Saving Me

Ariel’s POV

I was making cereal when I was startled by my computer making a loud noise that seemed to echo in my quiet living room and kitchen. I quickly made my way to the laptop that sat on my kitchen table, to see what is going on. On my screen, a picture of my dad popped up along with the loud ringing, signaling my dad was calling me on Skype. Sighing, I hit the ‘enter’ key on my keyboard,

“Hi, daddy.” I said hoping that he would forget that I didn’t call him last night.

“Don’t you ‘hi, daddy’ me, Ariel? You didn’t call me yesterday.” Well, there goes my hope. Though I know he’s only a tiny bit mad, I call my dad every Friday and I’ve only missed a couple since I moved to LA.

“I’m sorry. I had this charity dinner thing to go to and I totally forgot once I got home.” To be fair, I did have other things on my mind, but I wasn’t going to tell him that.

“Alright…I just worry ‘bout you. You’re my baby girl.” He says.

“Technically, Katia is your baby girl, Dad.”

“Don’t be a smart-ass, Ariel. I thought I taught you better than that.” He says trying to look serious…it doesn’t work.

“Oh, but daddy I learned everything I know about being a smart-ass from you.” I tease.

“I know you did, you’re too much like me for your own good.” He smiles, “Anyway, how did you sleep?”

“Great.” I reply thinking back to my dream which featured one tall, tattooed, hazel-eyed musician. To my surprise, my dad asks,

“Who is he?”

“How do you know there is a guy?” My surprise clearly in my voice, before realizing I just gave away the fact that there is a guy… Shit!

“I just know things.” He pauses, “Plus, I do know you, and whenever you meet or have a crush on someone you liked you get this look on your face. Right now, you have that look...So who is he?”

“His name is Adam, and he’s a successful musician.” I say, not wanting to give away too much, “We’re actually having dinner tonight.”

“I know you don’t want to hear this, but be careful.”

“I know, Dad.”

“Good, and if it works out I’m going to have to meet him. I need to know if he’s better than that asshole.” He tells me referring to Chase.

“Even though I only met him yesterday, I think Adam’s a lot better than Chase ever was.” For a moment I think about telling my dad about the encounter with Chase the day before, before finally deciding against it. After that we talked about mundane things, while I was deciding on whether or not I should ask something that I had wanted to know for a while. Finally, deciding…I asked, “How is she?” Not having to clear up who she was, my dad said,

“As good as can be expected, Chase hasn’t called her back or spoken to her in six months. I think she is finally realizing that she didn’t mean anything to him, that she fell in love with a man who didn’t love her, and because of that she lost her sister…She misses you, Ariel. She needs you right now, Ariel, she needs her big sister. Please come back to Houston and work this out with her.” He pleads, I’m shocked I’ve never seen my dad beg anyone before, but here he is begging me to come home and work things out with my little sister. For a moment, I think about going home before suddenly I flash back to Chase on top of Katia…groaning her name and I know I can’t. Sighing I say,

“I can’t Dad…I’m not ready.” He shakes his head and says,

“I know that I don’t have a clue ‘bout having a sibling since I’m an only child, but Ariel she needs to know you still love her…that you forgive her.”

“Daddy, I’ll always love her. Nothing Katia could ever do would make me stop loving her, it’s not possible. She is my sister and that’ll never change and you can tell her that, but I can’t forgive her not yet… If I told that I forgave right now it wouldn’t be the truth and she doesn’t deserve that. She deserves the truth,” I pause thinking about what I’m about to say, “Dad, tell her that Chase didn’t deserve her. He didn’t deserve either of us. Tell her, that I want her to try and move on. I want her to go out, have some fun with her friends…To meet new guys, ones that will treat her right because she deserves the very best, and tell her that I love her.” After that we’re silent for a while before Dad says,

