Jen’s head turns to me, her bright blue eyes meeting mine. I put my forehead to hers.
“I love you,” she whispers. “I must need to visit the mental health centre, but I do.”
I tug her head back and kiss her, my lips firm against hers. She leans back a little, and my other arm holds her up. The kiss is soft, and even though it’s only been a day, I know I never, ever want to do that again.
Perhaps I need a little bit of that relationship superglue.
~
“What if it’s not that easy?” Jen traces circles on my hand with her fingertip. I sigh, resting my head against hers.
“I never said it would be easy, babe. I just promise it’ll be worth it. Every time we fight, every time she sticks her nose in, – because she will – every time you wanna pack it in, that’ll all be hard.” She tilts her head back, her still-sad blue eyes causing a pang in my chest. I run my thumb across her cheek softly. “But the laughs, the smiles, the moments like this, they’re what’ll make it worth it because they’re ours.”
Her head dips slightly, her eyes leaving mine. “What kind of moment is this? Because it just feels like a desperate grasp onto something that could slip away in seconds.”
I cup her chin, forcing her to look at me, and say in a soft voice, “It’s the kind of moment when I look into your eyes and know they’re the only eyes I wanna look in for the rest of my life.”
Her lips pull up in a small twitchy smile, and I pull her face towards mine, kissing her gently.
“Love makes you mushy,” she mutters. “I think I like it, but I also kinda don’t.”
“You don’t like my mushy side?” I grin crookedly.
“Well, sometimes. Sometimes I like your cocky side, sometimes I like your sexy side, but mostly I think I still want to knock you out with my frying pan.”
I laugh. “I’ll take a pass on the frying pan.”
“Really? I’m pretty sure the wok would do the job, then.”
“No knocking out, Jennifer.”
She grins, shifting so she’s straddling my lap. “How about when I’m mad at you? Can I do it then?”
I run my hands along her thighs to her back, my fingers settling on her spine. “Hell no. If you’re mad at me, you’re gonna go in the next room and calm the hell down, then you’ll get your ass back out here so we can talk it through. No more of this walking away or sleeping on it shit. This ain’t a secondary school relationship passing notes in class, this is the real thing where it’s me and you. Forever.”
She links her hands behind my neck, a smile on her face. The sadness is slowly leaving her eyes and the spark I love is replacing it.
“Forever is a long time. Think you can put up with me for that long?” she asks, dropping her forehead to mine.
“It won’t be easy, but I think I can suffer through it.”
She tugs on a lock of my hair. “Suffer? The only one that has to suffer here is me.”
“Oh yes.” I smile cockily. “It must be so hard for you to be with someone like me. You know, sexy hair, sexy body, sexy smile…”
“Sexy ass… Sexy personality… Sex God reincarnated…” she finishes, rolling her eyes. “Gosh, yes. How on Earth am I supposed to cope with all of that?”
“I can think of several ways.”
“I’m sure you can,” she says dryly, sitting back a little. “Aside from your undeniable sexiness…”
“What?”
“Saph said she banned her from Red. Or, she got Mick to.”
“She did.” I smile a little, remembering.
“Good. Can’t we ban her from London?”
“Unfortunately not, babe.” I run my hands up her back. “But we can ban her from us, and that’s all that matters.” She kisses me lightly. “Come stay with me tonight. I’ll take both you and Lexy to Uni before I go to work.”
“Okay,” she murmurs. “But only if I get to have the first go on the Wii.”
I smirk. “I guess I can deal with that.”
~
JEN
“I don’t understand why they continue to play this game,” I mutter, watching Alec laugh at the way Lexy’s arms are swinging around her head.
“Because Lexy is determined to beat him at tennis one of these days,” Sam replies, amusement lacing his voice. “She’s lost a thousand times, but she just doesn’t get it.”
“I. Will. Beat. Him,” Lexy grunts as she swings her arm. I grin, running my tongue along my bottom lip.
“Game, set, and match!” Alec taunts her, bowing. Her eyes narrow and she drops the controller.
“I give up.” She falls back onto the sofa. “I’m never gonna win.”
“Oh, Princess,” Alec coos, mischief twinkling in his eyes. He sits next to her, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. “Do you want another try?”
“No. I don’t want another try. I think the little Mii men should stick their rackets in an unsavoury place.”
I laugh at her as Sam gets up. He grabs my hands and yanks me up with him, grinning.
“We’ll play tennis,” he says.
“Oh no.” I shake my head. “I only do bowling, you know that. No tennis.” I shake my head again.
Sam nods, grinning, and I purse my lips. He slides a controller into my hand and moves me so I’m in front of the television.
“I can’t play tennis,” I lie.
“She’s lying!” Alec yells from the kitchen. “She played on the tennis team when we were in school!”
Sneaky little surfer shitbag.
“You did?” Sam looks at me, his eyes wide with surprise.
“Maybe once or twice,” I mumble.
“Or for the whole five years we were at school!” Alec steps back into the room.
“Well, shit, Alec!” I cry, spinning around. “Why don’t you just tell him when I started my period, huh?”
Alec grins. “Well…”
“That was called sarcasm, Johnson.” I grab a pillow and throw it at him. “Wait. You know when I started my period?” I frown a little.
Alec’s lips twitch. “Lilac Bay knew when you started your period and when you got it every month thereafter. You turned into a little demon.”
“Pretty sure I’ve mentioned that before,” Sam mutters, selecting tennis two player on screen. I elbow him.