Penelope POV***
I woke up the next morning to Alexander still soundly asleep holding me. I didn't want to move because he looked so peaceful and adorable. To be honest that is the best night of sleep I've had in a long time. It was partly due to our rigorous activities though his presence did relax and calm me. We had some seriously mind-blowing sex. I hadn't actually been with anyone since Keith and that was just mediocre. I'm not against anyone enjoying casual sex or anything but that just wasn't my thing. I wasn't really interested in being intimate with anyone in that way unless I had feelings for them. I'd definitely never been as brave as I was last night when I stripped and jumped in the pool. Something about Alexander made it different though. I've never felt more wanted or seen by anyone, he looked at me like I was something precious to be appreciated. It scared me how intensely I already felt about him after knowing him for just over 6 months. I feel like I've known him much longer. As I was deep in my thoughts, I didn't notice him wake up. When I looked up at him again his eyes were open.
"Good morning," he said ruffling my hair. I turned on my stomach to face him and planted a kiss on his cheek.
"What shall we do today?" He asked.
"I get today with you too? Well, isn't this a nice bonus." I said with a happy look on my face.
"Yes. I'm all yours, do with me as you please." He said giving me a devilish look.
"Well, the first thing I'm going to do is get up to get ready. Would you like to go to brunch and then on a run today?" I asked.
"That sounds rather refreshing." He sat up.
His eyes trailed down my body stopping on my back side before he got up and went into the bathroom. I had on silky short shorts and a matching cropped tank top set that didn't leave much to the imagination. I got up to grab my bag and headed for the bathroom. When I looked in the mirror, I saw my hair was a rat's nest. I guess that's what I get for going to bed with my hair wet.
"Oh wow, why didn't you tell me my hair looked like this? How did you not laugh at me?" I laughed at myself.
He chuckled. "I actually think it's pretty cute. I like seeing your morning hair because that means I get to wake up next to you. I'm also the one who messed it up so consider it admiring my work." He teased grabbing his toothbrush.
I looked over at him incredulously. I managed to brush out all the tangles and put my hair in a ponytail. We finished getting ready. I ended up in a some running shorts and a cropped compression tank top with a jacket. He was in shorts and a fitted tee.
"There is a great little cafe not far from here. You should call and invite Nate; I can give Lily a call to join as well. I think it's probably about time our best friends met." I told him.
"That's a great idea." He pulled out his phone to call Nate. Both were going to join us, so we went to the car and headed to the cafe.
When we got there Nate was waiting at a table for us. "So did you two have a fun sleep over?" Nate asked teasingly.
I turned red and heard Alexander say, "shut up" nudging him in the ribs. He laughed at my reaction.
"I guess so." He stated smugly.
Lily arrived a little later. "Sorry I'm late, some douche cut me off when I had found the perfect parking spot, so I had to park further away and walk." She grumbled.
She turned to greet the other two people at the table and when she saw Nate her eyes narrowed.
"Hey! That's the douche!" She said pointing at Nate.
Alexander and I couldn't contain our laughter.
"Lily this is Nathaniel Augustus. The VP at Gideon Digital and a professional photographer." I said introducing him.
She clapped her hand over her mouth but then started laughing.
"Sorry I called you that but that was a dick move." She said sitting down next to him.
Nate laughed. "I forgive you because it definitely was. I didn't see you trying to take the same space, so I apologize. Also, I prefer to go by Nate instead of douche." He said offering her his hand.
She took it. "I'll only forgive you if you have a mimosa with me and spill all of Alexander's dirty secrets." She bargained.
Nate agreed eagerly. I gave her my "WTF" look and she just smiled. We ordered our drinks and food. Soon we were all catching up and I told Lily about the incident with Keith last night. She was on her 3rd mimosa.
"Oh my god! If I ever see that shit eating fuck stain again, I will end him myself!" She angrily said but then abruptly changed direction. "Hey, you stayed the night over at his place. You guys totally boned, didn't you?!" She said loudly enough the table beside us turned to look. If I could die of embarrassment, I would gladly do that right now.
Nate about killed over laughing at her bluntness and Alexander choked on his coffee. "They so did, you should have seen their reaction earlier when I asked if their sleep over was fun. Creative mouth you've got there by the way." He complimented. The server came with our bill shortly after that.
"On that note, I think Penelope and I will get our run in while you two get better aquatinted over your drinks. Don't share too many of our embarrassing stories with each other." Alexander said as he left cash for the bill in the ticket book. Both of them bid us goodbye as we got up to leave. I'll have to ask Lily later how their alone time went. I could definitely see those two hitting it off. Lily is a black haired, voluptuous bronzed, beauty and Nate looks like a blonde underwear model. Their personalities were surprisingly similar.
