By Chance In Oxford

16. Athena

Waking up was one of the best feelings in the world. Besides being awoken by Lorenzo before the sun was even out I was happy. You know that feeling when something really amazing or exciting happens to you the night before and you go to sleep for hours and wake up like "it's a normal day but moments later your brain reminds you about what you were so excited about and your day just gets amazing, yeah that was this feeling. Remembering I had a boyfriend, remembering I think I had found love. "Good morning girlfriend. I know it's early but I have somewhere to take you.", his voice was everything to me, the perfect wake up call. I sleepily replied, "Where are you taking me!? How should I dress? I don't have any clothes here. What time is it?" "It's ok, I have you covered, see that dresser over there? Filled with clothes I had brought here for you. Go find something you like, it'll just be me and you so pick whatever is comfortable. It's like 4:30 but trust me, it'll be worth the tired eyes." I turned on the small light as he hoisted me up to sit on the bed and handed me a glass of water. "You're too beautiful.", he said gently, kissing my lips. I smiled as he said, "I'll get out of here and let you get changed, we are almost back to shore." I did as he said and put on an outfit for the day. He said it would just be me and him so I took that as my cue to not get too dressed up. I put on a black sports bra, a pair of black biker shorts, a white dress shirt on top with some white sneakers. I left my hair loose and messy. "You look cute." I replied, "Thank you. LET'S GO ALREADY!"I kissed him and he laughed at me finally realizing how crazy I actually was. He walked me outside so we were back on land and I got into his car. He talked with his staff and got on the phone for what felt like three hours. Talking, screaming, cursing, and throwing his hands up in the air like he was really mad. I stayed silent but couldn't seem to hold back any longer, "Are you OK?" He sighed and said, "I'm fine. It's nothing for you to worry about my love." He leaned forward and kissed me assuring me that I really did have nothing to worry about. HE brought me to a large building similar to the one we ate at for our first day and brought me inside. We took the elevator to the roof and walked out into the darkness of the early morning. Waiting there appearing more and more clear as we got closer was a jet black helicopter. Small, cozy, and beautiful. The engines were all running as I turned to Lorenzo in shock asking him what this was. "We're going flying, I want to show you a proper English sunrise. I put one of my hoodies in there and a fluffy blanket in case you get tired or cold.", he said, holding me close to his chest. I gasped and ran towards the helicopter instantly jumping in without even being given permission to. He laughed and chased behind like I was a little kid being taken to a playground, so this is where money gets you!? We hopped in and the seating felt so small and cozy like all I wanted to was cuddle into him and sleep again. We didn't have time for that though, the sun was starting to say its first hello of the day at the far ends of the horizon. I really did want to see this sunrise, and I wanted to see it with him. He shut the door for me and climbed in on the other side. Locking the doors to make sure we were safe inside made me feel protected and loved. He grabbed the hoodie from the back and opened it up, stretching it through his hands and placing it over my head to help me get into it. Seeing my uncovered legs he gave me a fluffy gray blanket and draped it over them before buckling my seat belt in. It gave me shivers. First starting across my chest he took the first strap and ran it down the my thighs to clip in the harness, doing the same on the other side, his face was so close and I couldn't help but stop and stare to admire how beautiful it really was. He put a headset on my head and gently tucked pieces of my hair away from my face. He spoke into saying, "Are you ready!?" I nodded gently, I had no words as I was witnessing what I was. Slowly the helicopter began lifting off the ground and we were officially in the air. I saw sights that I had never before, we flew over my campus, landmarks, the art gallery, the ocean, everything, everything was perfect. After the ride settled down from my squeals and gasps he had slowly reached for my hand and intertwined his fingers in mine, it was so new for me, so needed that it almost stung, his skin on mine. He lowered the helicopter to the ground onto what felt like an island you would only find in movies where the main characters get stranded and have to fight for themselves before help comes. It had the clearest blue waters and it cast the perfect shadow of the fresh morning sunlight onto its peachy sand. "That was incredible. You have no idea, I have always dreamed of doing something like that. You're bringing me to all these opportunities to do so many things I haven't before I feel... I feel like... I feel like I owe you, like I should be doing something for you in return and I'm not." I said as we laid side by side, head to head, hands glued to one another's, on a large blanket in the hot sand. He smiled as he began slowly scratching my thigh, "You sitting here next to me, in this heaven, looking as pretty as you always do, that is too much of a pay back. Makes me feel like I'm not doing enough to live up to what you give me." "I love you.", I had shocked myself by saying that. "I love you more. More than anyone, anything, in this world. And it makes me so goddamn happy to say that because let me tell you something Ms. Carter, I don't love many people." "Can i ask you a question?"I was skating on thin ice. I knew it but that wouldn't put the curiosity to rest. "Shoot.", he replied. "Now, I'm not complaining because I actually quite love what you do. It makes me feel like you took the time to piece me together and come up with something special to call me, but why exactly do you always call me Ms. Carter. Like I'm a teacher or something." He cleared his throat a little before sitting up so that him and I were facing one another, he took my hands in his and said with the most confidence I had ever seen in a person, "Well Ms. Carter, because someday I hope to call you Ms. Colombo." My stomach turned, I lit up. His words felt like an old piano, sitting in a room in a giant old house, no one plays it, it's abandoned, abused, covered up, and dusty. But when that person finally comes around to restore it and hits the keys, a sound that hasn't been heard for years rings out, and it rings out loudly, screaming saying "HELLO, I'M HERE! HEAR ME!" His words were music to my ears. I could not believe he had just said what he had just said. Since the day we had first met he had called me that, as if he was waiting all along. I looked at him with my mouth practically dragging on the floor and stared in his eyes, aggressively and passionately. Without saying a word I needed him to know how much I loved him, how much I thanked him for what he had just said. I rose from the floor and shifted towards him. I lifted my legs to straddle him, now sitting over his lap. My hands were deeply tucked into his neck. I brought his face closer to mine and began kissing him, panting for air but part of me almost did not want the air at all. After a few minutes he had firmly gripped the sides of my waist and pulled away so that I would stop moving. "You have no idea what this kind of stuff does to me. What you do to me. Do you Ms. Carter?", he said as if to call for me to stop before things got out of hand, like he couldn't control himself. "I'm so sorry.", I managed to let out a laugh. He picked me up and swung me over his shoulders running me to the water, in my clothes. I screamed but enjoyed the helplessness wishing it would only continue. We stayed in the water, our toes bouncing in and out of the sand, performing an unplanned dance with the waves. We stayed there all day, eating, playing, enjoying ourselves, cuddling up to each other before all at once it was time for us to go home, taking walks on the beach until finally it was dark once again and I was sitting in my bed wishing he was right there next to me, wishing his strong arms were wrapped around my waist locking me into a sleepy trance for the night. Tomorrow though it would be back to life, back to work, back to calling Aunt Macy, and figuring out how involved Annalise really was in this whole plan she and that unforgettable boy came up with. A little bit of fun, clinginess, kissing, cuddling, would of course be involved in tomorrow's itinerary but reality nonetheless, although part of me had not absorbed it yet, I needed to come to terms with the fact that this was my reality. As incredible as it was, this was a part of my life just as much as the other things were.