“Well, I have to go; open up the shop…I’ll tell Katia what you said.” He pauses before finishing with, “I love you, Ariel. Have fun later, but not too much fun.” I can’t stop my laughter at the look on my dad’s face when he mentions sex that involves me. Deciding to antagonize him a little more, I say,

“Oh… Daddy you know that I don’t put out on the 1st date, but then again with the way this man looks I might not be able to keep my hands to myself.” The look of disgust on his face tells me that I did well, and I can’t contain the giggles that slip from me… I quickly tell him, that I love him before hanging up. I finish my breakfast quickly and soon my phone vibrates from its place on the counter. I get up to get it and when I see it’s a text from Adam, I can’t contain the wide smile that comes across my face.

‘Good morning, beautiful.’ It says, making me blush. I quickly reply back to him,

‘Good morning. How did you sleep?’

‘Good…I had an amazing dream ;)’ He sends back. Deciding to play coy, I say.

‘Oh really, what about? ;)’

‘A gorgeous actress, who I’m having dinner with tonight. Speaking of dinner, you need my address……’ Adam sends me along with his address.

‘Alright. So I’ll be there at 6. Is there anything you want me to bring?’

‘Just yourself.’

‘I can do that.’ I reply.

‘Oh before I forget, are you allergic to anything?’ He asks and I quickly reply no. We text for a couple more minutes before we say goodbye. Sighing, I lean against the counter before realizing that I don’t have any idea what to wear. Quickly, I dial Brook’s number asking her to come over.

___________________________________________________________________________________

“I’m here…what’s going on?” Brook asks about half an hour later, “Wait…I know that look. You have a date!” I just smile before she asks a million questions, “Who is he? What does he do? Is he hot? How did you meet?” She asks all in a single breath.

Chuckling, I tell her, “Whoa, slow down… First of all his name is Adam Levine, he’s the lead singer of Maroon 5,” She interrupts me,

“Did you just say Maroon 5, as in Songs about Jane, Maroon 5?”

“Yes, I did. We met last night at the charity dinner; we talked for a while before he brought me home and asked me out.”

“And you need my help to figure out what to wear…” She says. I feel really bad that I haven’t got to spend time with Brook lately since I’ve been working so much so I quickly make up my mind and say,

“Not just that, we haven’t been able to hang out lately, Brook. And I’m not meeting Adam ‘till 6 tonight… so we have all day to hang out.” Brook squeals and jumps on me… After a little while, she finally calms down and grabs my hand and leads me to my bedroom before opening the door to my closet.

“So where is he taking you?” She pauses, “Or are the two of you going to be staying in?” She asks before wiggling her eyebrows suggestively. I ignore her last question.

“Brook, really… we have like,” I pause and look at my alarm clock before continuing, “7 hours. Do we need to pick out my clothes now?”

“Yes, because I want you to paint my nails and I’m going to paint yours, but we can’t do that until we pick out your outfit.” Brook says in a way that I know she wants to add ‘duh’ to the end of her sentence. So I simply sigh in defeat knowing I’m not going to win this one before saying,

“He’s making us dinner at his place.”

“Ok, so something casual…” She says while walking to my closet where she starts pulling things out of drawers and of hangers.

“Brook nothing over the top, please.” I beg knowing her tendency to try to dress me up.

“Don’t worry, I think you’re gonna love what I picked out…” She says coming out of my walk-in closet. She lays out the outfit on the bed and I have to say that she didn’t go overboard,

“Wow, this is something I would pick out.” I told her looking over my clothes while grabs the accessories to go with it. Brook picked out a really dark brown, almost black, sweater with cut-outs on the shoulders, wax-treated black jeans, and combat boots. And I can see that she grabbed my double-finger cross ring and simple stud earrings to go with it.

“Now, all we need is nail-polish.” Brook says, looking at my massive nail-polish collection. She chooses a black nail polish for me, while she goes for a glittery red. The next couple hours we sit on the couch, paint our nails, watch several episodes of Sons of Anarchy, before eating lunch.

