Fade into you

Chapter 6

The next day-Jamie's house

"And then what happened??" Jamie asked me excited.
"Nothing" I replied, sipping on my coffee. "We slept" I went on, seeing my friend's mischievous look.
"So now you're together?" he went on.
I smiled shyly without answering.
"I'm so happy for you guys!!" Jamie squealed.
"Yeah, okay, let's not rush things though" I tried to calm him down laughing "we're not getting married just yet."
"Yuh I know, but stop thinking about those things now okay? You explained, he understands, the bad shit belongs to the past, off for new things now, right??"
I nodded without speaking.
"And don't ever say you don't deserve to be happy, ever again, you hear me??" Jamie took my hand into his and kissed it.
I shrugged.
"Don't you shrug at me girl!" he sat up on his chair and opened his arms to me "come here" he said sweetly.
I walked up to him and sat on his knee, frowning.
"What's the matter?" he asked softly.
"I don't know" I shrugged again "I'm just rethinking all those stuff from the past and.. you know" I played with his lighter as he caressed my back.
"An, I've known you for what, 25 years now?? Yup, a lifetime. I am sure when I say that you are not going to ruin anything, okay? You just need to take baby steps for now, and believe me, Joe will never ever push you about anything and as someone who loves you both, seeing this from the outside, I think you are perfect for each other." He looked up at me, placing a strand of hair behind my ear "and also, if he ever does anything to you, I'll hunt him down" he laughed. I laughed too.
"It's not that.."
"I know, you think you're the problem" he interrupted me. "Well, just wait and see. Everything will be fixed, and you deserve all the happiness in the world" he smiled up at me and we hugged. "Okay?"
"Okay" I smiled and nodded and we stood up. He kissed my forehead as he walked towards the fridge.
"Now, let's see.. I'm hungry" he said, looking into it and closing it again "wanna go have some lunch?"
"We had a late breakfast at Joe's" I said taking both our cups to the sink to wash them, "but we can go a bit later if you want!"
"Ooooh, he brought you breakfast in bed??" Jamie approached me winking.
"Actually, I did" I breathed a laugh "but not in bed" I went on.
"Aaahaaa" Jamie turned into silly mode.
"Oh, stop it" I playfully waved my hand in the air.

Flashback-some hours earlier-Joe's house
"You didn't have to do this you know" Joe said, his eyes all bright and happy, looking at all the things I'd made for breakfast. "Who's gonna eat all this anyway" he joked, winking at me.
"You know you want them" I smiled mischievously as I poured him some coffee "and also, you cook for me all the time. I only made a simple breakfast" I walked towards him to give him his cup, and turned around to go bring the eggs, but he grabbed me by the waist and pulled me onto him.
"Come here" he breathed, "have I kissed you good morning yet??"
I didn't manage to answer because he crushed his lips onto mine and I lost myself for several moments, again, starting to feel weak on the knees.
The kiss became more intense and I started to feel flustered as his hands wandered and caressed my back, I ran my fingers into his hair, and we both started breathing heavily before breaking the kiss.
"I'm gonna..uh..bring the um, the toast" I mumbled. My legs were totally numb and I had no idea how I was still standing. I walked towards the kitchen counter but couldn't see the toast anywhere.
"It's already here" Joe tried to sound normal as he looked around playing indifferent, "I'll bring the eggs" he stood up and looked away, trying to hide his flustered face.
We bumped into each other and I dropped the napkins, he kneeled to get them and I turned around clumsily, pretending to search for something in the fridge.
I felt him approaching me and I closed the fridge, turning around to look up at him.
"You are so gorgeous when you get shy" he smiled at me, kissing the tip of my nose.
"You too" I smiled.
"Wha-I did not get shy" he said, pretending to be offended and walking to the kitchen island again. I followed and we sat to eat, facing each other.
"Yeah right, tell that to your cheeks" I waved my hand, and he looked down at his food. I was melting with that shyness.
About 15 minutes later we were still eating and laughing, feeling normal and goofy again.
"Come with me to Italy" he said suddenly, as I was sipping on some juice "it will be amazing" he continued.
"I wish I could" I sighed "but I have so much to do this month."
He pouted looking at me with puppy eyes.
"Oh, don't give me that face Quinn" I laughed. "You know I can't. First of all, I need to go on with that flat hunting. I can't stay at Jamie's forever."
"I don't think he'd have a problem with that" he smiled sweetly "both him and Jess adore you."
"Yes, me too" I smiled "but they can't adopt me, no matter how much we all want that" I laughed, making a silly face. "I was supposed to stay with him for about a week and it's been a month now."
"You've been friends for years, right?"
"Yes, since we were about 8-9 years old. He's the brother I never had, actually" I smiled thankfully.
"So, that means you're like..5-6 years older than me??" Joe asked smiling mischievously again.
"Yeah..do-do you have a problem with that?" I asked worriedly.
"Not at all," he went on smiling "I love it, actually. It means you can teach me stuff" he bit his lower lip without breaking eye contact. He approached me a little.
"Oh, what exactly do you wanna learn??" I replied bringing a grape to my mouth. I approached him more.
"From you, anything" he winked at me.
I fainted on the inside, but went on.
"We'll see what we can do about that then" I replied, not letting my embarrassment show this time. We approached more and more, until our noses touched.
"Too bad we have to go though" I suddenly backed away and stood up, grinning.
He squinted pretending to get annoyed, and stood up too.
We cleared the table and unfortunately, it was time for me to leave.
"Dinner tonight?" he asked, helping me put my jacket on.
"Sure" I replied, standing on my toes and planting a soft kiss on his cheek.