We went to the city park where all the jogging trails were and took the one that leads to the forest outside the city. There was a beautiful lake out that way that I ran to often. I wanted to take him there today. My parents had a lake house out here that I inherited so I liked to run by it to remember the good times we had. I paid someone to upkeep the place for me, but I hadn't been inside since before my parents died. That was still painful for me, but I wanted to share that with him. I felt like he would understand because of the loss of his parents, and I was ready to move forward in the grieving process. I didn't want to hide any part of myself from him and if he wanted to be with me seriously, he was going to have to be there for both the good parts and the tough parts. There was always the possibility that I'd be too much for him and that thought terrified me. It's always been the thought that kept me from really letting people in. I was also traumatized by Keith. I let him in, and he turned into a monster. I was scared to show my emotional scars to him fearing he might decide it was a mistake to be involved with me. In a jacked-up way, I was looking forward to getting this over with because then at least I would know either way before I potentially fell in love with him. It would still hurt a lot but not nearly as bad as it would if I loved him. I was thinking through all of this lost in thought while I was jogging.
We both had headphones in and were listening to music while we ran beside each other. We got into a quick but comfortable pace for both of us. I loved that he could keep up with me, none of the other people I'd dated had been as into fitness as me. I wanted to go on adventures like this with them, but they were never interested in doing the same thing I was. I always had to do what they wanted to do if I wanted to spend time with them. It just felt so nice to have someone want to do the things I wanted to do. After about 45 minutes we came upon the trail leading to the house. I stopped him so we could get some water and also have him follow me.
"Is this the part where you take me into the woods to kill me?" He mused.
I laughed; it helped ease my tension for the upcoming conversation.
"No, actually it's the part where I take you to my family's lake house. It's mine now that my parents are gone, and I haven't been inside of it since before they died. I feel like I'm ready to go in today and if you want to join me, you're welcome to. I'd like to share that with you. I'm warning you though, there is a 100% chance of me full on ugly crying. If that's too much too soon for you I understand if you would prefer to wait outside." I said as we approached the house.
"Nonsense," he took my hand, "of course I'm going in with you. I know what it's like to feel this way and I'm going to support you through this. After this, if you're up for an emotional bender of a day you can help me tackle my mom's room. I haven't been in there since she died either. I haven't had the courage to go in but having you with me gives me strength."
I squeezed his hand letting him know I understood and cared. I took a deep breath stepping onto the porch and locating the hidden key.
"Ok, time to rip the band-aid off. Let's open this bitch up." I announced before putting the key in the handle and turning it to open the door. Memories came flooding back as we looked around the house.
"I don't remember the first time my parents brought me here but when I was about 12 when they surprised me with a trip to the lake. I thought that we were just staying the weekend in this place like we usually did but then they told me they bought this house, and we were staying the whole summer. I immediately asked if Lily could come stay with us during the summer too. My mom had just laughed saying, 'of course, she's already on her way actually. We planned ahead with her parents because we knew you would ask. You two are inseparable.' I was so excited. Having Lily has helped make losing them so much more bearable. This was the last place that I saw them together before their accident. I lived out here already and they came to visit so we came out here and enjoyed the lake." I said as a few tears began to escape.
Alexander just held me close knowing that no words could make this easier for me.
"It's just so hard to enjoy the good memories I have because I'm still grieving. I wish they were here to share everything with me."
He wiped away my tears with his thumb gently stroking my face.
"I understand how you feel in that regard. I had a good relationship with my parents so when they passed it was hard. It still is hard for me with my mom. She's the only parent I had for most of my life." He shared.
I looked up to see his expression because it sounded like his voice had cracked. He had a somber expression on his face, and I saw a few tears spilling from his eyes. I think part of the reason that we bonded so quickly is because we could share in our pain together from the start. I reached up to wipe away his tears as he had done for me. He hadn't realized that I had looked up to see him till I touched his face. He had been staring off, in his own thoughts. I don't know what he saw there in my face when he looked down, but he pulled me close and kissed me passionately. We held each other and didn't break away for a while.
"I'm so glad that I had you with me for this. I feel better having talked about it and confronted it." I said panting from the intensity of the kiss.
"If I had thought that crying together would end in such a way, I'd have tried it a long time ago." He joked and cracking a smile.
"How about us two crying messes get out of here and enjoy the rest of our day. I thought maybe I'd be able to get this done in one go but I'm now realizing it will take a while for me to be able to enjoy the good memories when I come here. We've put ourselves through enough emotional turmoil for the day. I think we deserve an ice cream and movie binge after this." I said kissing him on the cheek. He got up offering me his hand. We both walked out of there feeling lighter than when we had come in.