___________________________________________________________________________________

“God, Charlie Hunnam is so hot!” Brook says, fanning herself.

“I will give him that, even though I’m not a huge fan of blondes.” I agree.

“So, how are things with Katia?” She asks, and I give look at her, “What…I know things aren’t good, but talk to me, Ariel.” She pleads.

“Well, I talked to my dad earlier and he says Chase hasn’t called her back.” I said running my hands through my hair.

“That’s no surprise…especially since he’s been trying to get you back the last 6 months. By the way, how did your encounter with Chase go last night?” I look at her surprised that she knew, “Marie, called me.” She said in explanation.

“Oh…it went great.” I say sarcastically, before continuing seriously, “Horrible, he wanted to get back together and when I told him that we were never getting back together he got defensive saying that if I could forgive my sister that I could forgive him and all this bullshit. If it wasn’t for Adam I don’t know what would’ve happened.”

“Wait, Adam was there, when you and Chase talked?” She asks surprised.

“Yep, I ran into Adam like a minute before Chase came up and started talking to me.”

“Wow, so how did Adam take it?”

“Surprisingly, pretty well… we talked about Chase a little and that was about the end of all topics with Chase in them…” I tell her and Brook simply nods her understanding. Then all of a sudden I swear you could see a light bulb go on over head,

“I have the most amazing idea… Let’s Google Adam.”

“No, I know better than most how much of the stuff on the internet is complete and utter bullshit… Plus, I feel like it’s an invasion of his privacy.”

“Fine, you don’t have to, but I am.” Brook says before grabbing my laptop and bringing to the couch, “Ok…Adam Levine.” She says to herself as she types his name in. “Maroon 5 releases 3rd studio album.” She reads the headline before scrolling down to the ‘images’ tab, “Jackpot.” Brook sings and I cringe.

“Brook, you know I love you, but you can’t sing worth a crap.” I tell her and she just sticks her tongue out at me before turning back to the computer screen when her jaw visibly drops.

“Holy mother of god, that man has to be god’s gift to women.” She says and I nod in agreement looking at a picture of Adam, showing off a lot of his tattoos on his arms in a tight t-shirt and a pair of ripped jeans. I lick my lips seeing a lot more of his arm sleeve and the large tiger tattoo he has on his right arm. “Damn girl…he makes me glad that I’m bi instead of just lesbian.”

“Speaking of you, tell me about your girlfriend.” I demand.

“Amazing!” Brook sighs, “Ariel, she’s…I don’t know how to describe her other than that she’s absolutely amazing.”

“Well, you always could start with her name…” I tease her.

“Her name is Emily, and she’s a real estate agent.” Brook says before going on about how they met, how amazing Emily is…things of that nature. I’m super happy for Brook… she deserves it and I tell her as much before asking,

“So when do I get to meet the amazing Emily?”

“Soon, Ariel. I promise.” She says before looking at my clock and quickly pulls me up from the couch and basically runs to my bedroom.

“Whoa, where’s the fire, Brook?”

“Have you looked seen the time?” Not waiting for me to answer she continues, “We have a little less than an hour to get you ready.” She says before shoving me into the bathroom. In an effort to hold in the sarcastic remark that I know will come out if I open my mouth; I simply nod before getting in the shower. I come out of the bathroom in only a towel when I see Brook plugging in the blow-dyer before I walk into my closet and put on a simple lace bra and panties. When I’m back in my room, I quickly make my way over to my vanity and sit down before Brook says,

“Ok, so I was thinking how about we do some loose waves?” She asks. To which I nod and say,

