The way I loved you. (Book 2 of the Illicit Affairs Series)

Chapter VII

The following summer was one of Rebecca's most treasured memories, the one she'd be thinking of years later while sitting on a bench at a railroad station, smoking a cigarette after the other to pass the time. Like all wonderful memories, it had felt like a fleeting moment at the time, those two months reduced to the general feeling of true, unbridled happiness.

Most of those days she'd spent by the water, either the ocean or the pool, swimming or soaking up the sunlight.

"You know," Steve once told her, "When you're sunbathing you have this kind of glow."

They were on a stranger's roof sharing a joint, one she'd earned by flirting with a sketchy guy at the ongoing party downstairs, which they'd been invited to by a girl who'd set her eyes on Bucky. Over the years, Becca had built a tolerance that allowed her to smoke pot and only feel lighter. Steve, on the other hand, was hammered.

"That's the point." she chuckled, readjusting her arms under her head. They'd started to go numb, pressed against the cold hard tiles, and the breeze was making her skin break out in goosebumps, but she'd take every private moment with Steve she could get.

"No, like," he paused, inhaling, "You, like, glowed."

Becca let out a full belly laugh. Steve, proud of his less than adequate eloquence, grinned, watching her pink lips as they spilled the shrill sound that had quickly become his favorite in the world.

"Like Edward Cullen?" she managed to respond in between fits of laughter.

"I said glow, not sparkle!" he scoffed, though the corners of his lips were

"You've watched Twilight?" Becca gasped.

Steve shrugged, still smiling like a madman. With Bec at his side, he doubted he could feel like anything else than absolutely crazed. Once her laughter died down, he found himself unable to look away from her eyes, her gaze keeping him locked. "It's more like the stars. You don't reflect, you just glow."

Becca laughed it off, though her heart fluttered and her cheeks heated. "The stars make you sappy."

"You don't really see them in New York. The lights and all of that." he gestured, as if it could summarize his words, "Kinda like you. I can see you better here."

"I guess." Rebecca sighed, finally looking away from him and to the sky, not being able to bear looking into his eyes while letting her carefully constructed mask slip, "I only know you and Bucky here. I don't have my mom's expectations, or my high school friends. I don't have to pretend around my brother and my... you."

Becca's cheeks grew an even deeper red, while Steve's smile stretched. Ever so slowly, his hand inched towards the one Rebecca had let slip from under her head. His pinky brushed hers, eliciting a strangled gasp. Over the next few minutes, in complete silence, their pinkies linked. Becca would later insist to herself that Steve had been at fault, but their fingers slowly intertwined.

"You see that disk looking thing there?" Steve broke the silence, pointing at it with his free hand, "That's the Andromeda galaxy. It's not really visible from here, but it's real pretty."

Rebecca looked at him and nodded, encouraging him to go on. If there was one thing Steve had always had going for him, even before his growth spurt, it was his never ending curiosity. He'd always known the most diverse facts, a quality that had charmed most of his teachers throughout his school years and even some girls.

"It's named after a princess in Greek mythology. Her mother bragged about how beautiful her and her daughter were, even more than the Nereids, which are sea nymphs, so they were buddies with Poseidon. Anyway, Poseidon flooded their kingdom and sent a sea monster and stuff to punish them. Am I rambling?" he suddenly interrupted himself, frowning. Rebecca shook her head, grinning, and squeezed his hand, silently telling him to continue his story.