And It All Comes Down To You

I spun around in a circle, surrounded by racks of coats. A second ago he’d been beside me, pretending to help me choose a jacket to buy. I say “pretending” because he had that bored expression all guys have when women drag them shopping. But he tried. Briefly.

“If I tell you, that’ll ruin the game!”

He is loathsome.

Part of me – the grown-up part – wanted to tell him to stop dicking around so we could pay, but the rest of me was giddy with glee at being so openly ridiculous in public with him. It was like the most childish form of foreplay. At least, that’s what it was in my head.

“Logan, seriously,” I moaned, but it came out as more of a laugh.

I took a few steps forward, peering over the clothing rails.

“Nope. You’re getting colder.”

His voice was fairly loud. How cold could I be?

Turning, I walked back in the other direction, pacing towards the end of the aisle.

“Ooh, that’s it, right there.”

This time there was no disguising my laughter. “You sound like you’re starring in a porno.”

“Nah, they’re much kinkier than that. Keep walking. You’re really close.”

I covered my mouth with my hand, trying to contain my laughter and keep my butterflies in check. With him speaking that way, I was about ready to pounce on him, and I bit my lip, reminding myself to stay calm and not get carried away with these little flirtations.

Oh, fuck off. I told my inner demon. Just chill and enjoy it!

My feet steered me to the left, and Logan jumped out from behind yet another clothes rack, arms raised and his hands forming claws, causing me to stumble backwards with a scream that made several other shoppers jump and glare at me.

I would have felt bad if I hadn’t been laughing so much at the expression of delight on Logan’s face from scaring me. His eyes and smile were wider than I’d ever seen them, and I wiped away tears of laughter, even though my heart was banging from the fright he’d given me.

“We need to get out of here before we get thrown out,” I said. “And FYI, I may need to buy a few extra pairs of knickers now!”

“So does that lady over there.” Logan nodded in the direction of a woman who was still glaring at us, her hand over her chest as if we’d nearly caused her to have a heart attack.

I mouthed “sorry” to her, trying to at least appear apologetic.

Logan and I had tapped into each other’s inner child, and it made all the drama of our earlier rain-soaked run melt away. As we laughed like idiots on our way to pay for our things, Logan reached for my hand again, pulling me along. It was all part of the silliness, of course, but his touch shot tingles up my arm to my chest, where the tingles settled around my heart, nestling there and filling me with warmth.

Isn’t that what everyone wants in a relationship? Not only someone to trust, to confide in, to talk to when times get rough, but someone you can be an absolute twat with, with no concerns they’re going to think you’re a weirdo? I never realised that was what I wanted before, but messing around in such a way made me see what had been missing from my other relationships. Sure, I’d had fun with my past boyfriends, but not this kind of fun. Not outright, carefree fun that made my stomach ache from the giggling. Again, I wondered if the reason we could be this way was because we’d known each other since we were kids. Maybe we’d regressed together. Logan always reminded me of being a teenager – the strength of my crush on him was strong enough that, even as an adult, it still had the power to make my insides ache as I remembered how many times I’d felt despair because he didn’t even know my name. And even when that changed, the despair never left because I thought he’d never see me as anything special. When he’d revealed he remembered me earlier, little fireworks went off inside me. Yeah, I really had gone back in time.

After another taxi ride back to the B&B, Logan and I dumped our bags in our room then collapsed on the bed again. Now fully clothed, I wasn’t afraid to sit a little closer to him. I let my foot brush against his, and when he didn’t move away, I rested my hand close to his. Not close enough that they touched, but close enough that the option was there, should one of us want to make that move.

While we’d been full of chatter earlier, rushing around so much had taken its toll on us both, and after a short time, Logan fell asleep beside me. Once again, I allowed myself to take in the sound of the rain and Logan’s gentle breaths. I smiled to myself, thinking about the fact that this trip wouldn’t be over for a long time yet. We had the whole night. A whole night together.

I glanced at him, watching his chest slowly rising and falling. I missed being able to see his beautiful eyes, but I loved how his hair had fallen slightly across his face, and how peaceful he looked. My own eyes grew heavy after a while, and with a grin on my lips, I drifted off to sleep too.

**

An almighty rumbling sound caused my eyelids to lift wide open. I shifted my gaze left and right, trying to get a grip on reality. Where was I? What the hell was that noise?

“Sorry.”

I blinked a few times at the sound of the voice. Oh right. Yes. Logan! B&B. Got it.

“Was that your stomach?” I asked, turning onto my side to face him, where he was still lying beside me. He had a similar look to the one he’d had when he’d picked me up. Hair messy, brown eyes a teensy a bit sleepy-looking.

Still gorgeous.