“Sure, you know how much I like it when my hair is wavy.” Brook simply nods her head before she starts blow-drying my hair. Once she’s finished she loosely curls my hair, when ‘She Will Be Loved’ starts playing a huge smile lights up her face. “I’m gonna guess by the smile on your face, that’s Emily’s ringtone.” Brook nods, before picking up her phone and walking out of my room. Smiling, I glance at the clock and almost have a small panic attack seeing that I have to leave in 5 minutes to make it to his house on time. Not bothering with any foundation, I quickly put on a shimmer-y gold eye shadow on my lid before taking a deep breath to calm myself as I pick up my favorite liquid eye-liner. I slow myself down knowing it wouldn’t do me any good if I stabbed myself in the eye trying to put on eye-liner. After I have finished putting on my eye-liner and a light coat of mascara, I quickly put on a coat of nude lip-gloss before quickly throwing my clothes on. I grab my phone and my keys before taking one last look in the mirror. On my way to the front-door I see Brook in the kitchen, still on the phone with Emily. I quickly tell her,

“Brook, I’m leaving. Lock the door when you leave.” Covering the mouth-piece of the phone with her hand she says,

“Of course. Have fun; call me tomorrow with the details.” I simply reply with an ‘I will’ before walking out of the house.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Its 15 minutes past 6-o-clock when I pull up to a beautiful mansion, looking at the address and making sure that this is the right place. I take a deep breath to try and calm the butterflies in my stomach before I stepped out of the car. As I make my way to the front door I start panicking, I should have worn something nicer… I say to myself looking down at my outfit before I realize that this is me, I don’t dress up when I don’t have to. And if Adam cares more about what I wear than who I am then he doesn’t deserve me… After I’ve finished my silent mini-rant I realize that I’m at the front door, gathering my courage I ring the door bell. I can hear a dog barking before the door opens and I have to fight to keep my jaw from dropping. Standing in the doorway is Adam, in a tight Harley-Davidson t-shirt and a pair of jeans, looking incredibly hot. When I finally get myself together I finally notice that Adam is practically undressing me with his eyes… I can’t help but blush. Noticing this Adam chuckles quietly before he says,

“You look amazing. Come on in.” Stepping to the side to let me in.

“Sorry, I’m late. I lost track of time earlier…” I apologize.

“It’s no problem; dinner won’t be ready for about 10 minutes. I can give you a tour of the house, if you want.”

“I’d love that.” I reply finally taking a look around. Obviously, there are instruments everywhere, but other than that it’s not what you would expect a rock star’s place to look like. Instead of the gaudy Vegas-esque décor that is normally in most rock star’s homes it’s very mid-century modern, which I have to say I love. He leads me upstairs.

“This is the master bedroom.” He says, walking in the bedroom. Looking around at the black walls, the vintage suitcases that were used for side tables…which I would kill for, the fireplace, and the baby grand piano in the opposite corner of the room... I was in awe, but that wasn’t what held my attention. On the wall near the bed there was a portrait of Kurt Cobain. Adam must have seen what I was captivated because he asked,

“Were you a big Nirvana fan?”

“Not when Kurt Cobain was still alive because I was 9 when he died and my mom was weird about that stuff. My dad didn’t really care too much about who I listened to… my mom on the other hand…” I trail off before continuing, “I discovered the wonders of Nirvana about 3 and a half years later when I was 13. They were my number one favorite band for the longest time, I swear.”

Adam just nods before saying, “They were amazing. Wait, you said you were 9 when he died…so that makes you what 25?”

“Close, I’m 26. My birthday is in late September, the 21st to be exact. What about you?”

“How old am I? Or when is my birthday?” He half-jokes.

“Both.”

“Well, I’m 31 and my birthday is March 18.”

“Wow, so your birthday is coming up in a couple months.” I tell him.