We spent the next 4-5 days together, at his apartment mostly, apart from the times we had to work. We hadn't spent another night together, and even though things did get intense between us, I was still very anxious about that too.
Stop getting anxious over every single thing I heard Jamie's voice inside my head again, when we arranged a night out with Joe that Friday. Do as you feel.

The hours had never gone by slower. I'd spent the whole day at Jamie's having Skype calls and working, and every time I looked at the clock it seemed it never went on.
About a century later it was finally time for me to go get ready. I took a shower and spent 20 minutes trying to decide on whether I wanted the black or the red dress. It normally took me about 5 minutes to decide AND get ready when I went out, but this was nothing like other times. I wanted to look perfect for him, and the more I looked at the dresses, the more I wanted to put on my pj's and hide-again.
"Don't overthink it" Jamie's voice sounded playful from the doorway "the red one".
I turned around looking at him anxiously.
"He's already dying for you anyway, silly" he said as I took the red dress and placed it onto my body, looking at myself in the mirror "plus, you're gorgeous in anything" he winked and left the room quickly. I smiled and took the red dress out of the hanger.

20 minutes later Joe was ringing the bell, and I was running from my room to the bathroom and vice versa, looking at myself in any mirror I could find in the apartment.
"Do I open or will you??" Jamie asked standing up, already knowing the answer.
I let out squeals instead of words, and he laughed as he reached to answer the door.
I heard them greet and hug each other and talking a bit, as I took several deep breaths and finally appeared at the hallway. I felt I was gonna trip and fall wearing those high heels, but I forgot everything when I saw Joe. He looked breathtaking. As always, but the total black suit he had on made me gasp. He wouldn't speak either, we were just looking at each other in awe.
"Come on" Jamie pulled me softly waking us both from our trance. I reached and kissed Joe's cheek and put my coat on.
"Have fuuun" Jamie chanted as we left "and bring her back before 12 young man" he joked, making the atmosphere lighter. We needed that.
"You look gorgeous" Joe said as we stood in the elevator.
"So do you" I replied mesmerized.

Dinner was amazing, we had delicious food and laughed and whined over me not wanting to taste the oysters.
"You know" Joe insisted "if you have never tried them, you can't say you don't like them". I rolled my eyes at him, sipping on my wine.
"I.don't.want.to" I squinted my eyes and went on eating my pasta. "They look disgusting" I continued, making him gasp offended.
"Stubborn little brat" he mouthed through gritted teeth. I raised an eyebrow at him.
"Thank you darling" I said cockily, and he shrugged.
"More for me then" he went on eating, and I laughed.

Two hours later we were back at his apartment, having some more wine and listening to music. I had taken my stilettos off and he had removed his jacket, had rolled the sleeves of his black shirt up and unbuttoned a couple of buttons, letting his chains show.

More and more handsome

We were seated comfortably on the sofa, when one of my favorite songs started.
"Oh I love this song" I smiled, and he slowly stood up.
"Dance with me" me smiled down at me, reaching over to take my hand.
"What? Noo" I said taking my hand back.
"Come on, it's just me" he said taking my hand in his again, and I stood up.
"I'm embarrassed."
"You're perfect" he replied, taking both my hands and placing them around his neck. He placed his hands on the small of my back and we started slow-dancing.

...Secrets I have held in my heart
Are harder to hide than I thought
Maybe I just wanna be yours, I wanna be yours
I wanna be yours....

I started singing softly, without breaking eye contact. He was looking at me smiling seductively, looking even more gorgeous, making me wonder how that was even possible.
"Oh but you are mine darling" he whispered in a deep voice, and I melted.
We started kissing as we slow-danced, more and more hungrily, and we led each other towards the wall, where he grabbed my legs and lifted me against it, placing soft kisses onto my neck as I wrapped my legs around his waist.
"Are you sure about this?" he breathed against my mouth, his chest going up and down. I nodded slowly.
"Are you?" I asked back.
"If you are, I am too" he smiled lustfully and I kissed him again, hearing the loud beating of my heart, feeling the loud beating of his against my stomach, as he carried me carefully towards the staircase, without breaking the kiss.