In My Deceiving Heels [2] OLD VERSION

Chapter Twenty-One

I gently lay back in the tub. It was filled with warm water and bubbles, a soft lavender scent lingering in the air.

I closed my eyes, savouring the smell and the feeling of the water. I had been in the bath for about five minutes and the water was starting to drop in temperature.

I took in my surroundings once more; the beautifully tiled bathroom, the elegant taps, the soft towels hanging from the rack and the overall atmosphere of it all. I had a feeling that this getaway was going to be amazing.

I sighed, and hoisted myself to my feet. I drained the water from the tub and stepped out. The tiles were cold against my bare feet as I scuttled to the rack to grab a towel. I wrapped it around my body, tied my wet hair up into a bun and left the bathroom.

I walked through the cabin, trying to find the bedroom. Although the place was not very large, it was easy to walk into a storeroom or a closet instead of the bedroom. I finally found the room and walked in.

Mason was sitting on the bed with a sketchpad in his hand. He was looking down, frowning deeply as he drew.

As the door closed, Mason looked up and his blue eyes met my brown ones. "Hi." I said softly. His lips curled into a smirk.

"Hello." He chuckled. "Did you enjoy your bath?" he asked me. I nodded, pursing my lips.

"You should've joined me." I sang going over to my suitcase to get some pyjamas out and by pyjamas I meant some comfortable cotton shorts and strappy top. Mason laughed, a quick, hearty laugh.

"I should've but I was doing the dishes that you did not want to help me with." He tilted his head to the side, not a single black hair moved when he did so.

"Boohoo, you used a dishwasher." I replied. Mason frowned at me and I just stuck my tongue out at him.

I turned my attention back to my bag and caught something round and black in my peripheral view. I looked up and was face to face with the biggest, most disgusting, eight-legged beast of my life. I let out an ear-piercing shriek, bolting to the bed where I nearly lost my towel while bulldozing over Mason.

My heart pounded in my chest as goosebumps popped up all over my skin and the hairs on the back of my neck crawled, freaking me out even more. I had a serious fear of spiders. It was straight up arachnophobia and I was nowhere near ever getting over this fear.

Which is why I was greatly offended when Mason sat on the bed, hunched over, laughing his head off.

I glared a hole into the back of his head. He quickly composed himself. All the red disappeared from his face as he returned to his normal skin tone.

"It's just a spider." Mason informed me. That earned him a punch on the arm.

"You know how I feel about spiders." I whined.

"Still?" he asked, shocked at my fear still being present.

"Yes, now get rid of it!" I exclaimed. Mason laughed a little more before slowly getting up and going to the wall.

My initial thought was that he was going to crush the little sucker but instead he ushered the creature into the palm of his hand, opened a window and set it free to wreak more havoc.

"There." Mason closed the window. "It's gone." He turned to me. "Happy?" I nodded. Mason's lips curled into another smirk before he chuckled. "This whole fear, all because of the stuffed one on your lampshade." Mason shook his head.

When we were kids, Connor and Mason thought it would be funny to put a ginormous stuffed spider on my lampshade while I slept. I had woken up, switched on the light and had a mini-heart-attack. From that day on, my fear of spiders had gone from zero to a hundred real quick.

"Jerk." I muttered. Mason came to the bed and sat on the edge.

"I'm sorry." He said sweetly trying to use his charm to get me to simmer down.

It wasn't working. I was still mad and he was going to pay. I glared at him before unwrapping my towel slowly. Mason's eyes naturally ran over me. He reached out to touch my face and just when his finger tip was about to brush against my cheek I swatted his hand away.

"Goodnight." I said sweetly. I jumped under the covers and turned away from him. He looked completely bewildered, eyes large, mouth agape.

"You're not going to put on any clothes?" he asked me. I could hear the uncertainty in his voice.

"No, no, goodnight." I replied casually. Mason sighed heavily.

I heard some shuffling, the covers lifted a little and the bed dipped. I felt Mason's clothed body next to mine.

His arm went around me as we settled in to sleep. I considered swatting his arm away once again but decided against it because I actually liked the way my small frame felt wrapped in Mason's larger one. It was warm, familiar...comforting.

I soon fell asleep with Mason's arm holding onto me protectively.

...

I wasn't sure if it was the sound of kitchenware or the smell of burning toast that woke me up but my eyes fluttered open and I was alone in bed. I got up without looking for the time anywhere, put on my little purple robe and shuffled to the bathroom to brush my teeth. I then shuffled to the kitchen.

Mason was standing over the toaster with a black slice of bread in his hand. He looked at the bread apologetically.

"It's okay. It had a good life." I teased. Mason whipped around and blushed.

"I'm not a big fan of toast." He told me, dropping the burnt bread into the bin.

"But I am." I realised what he was doing.

"I know so I figured if I could make some good toast and tea I could give it as a peace-offering for last night." I smiled at his sweet notion. I went over to him and wrapped my arms around his waist. "It wasn't very nice of me to make fun of your arachnophobia and I'm sorry."

"You're forgiven." I got onto the tips of my toes and kissed him. His lips were warm against my strangely cold ones.

"So since the toast was a bust I've decided that I'm taking you on a hike to see something really beautiful and it won't be you." He smirked.

"Ooh, I look forward to that."

"Yeah?"

"Mmhmm."

"Good, because our adventure starts in three hours." Mason beamed.

I returned his bright smile, equally as excited for the day that lay ahead.