“Don’t remind me, though I still have couple years before I’m on the wrong side of 30 so that’s good… How about we finish the tour, hmmm?” I simply nod my head and he quickly shows me the marble covered bathroom and Maroon 5’s 3 Grammys, which I can’t help but gawk at. I mean they’re Grammys anyone would be lying if they said that they would be totally unaffected by them. Then he leads me to the living room, I quickly find myself in love with the Persian carpet and the deep purple sofa. But before I can look at anything else, I feel my eyes go straight to the most amazing view I have ever seen and I literally feel my jaw drop. One wall of the living room is almost completely made of glass while the wall next to it has sliding glass doors that open to a huge balcony that basically runs the length of the back of the house. Adam opens the sliding glass doors and leads me onto the balcony and if I thought the view from the living room was amazing…this one’s 100 times better. From the balcony you can see all of LA; I can only imagine how it looks at night with all the lights from the city.

“I had that same reaction, when I saw the view.” Adam says.

“It’s so beautiful.” I sigh. Adam looks at his watch before he asks,

“Can we go downstairs? I need to take the fish out of the oven.”

“Of course.” I tell him before he leads me to stairs that connect to the balcony. When we reach the yard, I’m suddenly find myself on the ground with a golden lab on top of me. Adam immediately pulls the dog off and helps me up before saying,

“I’m so sorry about Frankie. I should have warned you that she’s very,” He says looking for the right word before apparently finding it, “Excited, yes she gets very excited when she meets new people.”

“Oh its fine, I grew up with dogs. I love them, in fact I miss having one. I haven’t had a dog since before I went to college.” I tell him before petting Frankie.

“Really?”

“Yea, before college I can’t remember a time when I didn’t have a dog. And by the way she’s adorable.” I tell Adam, referring to Frankie.

“Well, that’s a relief I don’t know what I would’ve done if you were a cat person.” He jokes and I can’t help but shudder at the thought of me being a cat person…I’ve never been fond of cats. As soon as the sliding glass doors open Frankie runs inside and out of sight, I look at Adam in confusion.

“She’s been outside running around for over an hour, she probably went upstairs to go get in her ‘self-proclaimed’ bed. Do you remember that red ottoman by the piano in my room?” He asks and gets his answer with my nod, “Well, lately she has been sleeping on that.” He says in explanation before getting ready to get the fish out of the oven, giving me time to look around. The kitchen is very modern, with all of its stainless steel finishes and the open concept. There is a retro table that has stainless steel legs and a granite countertop…

“Ariel...”

“Yea?” I ask.

“Where did you just go? I called you like 4 times before you finally answered.” Adam tells me, before he jokingly asks, “Have you got bored of me already?”

“Not at all… I was just admiring your house; I have to say that I’m in love with everything about this place.”

“Thanks…I had a lot of work put in this place.”

“Well, it definitely shows.” I tell him truthfully.

“Anyways, the reason I was trying to get your attention earlier…was I wanted to know if you wanted to eat outside.”

“Really?”

“Of course, it is a beautiful night and as you have said before the view is amazing.” He says his voice going high-pitched to say ‘amazing’ in what I know to be a very bad intimation of me. I walk up to him, shove him playfully, and shoot him a glare before I break out into laughter. Adam joins in while he fixes out plates… I look over his shoulder to see baked fish, mixed vegetables, and what I guess to be garlic mash potatoes from the smell of them.

“Oh my god, Adam if this ends up tasting half as good as it smells… I’ll kiss you.”

“You will?”

“Uh huh.” I mumble trying to get a taste of the mash potatoes. Adam just playfully slaps my hands away. I fake pout before I tell him, “Fine, if you won’t let have a little taste give me something to do, to get my mind off of it until you’ll let me eat.”

“You can get the wine and the wine glasses.” He tells me, before pointing to the glasses and the wine cooler. I simply nod and reach for the glasses first before cursing Adam for having them on the top shelf. Adam apparently seeing my struggle, jokes,

“Having trouble, Shorty?”

