Uncharted

I took a deep breath, I felt completely and utterly at peace with the world. My bed felt warmer and my blankets felt softer. Generally, I felt better rested than I had felt in months. I finally opened my eyes and rolled over, coming face to face with Desmond. His eyes were still closed, it was the first time I’d ever seen Des look so peaceful.

The morning light was streaming through my window, casting a godlike glow across Desmond’s perfect face. Examining him in the sunlight, I noticed little things about him that I had never noticed before. He faint scar just above his right eyebrow. The beautiful gypsy tattooed on his neck had a small peacock feather in her hair. Des took a deep breath in through his nose and stretched his arms above his head. His eyes opened slowly and he squinted as the sun got caught in his eyes, making me aware of the flecks of browns and blues that were normally hidden in the deep green.

Whatever Desmond saw when he looked at me made a smile stretch across his lips. His eyes closed but the smile still hung on his lips when he draped his arm across me and moved closer to me. He didn’t say a word, just kissed my forehead and fell back to sleep. I couldn’t seem to wrap my head around the idea of Des wanting to be with me.

Suddenly, I became very aware of every bruise on my body and the splitting pain in my head. I sighed, not wanting to leave my bed considering that Des seemed very content keeping a vice like grip on me while he snored softly beside me. I attempted to wiggle out of his grasp so I could make my way to the kitchen where I had dumped all of my pills the day before. Of course, nothing was ever easy with Des.

“Stay.” He mumbled and tightened his hold on me, determined to keep me by his side.

“I’ll be right back.” I said and made another failed attempt to move. “I just need to take my pills. I promise, I’ll come right back.” I laughed quietly.

After a few moments of consideration Des loosened his hold on me but not without a pout on his face. I was certain by the time I even made to the kitchen he would have been fast asleep again. I was correct, by the time I reached my bedroom door I could hear him snoring softly. I smiled to myself while shaking my head. The tiles of the hallway floor were freezing against my bare feet as I shuffled toward the spare bedroom. I wanted to check to see if Elle had ever come home after her night out. I opened the door slowly to see clothes thrown everywhere but she was nowhere to be found. I smiled to myself again and continued toward the kitchen.

I grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge and then made my way over to the pill bottles that were scattered across the counter. It took a few minutes of reading their instructions to figure out which ones to take and how many to take and to eat before taking them. I frowned at the bottle and began to scavenge for food. I found that Elle had stocked up on cookies so after eating two I washed my pills down.

I moved into the living room in search of my phone which I figured I left on the couch while I was crying the night before. I was successful in my search and found a text from Elle, explaining that she was too drunk to try to find her way back to my flat and that she was safe and staying with her friend. The intense bright light flooding the room drew my attention to the balcony doors.

It was sunny but there was snowing like a mother fucker and I instantly got lost in my thoughts while I watched the falling snow. The night before felt like a dream, a bizarre but fantastic dream. Des and I were together and that’s something I had never thought I’d ever say. Ever. It felt strange to be committed to someone I barely knew. Dylan and I had been really good friends before we started dating but with Des it was like being in a relationship with a stranger almost.

“You didn’t come back.” Des said quietly as his arms snaked around my waist and he pulled me back gently until my shoulders pressed against his chest and his head was resting on top of my own. The cold that had been inhabiting the living room was gone once I was in his arms.

“I got a little distracted.” I admitted.

“I see that.” he laughed quietly.

For a few minutes there was nothing but comfortable silence. Our bodies were pressed together and both of our eyes were trained on the snow. I don’t know what Des was thinking about but swayed our bodies side to side very gently, the same way he did the night he found me crying over Dylan. Suddenly, everything Des had said about being jealous of Dylan fully sank in. The entire night came flooding back to me when Des was swaying our bodies.

“What’re you thinking about?” he asked quietly, his breath tickled my neck as he spoke and he dropped his head onto my shoulder.

All of my previous doubts were gone. All I could think about was the way he’d been so caring when I had been so oblivious to his feelings. I could only think about the emotional turmoil he went through while I was lost in my own world, focusing my attention on a guy who treated me like shit. Guilt hit me like a tidal wave and all I wanted to do was take back every ounce of pain I’d ever caused him.

I spoke around so that we were face to face. Well, more like face to chest due to the height difference. Des dropped his arms from around my waist at some point during my rotation. I peered up at him, his eyes were squinted in confusion.

“What are you doing?” he asked cautiously.

I stood on my toes and grabbed a fistful of his t-shirt, pulling him down to my level. I pressed my lip against his so fast that it took him a few seconds to react, but when he did finally react he kissed with urgency and passion that matched mine. When we finally broke a part to get our breathing under control I still had a handful of his shirt. I slowly released my grasp on his shirt and took a step back to get a better look at him. He looked still completely in shock with a dazed look on his perfect face. A small lazy smile was hanging off his lips as he looked at me with desire burning in his eyes.

“Okay…” he said breathlessly, the smile spreading across his face. “That’s definitely something I can get used to.” He grinned at me.

In return I smiled back, a slight blush burning my cheeks.

“You hungry?” Des asked but he was already digging through my kitchen, pulling out frying pans.

I knew right then and there that despite our differences, our knack for getting into fights, and how little we knew about each other that it was the start of something great. It was a side of Des I had never seen before and I was definitely falling for that side, faster than I would have ever imagined.