Thursday
Picture 2
Nostalgicmiss' Choice: Both
Title:
NC-17: For Language.
I woke up in the embrace of Tate, his warm arms were curled around me, holding me close enough to feel the gentle thrum of his heart against my ear. We were tangled together in the sheets like we'd gravitated toward one another as we slept. I felt comfortable and satisfied in his arms. Like I was meant to be here. It felt natural.
The only problem was, right now I needed the bathroom.
I shifted my legs from under his as gently as I could without jostling the bed and waking him. The fine hairs that covered his legs tickled mine as I retracted them. He hummed gently under his breath as I escaped, his arm tightening around my waist possessively.
I paused. A smile forming on my lips as I watched him slip under the weight of sleep again. I wanted to lay there and watch him, feel his body as it rose and fell under my hands, but my stupid insistent bladder was making it impossible to lose myself in him.
It took me a second to loosen his grip on my waist. Every time I worked his hands free, he gripped me and pulled me closer again, his breathy sighs signifying the slight disturbance I had created.
Finally, my toes hit the floor and I managed to slide out in one swift motion. I walked toward the door, grabbing a t-shirt and pulling it over my head, all the while fighting the urge to look back at the man sleeping comfortably in my bed. Last night had been more amazing than I'd ever thought it could be. Sure, it had been a long time since I'd been with someone, but it had been so different with Tate, the need for him, the desire. It was like a living breathing animal clawing to get out, and the release had been more powerful than I thought I was capable of.
With a smile I slipped out of my bedroom and pulled the door closed behind me. Taking the deep breath I'd needed to take since I'd woken up. It wasn't until I heard the chirp of my phone in the living room that I noticed my purse strewn out across the floor. Had I really been that driven to get him into my room I hadn't noticed it slip from my grip?
As much as I wanted to see who had called, nature made me detour to the bathroom first.
The moment I had finished and washed my hands, I made my way to pick up the contents of my purse. i shoved everything inside and picked up my phone, waking it up to see who'd tried to call me.
I frowned.
Haden's name popped up with fourteen calls and six texts, starting from the moment we'd left the psychic's. Why had he been so desperate to get in touch with me?
I flipped open the top of my phone and scrolled through the texts, but none of them revealed what was so desperate. They only seemed to beg me to call him all the more. I went to voice mail, but all that uncovered was his desperate voice that grew into anger as the messages progressed.
Whatever he wanted, I knew I had to call him soon. The last call had only come in about twenty minutes prior. Sadly, I knew Tate's wake up call would have to wait.
Stepping into the bathroom again, I called Haden's number and held it to my ear, my foot tapping gently on the white tile as I perched on the edge of the tub. I just hoped this was as desperate as it seemed to be.
"Where the hell have you been?" Haden's voice said down the phone, his irritation evident.
"Asleep, jackass. Where you should have been. What's wrong with you?"
"What's wrong with me?" he snapped, his voice distorted with anger. "I've been trying to call you since we left last night."
"I was busy, Hade."
The silence on the other end of the phone was profound. I played with the edge of the t-shirt I was wearing, waiting for him to say anything.
"Meg, did you . . . Did Tate? Please, tell me you're alone."
"I'm in the bathroom, so yeah I'm a lone right now. And as for Tate, that's none of your business."
"It is my business, Megan. I made a big fucking mess of things and . . . I wish I knew how to say this."
"Say what?"
"My words, last night. They cleared something up for me."
"Haden will you spit it out?"
"My words, Meg. I always knew but I ignored it. When they came out it made so much sense to me."
"Still not answering my question," I sighed in frustration.
"Friends, choice, close and love, Meg. Those were my words. They answered every question I have been asking myself for the last few months."
My heart froze in my chest. His words, his words had made him question everything. Why did one trip to a stupid psychic change everything? How could one quirky night out have made everything so complicated?
"You know the stupid thing is I knew already. When I saw you and Tate in the truck, I knew, Meg. I knew I had fucked everything up. I've been in love with you for years, but seeing you with someone else, seeing you in a situation like that, it ripped my chest open."