“1st of all you know I am. Second, I’m not short, I’m 5’6. Not everybody can be 6 feet, Adam.” I tell him before I try again, when suddenly I feel him a couple inches behind me. And as he reaches above me to get the glasses, his chest rubs against my back and I can’t help the shiver that goes up my spine. Turning around, I see Adam with a smirk on his face and I don’t know if it’s from his teasing earlier or because he felt me shiver. Hoping it’s because of the former; I take the glasses from Adam and gently put them on the counter and make my way over to open the wine cooler before taking out a bottle of wine.

“Corkscrew?” I ask.

“In the drawer to the far left.” Adam tells me. As I screw the corkscrew into the cork of the bottle I see Adam in the corner of my eye, holding the plates waiting for me. I quickly open the wine and grab the glasses before turning back to the patio doors, when I see a very familiar silkscreen. I rack my brain for where I’ve seen the black and white silkscreen of the gun before, when it suddenly hit me.

“Is that an Andy Warhol piece?” I ask Adam pointing to the artwork that hung over an art deco cabinet.

“Yea, how did you know?” He asks curiously while he opens the glass doors that lead to the backyard carefully to not drop one of the plates. I just shrug as I walk outside and put the wine glasses down of the outside table before I pour the wine, while Adam sets the plates down. Adam and I immediately dig in and I can’t stop the moan that comes out of my mouth when I first take a bite.

“I’m guessing from that… that it’s good?” Adam says with a smile.

“God, Adam this is amazing! How did you learn to cook like this?” I ask him.

“My Mom taught me everything I know. Growing up she taught me and Michael everything she knew, saying that no son of her’s was going to grow up not knowing how to cook.” He says with admiration that told me that he was a Mama’s boy.

“Well, it’s amazing. I wish I could cook like this.”

“You can’t cook?” He asks me.

“I can cook some things like pasta and I make amazing grilled Panini’s not to mention a kick-ass pizza-“Adam interrupts me before I can continue,

“Thin crust?” He asks about the pizza.

“Of course, there is no other way to have pizza.” I joke semi-seriously, “But, seriously it’s not like I burn water or anything. I mean if I have a recipe I can follow it and end up with a pretty good result, but I never really learned how to cook. I just don’t have the patience for it…which is pretty weird considering that Katia is the head chef in a little restraurent back home.”

“So you’re not very patient, huh?” Adam asks.

“No, I have many virtues, but patience is not one of them. You?”

“It depends, a lot of the time I’m not very patient, but when the situation calls for it I can manage to have a little more patience.” Adam explains before I have an idea,

“Why don’t we play 20 questions?”

“Sure, I’ll go first.” Adam tells me, “What is your favorite color?”

“Cool an easy one. Let’s see…” I try to find a way to describe it, when I finally know exactly how, “You know the deep purple couch you have in your living room?” I ask to which he nods, “That is my favorite color.”

“Interesting. What’s your question for me?” He asks.

“The same.”

“I’d have to go with blue.” He tells me before we continue asking each other questions for a while. I can see the sun setting over LA and I can’t stop the awe I’m in.

“I’m gonna guess, you don’t have views like that in Houston.” Adam says, bringing me out of my trance.

“Not like that, no. Simply because Houston is situated in the flat planes of Texas, there are no hills near Houston that aren’t man made. I mean if you drive 3 hours north of Houston that’s when you get into hill country. Though I still say, that Houston has one of the prettiest skylines I have ever seen, but I’m probably biased.” I explain.

“You’re probably right about being biased, but from what I remember about the last time I was there… I do have to agree Houston does have a nice skyline. Not as awesome as LA, but it is close.” Adam says with a smile. We’re quiet for a couple minutes, but it’s not an awkward quiet…its comfortable. Adam finally breaks the silence saying,

“You still haven’t told me how you that the silkscreen in the Kitchen was a Warhol.”

