I Think I Love You

The next morning, I woke up to the sweet sound of Ez breathing next to me. He was still asleep, so I leaned over and kissed his cheek. I carefully climbed out of bed and went down the hall for a shower. I thought about yesterday, and everything that had happened. I had to call daddy and let him know I wasn't coming home, and I had to let Abby know that I wanted to stay. I remembered how it felt with Ez beside me, as I fell asleep in his arms. With everything that had happened, I felt it made our relationship that much stronger.

When I got out, I dried off and got dressed. I went downstairs for breakfast and noticed Abby sitting at the island in her bikini. "Abby! I have great news!" I said as I ran over to her.

"You and Ez made up?" she asked with a sly grin.

"Uh, yeah. How did you-"

"You might have thought you were being quiet last night, but you weren't." I felt the heat rise in my cheeks.

"Sorry," I mumbled. Abby laughed.

"It's fine, honey. I figured you and him would make up, and that's why I haven't bought your plane ticket. Do you still want to go home?" I smiled.

"No, I don't."

"Good." She grabbed her iced tea and said, "I'll be out by the pool if you need me." I smiled.

"Okay." Once she was outside, I went over to the pantry for a cereal bar. When I finished eating, I went up to my room and jumped on my bed. Ez's eyes shot open and when he saw it was only me, he laughed.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Waking you up," I said cheerfully. He grabbed my ankles and pulled me down next to him.

"How long have you been up?"

"Long enough to shower and eat."

"Damn," he said, sounding upset.

"What?"

"I wanted to shower with you." I laughed.

"We always have tomorrow." He grinned.

"How about tonight?"

"How about right now?" His eyes widened.

"Really?" I laughed.

"No." I leaned in to kiss him, but he turned away. "What was that for?"

"You won't shower with me." I rolled my eyes.

"You're such a kid!" He laughed and pushed me down on the bed and asked,

"Can a kid do this?" before he kissed me. When his lips met mine, I felt fireworks. I've felt that explosion everytime we kiss since our very first kiss in New York. He kissed me so sweetly, so innocently, it was like he was afraid of hurting me. I smiled and he pulled away to smile down at me. "How about that shower?" I rolled my eyes.

"I just got out of the shower. My hair's not even completely dry yet."

"Come on. Please?" I smiled.

"Okay." He grinned and climbed off of the bed. I stepped out of my sneakers, let my hair down and followed Ez to the bathroom. Once the door was shut and locked, we began to shed our clothing. Ez turned the water on and motioned for me to step in first, so I did. He stepped in after me and closed the shower door. I opened my mouth to say something when Ez kissed me, stealing the breath from my body. The hot water falling around us felt amazing, and it gave me goosebumps. When he pulled away, he smiled sweetly at me.

"Turn around," he said. I looked at him curiously, but did as he said. I stood still and soon I felt Ez's hands on my upper back. He slowly massaged my neck, my shoulders and my back. I smiled and turned to face him. I walked my fingers up his chest to his soaking wet hair. Running my fingers through his hair, I pulled softly. He bit his lip which made me weak. I pulled his face down to mine, our lips just inches apart.

"You mean the world to me, Ezekiel," I whispered with a shaky voice. Ez touched my face with his fingertips and moved his hand around to the back of my neck.

"I know. That's why I promise to never hurt you again." I nodded and kissed him. The force of the kiss was so different from any we had previously shared. It was as if we were now inseperable. I liked that.

When we got out, we got dressed and went downstairs. Quellie was now in the kitchen eating a bowl of cereal. Without turning to see us, she said, "Did you have fun last night, Nikki?" I rolled my eyes.

"Shut up, Quellie." She laughed and turned around.

"Okay, so Peter is picking me up in an hour to take me to the mall. Do you guys want to come with us?" I looked to Ez, who said,

"It's up to you." I smiled and said,

"No, it's okay. You should go, have fun."

When Quellie left, I went into the living room and put one of my old, original mix-tapes in the stereo, turning it all the way up. Super Bass was the first track and I pulled Ez off of the sofa and danced with him. I wasn't really dancing with him, I was just dancing. I was dancing like an idiot, at first, flinging my hair everywhere and waving my arms. Then I noticed Ez was watching me and laughing. "Oh, you think that's funny?"

"Yeah, I do." I perfected the devil's sly grin.

"Tell me what you think about this," I said. I started with a body roll, then booty popped, then twerked. I threw it all together and watched Ez's eyes bulge. I think I even saw a bit of drool at the corner of his mouth. I laughed and went over to him, wrapping my arms around his neck. "Funny, huh?"

"I. . . I uh," he stuttered. I giggled. "Where did you learn to dance like that?" he asked.

"Youtube, baby!" It was Ez's turn to laugh.

"Well, I don't care where you learned it. I just want to see more of it." I pushed him down on the sofa and straddled his lap. I kissed him roughly as his hands gripped my hips. I heard the back door slide open, then shut. Abby must be coming in.

"Come on!" I whispered as I stood. I grabbed Ez's hand and pulled him up to my room. As soon as we laid down on the bed, my phone rang. I didn't want to answer it, but when I checked to see it was mom, I did. "Hey, mom," I answered. She was crying hysterically. "Mom, what's wrong?" I asked, very concerned.

"I had a miscarriage, Nikki!"