Into the Light

98

The young group outside my car laughed and shot me thumbs up. "Real Casanova right here," one of the smart ass fuckers said. I flipped them off, and heard Anna's muffled laughter. I glanced at her and grinned. "You think that's funny?" I asked, shaking my head. She had her hand over her mouth to conceal just how hard she had started to laugh. She nodded and moved her hand so that I could hear the gleeful giggles that were escaping her lips. "Okay, so maybe I got a little excited," I replied and started the car. Her laughter quieted and she reached over to take my hand. "I'm excited too," she whispered. I laced my fingers with hers and pulled back out onto the road. "What kind of snacks did you get?" she asked, starting to turn in her seat. "Oh, um," I said, tightening my grip on her hand so that she couldn't lean back to grab the bag. "I actually didn't see anything good. I figured that we could just order room service or get something from the vending machines in the lobby." She sat back in her seat and smiled at me. "What are you hiding?" she asked. "Me?" I asked, faking astonishment. "I would never!" She giggled again, and shook her head. "Dork," she replied. "But, I'm your dork," I said, winking at her. She was quiet for a second, but I could feel her eyes on me as I navigated the semi heavy traffic. "You are, aren't you?" she murmured. "Always," I replied. We drove in silence for a little while, before she pointed out the front windshield at a hotel. "What about this one?" She pointed to a tall glass building, that looked like the rest of the city. "Sure," I replied. "Why not?" I pulled up to the front and got out to ask about parking and if they had a room available. Luckily, they did. I paid and got the key cards and directions on where to park. I jogged back out to the car and jumped back behind the steering wheel. "So, this is the one?" Anna asked, laughter in her tone when I hit the gas and headed towards the parking garage. "What makes you think that?" I asked, hitting the underground curves at a higher speed than I should have. Our moods were lifted, higher than they had been, and both of us were smiling and laughing at nothing. I parked the car and jumped out to grab our bags. We took the elevator back to ground level and walked across the street to the front of the hotel. It was quiet, since it was the middle of the night, and I didn't see any other guests walking around. That was a good thing. Hopefully, that meant that there wouldn't be any interruptions during our night together. I had both of our bags slung over one shoulder, the bag of candles in one hand and her hand in my other. My feet were trying to walk faster, to get to our room sooner. I had to physically stop myself from running to the elevator. My stomach started fluttering again, with all of those damned butterflies fighting to get out. I ran my thumb back and forth over the smooth skin of her hand, as we rode the elevator up to our floor. She was quieter than usual, looking at the floor. "You okay?" I whispered, into the empty elevator. It was so quiet that I felt like I would disturb the peace of the world around us, if I spoke any louder. She looked up and met my gaze, stealing my breath with the emotion that shone through in those emerald eyes. "I am," she whispered back, before licking her lips. My eyes were drawn to the movement, and I felt that nervous knot in the pit of my stomach tighten. We both felt silent again, and waited for the ding to alert us that we had reached our floor. We exited the elevator and walked down the long, quiet hallway towards our room number. It felt like we were the only two people in the world right then. We finally reached the room, so I let go of her hand to pull the key card out of my pocket. I held the door open for her to walk through first, then followed her inside. I dropped our bags on the desk and took in the room. It was larger than I expected, with a giant king size bed in the center of it. The bed was made up with a dark blue blanket, that matched the blue and white rose theme that was on the back wall. It looked like I didn't need to buy the candles, bc there was an entire rack of small ones on the wall, above the bed. There was a balcony, which was always a plus, but the shades were drawn, blocking the view. Anna sat down timidly, on the foot of the giant bed and started tapping her fingers against her knee. If I was feeling as nervous as I was, I could only imagine how bad it was for her. "We don't have to do this, Anna," I said, quietly. "If you're not ready, that's okay." She looked up at me, her eyes wide. "What? No, I'm ready. I'm just...um, I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing." I smiled and sat down beside her. "Why don't we start with some food or something. Are you hungry? We can eat out on the balcony, or watch a movie. Whatever you want." "I don't think I can eat right now," she said, with a small smile. "I'm too nervous. My stomach feels like it's trying to jump out of my throat." I let out a low laugh and intertwined my fingers with hers. "Mine too," I replied. Again, she looked surprised. "Really? Why though? You're not- I mean, this isn't your- you've already had sex before!" she finally managed to stammer out. I shook my head. "Not like this," I replied, softly. "This feels different." "Oh," she said, looking away from me.. "Because I'm a virgin. You aren't used to virgins." I reached up and nudged her face back towards mine, to meet her gaze again. "Yes, because you're a virgin, but also because it's you. It's you and me. I'm incredibly honored that you chose me. That you're willing to give yourself to me, in this way. I'm nervous as hell, because I don't want to disappoint you and-" I broke off and dragged my hand through my hair, feeling my rings catch the follicles. "I don't know how to explain it.