I sigh in defeat knowing that he probably won’t give up until I’ve told him. I take a sip of my wine before saying, “I studied it.” Adam looks at me in confusion, before I continue, “My parents told me that if I went to college and graduated with a degree in something other than Drama. I would have their full blessing ‘bout coming out here. I think they hoped that I would decide that I wanted to do something other than act after being in college. Obviously, that didn’t happen, but anyway back on the subject. I did end up going to college and I got a major in Interior Design with a minor in Art Theory… We studied Andy Warhol in Art Theory. And my parents kept their promise once I graduated my dad helped me load up my car and drove me to LA, helped me look for a job and an apartment before he caught a plane back home.”

“Wow, so you’re both smart and beautiful. That’s a hard combination to come by these days.” Adam complements me and I can’t help but blush.

“What about you?” I ask him.

“What about me?” He asks back, confusion clear on his face.

“Did you go to college?” I ask.

“Oh yea, for a little while. Jesse, my best friend since the seventh grade and who happens to be Maroon 5’s keyboardist, and I went to this tiny little college in Dix Hills, Long Island, called Five Town College. We were there for about…two and a half years?” He pauses, “Yea, that’s about right. Anyway, I was in love with Jane at the time and she was heading off to college and I wanted to see her. So I decided to go to college. Jesse and I emailed Five Towns a week before class started to see if we could come to college, it was a week before class started and they said ‘sure, come on down’.”

“You’re kidding, right?” I ask ‘cause there is no way they would let them so soon before class started.

“Nope, I’m fucking serious.” Adam says chuckling, “So, anyway we drove across the country, stopping to see Jane on the way, and when we got there we discovered Soul and R n’ B. All of which we fell in love with… Anyway, two years later Jesse and I dropped out of school added James so I could focus on being the front man of the band, added a little bit of soul into our songs, and thus Maroon 5 was born.” Adam finished, and we both noticed it got really dark outside all of a sudden. We grabbed our empty plates and the two-thirds empty bottle of wine; we put the plates in the sink before we sat down at the kitchen table and poured each other some more wine.

“What’s your favorite childhood memory?” Adam asks me before taking a sip of some of his wine.

“That’s hard… Let me see,” I pause thinking back, “It would have to be when I was about 8 and Katia had to be about 5. My parents took us to this park and we had a picnic before playing for hours,” Smiling, “I remember Katia kept wanting me to push her higher and higher on the swing, ‘Higher, Ariel. Higher, sissy.’ Is what she kept repeating, and soon after that Katia fell asleep and we went home. That’s my favorite because it was the last time I saw my parents truly happy together.” I know Adam wants to say something about Katia, but thinks otherwise about it because instead he says,

“My favorite has to be Michael and me playing basketball in the backyard when I was about 13. We woke up early and went straight outside and played for hours before, Mom called inside for lunch, where she had two brand new guitars for Michael and me.” Adam smiles and I can’t help but think that he should always smile because I’m quickly becoming addicted to the sight of it. Not to mention the little sparkle he gets in his eye when he does. I finish off my wine and I go to put my glass in the sink, when I realize that if my mother saw me now she’d have a heart attack. Adam made me dinner and I was leaving the dishes for him to clean up himself. Shaking my head, I push up the sleeves of my sweater and start washing the dishes.

“What are you doing?” I hear Adam ask behind me. Looking over my shoulder I tell him,

“You cooked; it’s only fair that I clean.”

“Ariel, you really don’t have to. It’s fine.” He tells me.

“Adam, I want to do this.” I plead with him, and I turn my head to see him with his hands up in surrender. I smile at him quickly before getting back to work. I’m almost done when I feel someone wrap their arms around my waist; I manage to rinse my hands off before Adam whispers in my ear.

