Kisses and Other Necessities

《 kisses and birthday celebrations 》

a/n: just want to quickly apologize in advance for the late update. thanks to everyone who wished me well; i was feeling really sick but i'm slightly better now. thank you. also, i don't always reply to short inline comments, but if you're one of those people who left me a bunch of them, please know that I LOVE YOU from the bottom of my heart. i adore reading your immediate reactions, even if you're just saying "aww". so please, keep them coming. as to people who write me long comments, YOU'RE ANGELS. i love you all and thank you so much, please enjoy x

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Flora stood alone under the shower and wondered if the water was ever going to heat up. A lukewarm shower was only half a shower, and starting off her Monday morning with a shudder wasn't exactly exciting, but one of the things she learned at 25—two weeks to 26, actually—was that life wasn't perfect. Some people had it much, much worse, so (most of the time) she refrained from complaining about her first world problems.

The water turned hot. Finally. She closed her eyes and savored the heat, knowing that like a lot of lovely things, it wouldn't last. Tilting her head back, she allowed the water to run from the top of her head and drip down the tip of her elbows. Her eyes snapped open when the shower curtain rustled.

Sean pulled it apart by a few inches and stepped in, and without waiting, he leaned down to peck her on the lips. "Morning."

She peered at him through the water droplets on her lashes and smiled. "I'm almost done. The water's hot now...you came at just the right time."

He smirked."Don't I always?"

She pinched him on the butt, and he laughed.

Another thing Flora learned at 25 was that shower sex sounded a lot better in theory. Sean hadn't liked how the cold tiles stung his back, and Flora had regretfully found out that water wasn't an ideal lubricant. Sharing a shower wasn't that cool, either, as it always left one of them cold and shivering. So they took turns.

But at 25, she'd earned the privilege of not being envious of anyone else. She enjoyed her job, which to her was far more than something that paid the bills, adored the city she lived in, loved her friends, and her relationship could be summed up with the lyrics in "I Feel Pretty" from Westside Story:

I feel stunning

And entrancing

Feel like running

And dancing for joy

For I'm loved

By a pretty wonderful boy

It was possible, after all, to find someone incredibly attractive at first sight, pine over him for years, share an apartment as well as a joint account, go on a grand trip to Paris, and after 18 wonderful months, it was still entirely possible to think of him as the single most beautiful event that happened in her life—an ongoing, life-altering event, that was. She loved living with Sean.

Oh, and thanks to her five bottles of shampoo and six different conditioners, her hair was in top notch condition, which was one more thing to be thankful for.

"I made coffee," Sean said as she headed out the shower. "It should be at just the right temperature, too."

Flora was almost grateful for the less-than-optimal water situation, otherwise she might start worrying over the fact that she was too lucky to have everything she ever wanted. Sometimes it left her mildly paranoid that bad things were to happen, as if her life were a movie and the plot twists were yet to come. As of now, the only remotely worrisome issue in her life was how demanding her career had become. While she enjoyed working, she wished it didn't have to deprive Sean of her attention.