Ageless Beauty

I hadn't seen Christian for almost two weeks after my birthday. He was taking extra shifts at work because his car wasn't running the way it was supposed to, so he needed more money in order to fix it. He still called me at night so that I wouldn't feel like he had completely abandoned me, but he'd always have to leave early so that he could sleep. Though I understood his reasoning, I couldn't help to feel a little lonely without him. Eventually, one morning when it was starting to be too much, I had woken up and got myself ready. I made sure to spend extra time on my hair and the little bit of make-up I wore, because I wanted to impress him. I put on this skirt that I had, but never wore, with a light pink shirt with short, flowy sleeves tucked in. I wore my mum's fancy sandals, and one of my sister's favourite necklaces. Despite the fact that I felt sort of ridiculous in what I had put on, I pushed it all aside and left through the front door.

It was rather nice out that day, I remember. I was perfectly comfortable outside without a sweater in my open shoes, short skirt and light top. The sky was blue, and the wind wasn't strong enough to blow my curled hair about. However, the nice weather hadn't made me feel any better about what I was doing. Would he think I was too needy? That I invading his personal time? Would he even be home? I wasn't sure, but I kept going and going until I was at the end of his drive way. His garage was open, revealing the back of his car. From what I could see, the hood of the car was up, as if someone was looking inside of it. As I inched closer, I could hear a soft cranking sound, and the shuffling of a pair of feet. I could see a pair of familiar sneakers peaking out below the car. I smiled.

Then, I heard a loud bang and a groan, and the hood of the car fell shut, revealing Christian to me. He was rubbing his head with a pained expression, but I was having trouble focusing on what he could have possibly done to hurt his head. Instead, I watched him with wide eyes fixated on his naked torso. I could see his t-shirt now, discarded carelessly on the concrete floor. His hands and his left cheek were streaked with grease from the car, and he used the dirtied rag hanging out of the back pocket of his jeans to wipe it away. His skin was coated in a thin sheen of sweat, and his hair was in complete disarray from having run his hands through it countless times out of frustration. Some might say that he looked terrible, but I would argue that he quite possibly looked sexier than ever.

And then what I was most nervous about happen. He had noticed me standing there. I thought i had considered all of the possible reactions he would have, but I never really thought about this one. Instead of being confused, annoyed, or completely infuriated by my presence, he grinned widely at me and jogged over. He didn't hesitate to scoop me up in his arms, hugging me closely to his bare chest and pressing kisses onto my cheeks and neck.

"I was just about to come by and see you!" He had said, and my heart swelled. "I missed you so much, baby."

I used to love it so much when he called me baby. I never really liked it when my mum used to call me baby, or when really anyone else happened to refer to me by that name. Just Christian could call me that. It sounded so nice coming from his lips. He hadn't been calling me a baby when he said it. He was calling me his baby, and I liked that.

I liked being his.

-----

I don't exactly remember how we had gone from cuddling in his room to sitting in the local bowling alley, taking up two lanes and two booths with all the people that had joined us. I felt bad for whoever owned the place and the people in the kitchen, for everyone had them bringing out a new pizza every ten minutes or so.

Christian was to my left, turned to Adam, speaking animatedly about a topic I wasn't aware of, and his arm was around my shoulders, holding me to his side securely. Andy was to my right, watching as Sam's bowling ball rolled to into the gutter, snickering to himself. I chuckled too, and he looked over at me, smiling lightly.

"How are you, beautiful?" He grinned crookedly. "Haven't talked to you in weeks."

"Sorry about that. Christian wasn't around, so he take me with him to see you guys." I shrugged at him, smiling lightly. "And I've been okay. How about you? Enjoying the fact that you have absolutely no responsibilities for the next year of your life?"

He laughed, and his curly hair fell into his eyes. He pushed it away with one hand, shrugging his shoulders. "It's nice, I suppose. It'd be nice to do something productive with my life, though. Maybe I should go back to high school until I leave for college. Maybe then I'll actually see you." I giggled, and he smiled. "I hope you realize that you don't need Christian in order to come hangout with us. You're our friend, Dev."

I blushed and looked down at my hands in my lap. "Well, you know... I just thought that since, uhm, I'm Christian's girlfriend and all..."

"That's dumb." He laughed. "We love you, Dev, and not because you're Christian's girlfriend. I thought we made that clear to you at your birthday party."

At the time, I was sort of at a loss for words. I wasn't sure what to say because I was happy. Really, really happy, and I felt so accepted. I know at my birthday they had called me their friend, but I don't know... I still didn't feel it was my place to turn up without Christian.

"Seriously, Dev. Everyone always wants to call you, but none of us know your number, so we call Christian and he brings you." He explained. "But he's going to be working a lot, and since basically all of us are taking a year off or staying in high school, you'll need people to spend time with, right?" I nodded. "Who better than a group of kids who happen to love you?" I giggled and shrugged. "People are always h hanging around my house too. Give me your number. So that we know it for next time."

I did, and he gave me his. He also wrote down his house address, in case I had forgotten, on the back of a napkin and handed it to me. "And, just so you know, you don't have to call first before you stop by. Really, no one but me, and sometimes Sam or one of the guys, are at my house. You can just walk in."

I nodded just as Sam walked over, collapsing on his lap and wrapping and arm around his shoulders. "I suck."

"I know. We saw." Andy grinned.

She sent him a glare, turning to me. "Do you want to hangout sometime? I never get to see you." She pouted. "We could go shopping or out to lunch or something fun like that. Andy can come and help! What do you say?"

Andy turned to me with raised brows, nodding his head. I laughed, and agreed, and she grinned, snatching my phone and typing her number into my phone. We agreed to hangout on Saturday, and she'd come pick Andy and I up in her car, and we'd all go out while Christian was working. I was happy. A very, very select few people had made plans with me in the past five or so years of my life. I felt wanted. It felt really good to belong somewhere.

By that point, it was Adam's turn to bowl, and Christian turned back to me. He leaned over, pressing a kiss to my cheek, and I grinned, turning to look at him. "Hi." I blushed.

"Hello." He smiled crookedly, kissing me on the lips quickly. "Having fun?"

"Of course she is!" Sam cut me off, just as I opened my mouth to answer. "She was talking to us."

Christian rolled his eyes. "Right." He turned to me, giving me a small smile. "Are you hungry or anything?"

"I'm kind of thirsty..." I mumbled sheepishly, shrugging my shoulders.

He grinned, and rose up from his seat. He took my hand in his, and pulled me up. "Let's get you something then." I blushed, smiling to Sam and Andy. They both smiled back and sent me a small wave before Christian pulled me away in the opposite direction. We stood at the end of the line that had formed by the concession stand, and he wrapped his arms around me. His lips found their way to my cheek, pressing a firm kiss on the spot. His kisses trailed towards my ear, and his lips grazed my skin as they parted.

"I love you." He murmured, and I could feel his nose rubbing against my temple. "I love you so much."

And he had meant it, and I knew he did. Right then, at that moment, he had really meant it.