“I believe that you promised me a kiss earlier.” Suddenly, my heart is beating so loudly that I’m sure that even Adam can hear it. Taking a deep breath to try and calm myself a little bit before I slowly turn around and when I see the lust in Adam’s eyes, I can’t help but bite my bottom lip. Out of nowhere I get a streak of confidence because I basically purr,

“I believe, I did-“I’m interrupted by Adam’s lips landing on mine. My hands automatically go around his neck, my fingers threading through his silky hair. Adam’s tongue is lightly tracing my bottom lip asking for entrance, which I give without a second thought. When lack of air becomes an issue, I pull away and Adam’s starts laying kisses on my jaw line before continuing down to my neck. When he lightly sucks on my pulse point, I can’t help the moan that escapes. Still attacking my neck, Adam’s hands grab onto my ass and starts lifting me up. I wrap my legs around his waist and he carries me to the counter, where he sets me down. As soon as I’m safely on the counter I pull on Adam’s hair hoping for him to get the message, which he does when he lifts his head to look at me. When I see that Adam’s eyes are dark green from lust, I feel my own lust skyrocket. I roughly grip Adam’s hair and in order to bring his lips back to mine. I softly moan when Adam immediately takes dominance of the kiss. My hands let go of his hair before the slowly work their way down his back, all the while pushing him as close as possible. When I reach the bottom of shirt I pull it up as much as I can, sensing my difficulty at doing this, Adam breaks from the kiss before removing his shirt and throwing it somewhere. I can’t help but admire Adam’s body, all his tattoos that I want to trace with my fingers and my tongue, his toned abs, and the delicious ‘v’ that I want taste. And when I catch sight of the trail of dark hair that disappears under his low-slung jeans, I lick my lips at just the thought of what those pants are hiding. Adam seemingly has had enough of my ogling because he attaches himself to my neck again, while he runs his hands underneath my sweater. When he simultaneously sucks right behind my right ear and runs his hands over my breasts, I buck my hips towards him and arch my back so far, that if I was in a different state of mind I would’ve been surprised that I didn’t break my back.

“Addddammmm…” I moan breathlessly. He’s just about to bring the sweater over my head, when a loud noise brings us out of our own little world. Panting, Adam looks for the culprit when it rings again, but this time it sounds like its coming from my pocket. Reaching in my pocket, I pull out my phone and sure enough, my brother is calling.

“It’s my brother.” I tell him.

“Well, answer it then.” I look at him confused, “If this,” Adam saying gesturing between him and me, “goes the way I want it to, one day I’ll meet him. And I don’t want him to hate me already.” I smile at him before answering the phone,

“Yea.”

“Ariel, what’s up?” Nick, my stepbrother, says. I look down at Adam’s crotch and see the very noticeable bulge.

“A lot of things, apparently.” I say raising an eyebrow at Adam. He just shrugs and whispers,

“Can you blame me? After what we were just in the middle of.” I get hit by another wave of arousal just thinking about it, so I guess I really can’t blame him.

“Ariel. You there?” Nick asks me through the phone.

“Yea, everything’s fine, big brother. Look, can I call you back tomorrow?”

“Of course. Bye. Love you, sis.” Nick says that one of the things I love about Nick, he’s very easy-going.

“Bye. Love you too.” I tell him before hanging up. Before I put my phone back in my pocket I glance at the time. I’m in shock… its 11:47 P.M. Looking at Adam, who unfortunately put his shirt back on, I tell him.

“It’s almost midnight… I really should get going.” Adam looks at his watch, and says,

“I can’t believe that’s almost midnight.”

“Well, I guess what they say is true.” I tell him.

“And what do they say, Ariel.” He smiles.

“That time flies when you’re having fun.” I say cheekily, and Adam laughs.

“Do you really have to go?” He asks, gently tucking a piece of my hair behind my ear. I nod sadly and say,

“Yea, I do. I have a meeting with my manager tomorrow at noon.”

“I’ll walk you out.” Adam says, leading me to my car. “I had a lot of fun, tonight. We should do it again, sometime.”

“Definitely.” I state.

“I’ll call you later, ok?” But before I get the chance to answer him, Adam leans down and kisses me passionately. Much too soon, I break away, get in my car, and drive away because I know that if I stayed a minute longer, I wouldn’t have been able to leave.