"You selfish, bastard," I spat, my heart hammering in my chest. Six months ago this was all I ever wanted out of life. This was everything I had ever hoped for. I wanted Haden to notice me, I wanted him to realize what he was missing, but it never happened. Even last nights reading form Harmony had been confusing. I never expected Tate to have to fight for me, and I honestly believed she'd got my reading completely wrong, but this is what it had come down to.
"What? Megan, I just wanted to tell you that I . . ."
"No," I snapped, cutting him off. "Haden don't do this to me. You're with Ava, I'm with Tate. I've been pining over you since I was twelve years old and now that I'm happy you want to fuck with my life?"
"No, I don't want to fuck with your life, I'm in love with you, Megan. You, and only you . . ."
I felt the phone slip from my hand but there was nothing I could do to stop it. Gravity took control and I watched helplessly as it bounced against the toilet seat and splashed into the water at the bottom of the basin. The gem design winked at me from under the curve of the bowl but I was helpless to move.
Anger and pain crashed down around me. My ears buzzed with the impossibility of the situation. It was typical, selfish Haden. He saw someone with something he thought belonged to him and he staked a claim, but this time he was too late. I had put so much effort in moving on that I had succeeded.
I pushed up from the tub and wobbled on my legs, stumbling toward the door. I pulled it open and slipped through it, ignoring everything but the need to make it to my door. I fell into my room as quietly as I could, but Tate was already awake, sat on my bed with the stupid plastic dinosaur I had kept from when I met Haden. It was the thing he'd been playing with with my gum got suck in his hair.
I could tell he'd overheard part of my conversation. He was sat in his underwear looking torn. I needed his eyes to find mine. I needed him to see me so he would understand what I was feeling, what I was thinking.
"How much did you hear?" I asked, stepping further into the room.
"Not much," he shrugged. His eyes still on the stupid plastic toy.
"Look at me, Tate."
He didn't, his soulful eyes were trained on the dinosaur. I needed him to look at me so he would know what I was about to say was everything I was feeling. So he would know it was nothing but the truth.
I stepped into the space between his legs and placed my hands on his shoulders. "Please look at me."
I crouched in front of him and waited patiently as he seemed to fight himself on the decision. I begged for him to listen to me, I begged for the sky blue and amber to turn to me.
"Please," I whispered, one of my hands caressing his cheek gently.
It felt like a lifetime waiting for him to comply. Finally, after long agonizing minutes of wondering, his head turned, his eyes catching mine. I fell into the pools, the amber like gold leaf dancing around the inky black of his pupils. Sadness seemed to emanate from him as he drank me in.
"I understand," he said, his voice soft, but full of the pain he was trying to hide. "You loved him long before you met me."
"Yeah well," I sighed, cradling his other cheek with my free hand. "There's a slight complication with that theory."
"Megan," his voice was full of pleading but I needed him to let me finish.
"Tate, I'm in love with you. Every part of my heart and soul belongs to you. I thought I loved Haden, I can't lie to you about that. But it's nothing to how I feel about you. I thought this would be so difficult. When I met you that night in the woods, you were the only person to ever interest me enough to pull me away from him. I didn't know what that meant then, but I knew it meant something. Last night, when we talked about that stupid psychic and her words, I thought about the only choice I would ever have to make and I knew the answer. You never had to fight, Tate, because I was already yours. My choice was already made up in the hypothetical situation. I'm sorry you had to hear that conversation, and I'm sorry I never got to finish it, but I am telling you the truth. I love you, Tate."
"Dammit," he smiled gently, his hands now gripping my face. "And I thought is was my amazing talents in the sack would win you over."
"There's that too," I smirked, my tongue sweeping my bottom lip.
"I love you too, Meg. I thought it was too soon, I never for a second thought you felt the same way."
"Well, you were wrong."
I laughed and sprang to my feet, pushing him back on the bed with my body. My lips found his easily as his hands slid up my t-shirt, relieving me of it's burden.
I think that's it!!! Fini, the end for Megan and the gang ;)
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