything."
"Can you promise me something?"
"If it's something I'm able to do."
"Never stop."
"Never stop what?"
"Loving me the way you do."
"I promise you, that no matter what happens I will never stop loving you. Can I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"When we're old enough, marry me."
"Chance…"
"What?"
"I don't even know what to say."
"Say yes, or shatter my heart right now."
I felt tears form in my eyes and trickle down my face.
"Don't cry, Panami"
I mumbled under my breath the words I've always wanted to say to him.
"What was that?"
"Yes. Of course I'll marry you."
Chance's eyes widened to the size of tea saucers as he looked at me. I wrapped my arms around his neck as he kissed me. His arms wrapped tightly around me as if I would disappear as soon as he let go. My heart was full of joy and anticipation as we got ready for bed. Chance looked at me and said:
"I have a ring for you in my bag, but do me a favor and don't tell the kids."
"Why?"
"It would be too much on their plates right now and Melody will think I did something to you."
"Why would she think that?"
"The reason she hit me was because of you."
I felt my eyes get huge.
"She thought that I was going to take you away from her."
"Why?"
"Because she loves you."
I grabbed the edge of the blankets and shoved them back, then sat down. Chance laid down and looked up at me as I thought about what he said. I jumped when he placed his hand on my knee.
"Why are you always so jumpy?"
"I only jump when I'm lost in thought and you throw something or do anything sudden!"
"Okay, goodnight Panami."
"What?!"
"You are hysterical right now so I'm going to stop talking to you."
A cool, animalistic calm engulfs my body. Like a wolf watching their prey before springing into action. Black dots speckle my vision as I pull my arm back and close my fist. I swing, but Chance catches my fist before my punch connects. I reach my other arm up, but Chance pins my arms against the bed.
"Melyssia!"
I feel myself fall still; my eyes open to see Chance's concerned face inches from mine. I feel my arms go limp as he slowly lets go. I slowly sit up and place a hand on Chance's shoulder. He looks at me from over his shoulder and turns around when he sees my face. One of his arms goes behind me and his other hand goes to my waist. He pecks my lips and smiles at me. He presses his forehead against mine as he brushes my hair off of my shoulder. Chance snuggles his head against my neck and starts nuzzling it as he moves me backwards. I push his chest gently, and he looks at me.
"Do you want me to stop?"
"I think that we should wait till we're married."
Chance's eyes widen.
"Melyssia! I wasn't going to do anything like that!"
He untangles himself from me and puts his head in his hands.
"Chance… Chance!"
"What?!"
"I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"For upsetting you. Just please come lay back down."
���Why?"
"Because your pacing is bugging me and I'm cold."
Chance reluctantly does as he's told and soon his hand is on my waist again.
"What are you thinking about?" I ask.
"The kind of wedding dress I want to see you in."
"Hmm… might take you a while."
"I know! That's why I'm starting to think about it now!"
I giggled as Chance wrapped his arm around me. He used his other hand to push my head against his chest as he rolled onto his back. Not long after, I found my eyelids drooping as sleep tried to pull me away. I felt my eyes close and soon found myself dreaming:
This dream was not entirely unpleasant. I was walking through the forest in my wedding dress. I found myself in a small grove of birch trees as another figure emerged on the other side. I felt safe so I started walking towards the figure. The figure was walking towards me until we were a few feet apart. I looked at the figure, trying to memorize each characterizing detail. I noticed he was doing the same as his green eyes met mine.
Who are you?" I asked.
"My name is Leviathan. What's yours?" He asked.
"Melyssia. Where are we?"
"The Dream Realm, where anything and everything is possible.'
"What?!"
He smiled as he said:
"I was like you when I first came here."
"You live here?"
"No, but I do visit a lot."
Leviathan's gaze went to my hip where my sword sat.
"Where did you get that?" Leviathan inquired.
"It's the only thing I have left of my parents. What about you?"
I gesture to his hip as he responds:
"Same. Do you think it's weird that we both have swords and have only met now in the Dream Realm?"
"Yeah, sort of. I was thinking that we were meant to meet here for something, I just can't figure out what."
"Where are you in the Real World?"
"Nebraska, we're on our way to Maine so we can hop on a plane and get to Ireland."
"Why do you need to go to Ireland? We? Who are the people you are traveling with?"
"You ask a lot of questions. I'm traveling with my friends who are the only family I've got left, and we're going to Ireland because we need to get to Stonehenge."
"Why Stonehenge?"
"Because we were told it was the only place we will be safe."
"You're being hunted too?"
"Um, yeah. Are you being hunted?"
"What can I say? I am a wanted man where I come from."
"Where are you from?" I asked.
"I'm in Russia right now, trying to find a place where people don't want to kill me. But nothing much after that."
"Why do people want to kill you?" I asked
Leviathan shrugged as he said,
"What can I say? I'm a wanted man."
His face lit up with a grin as he asked,
"What about you? Miss I-need-to-get-to-Stonhenge."
I remember Richard's relaxed face when we pulled off the mask.
"No one has really been chasing us, besides some angry squirrels."
Leviathan's face broke into a grin and he laughs at my joke.
The dense cloud cover starts to lighten and break apart as dazzling sunlight spills through to us.
Leviathan clears his throat.
"I guess this is goodbye, Melyssia."
"It's not goodbye."
"Then what is it?"
"It's a 'until next time'."
Leviathan closes the distance between us and encircles me in a hug.
"Until next time."
"Stay safe or else I will track you down and kill you myself."
Leviathan laughs before saying,
"I will, as long as you do too."
"I will, we need to meet up sometime in the real world."
"There's always Stonehenge."
"I guess you're right. Let's meet at Stonehenge."
"I promise I will be there."
"Good, because I will hold you to it."
Leviathan faded away as I cracked open my eyes. One arm encircled my waist, the other pillowing my head. I rolled over and pecked Chance on the lips. He opened his eyes and smiled at me before pulling me against him saying,
��Go back to sleep, five more minutes."
I smiled as I nestled my head into his chest. The world could wait for five more minutes.