Crush // Ian Somerhalder

26 - Real life

It was Ian's last full day in the New York and when Skye woke up that morning she was already dreading it coming to an end.

Letting her eyes adjust to the light coming through the bedroom window and stretching her arms out like she did every morning, she was surprised to feel the side of the bed Ian had occupied whilst there empty.

Quickly sitting up and taking a look around Skye breathed a sigh of relief when she saw steam coming from underneath the bathroom door. He was in the shower. He was still there.

Slowly pulling herself out of bed Skye stopped in her tracks when she heard Ian's cell phone start to ring from its place on the cabinet in front of her.

"Hello. Ian's phone," Skye voiced, not bothering to see who it was before clicking the answer button.

"You must be Skye," a kind sounding older lady said happily through the phone.

"That's me. Ian's in the shower right now but I can take a message. Who should I say called?"

"Oh honey, don't worry about taking a message. I was just checking in with him. This is his Mom."

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry Mrs Somerhalder. I should have looked at the contact before I answered."

"Don't be silly sweetie, and please call me Edna. My son has not stopped talking about you," she laughed.

"Really? What has he said," Skye asked with a giggle in her voice.

"Just how amazing you are. I don't think I've ever heard him so happy before."

"As long as he's happy I'm happy."

"That's what I like to here."

Twenty minutes or so later, Ian stepped out of the bathroom to the sound of laughter and chit chat coming from the kitchen.

Walking around the corner to find the source of all the noise, Ian couldn't helped grinning as he found Skye trying to mix pancake batter whilst having a cell phone conversation at the same time.

Looking more closely he spotted something, something odd. She was talking on his phone.

"Who you talking to?" Ian mouthed, stepping into Skye's line of sight.

"You're Mom," Skye smiled with a wink, going straight back to her conversation. The way the two women were talking you'd think they'd known each for ages, not half an hour.

Ian couldn't be happier listening to the girl he'd come to care so much for getting on with his Mom as well as she was. The grin that engulfed his face as he listened in was a sure sign of that.

"Oh, I'll be in LA over Thanksgiving for work but I'll have a talk with Ian and maybe we can work something out for Christmas. I'd love to meet you all," Skye excitedly said into the phone after another 20 minutes chit chat, not aware in the slightest that Ian was intently listening in to every word.

"Yes of course. I'll get Ian to forward you my number once we've hung up. I'll just pass you over to him. It was lovely speaking to you Edna."

The next portion of the day was spent discussing plans for Christmas. Ian's Mom had invited Skye to join them, and although it would be very daunting meeting all his family in one go it was also very tempting.

You see, the last family Christmas Skye had was 3 years earlier, just a couple of months before her Mom passed away from stage 4 lung cancer. It was a day spent in the hospice. Skye had decorated her Mom's entire room, got a top grade chef to cook the meal and gone all out on presents. They both knew it was their last December 25th together, but neither mentioned it. They just savoured every moment, every laugh, every smile, every embrace. Skye will never forget that day.

Skye's Dad had left her Mom before she was even born, and her grandparents passed when she was a teenager. After that it was just her and her Mom, the two of them together. After losing her, Skye had made a point of keeping herself busy over the holidays. She'd make sure she was in another country, working on some photo shoot or similar.

This Christmas however, she found herself wanting to celebrate the day, wanting to spend time with the person she now cared most about. Ian.

Before long it was the evening, the day seemed to have zoomed by and neither had left the apartment. In the morning Ian had to fly back to Georgia and it would be the last time they saw each other before Christmas. How they'd handle that much time apart they had no idea.

"I don't want you to go," Skye moaned, squeezing Ian's torso with her arms as they cuddled on the sofa.

"Neither do I baby."

Skye sat up, placing her palm on his face and then moving it to the nape of his neck.

"I suppose Christmas isn't that far away," the model tried to positively spin.

"Are you kidding? It's 2 months," Ian frowned, pulling Skye back in close and resting his chin on the top of her head.

"We'll just have to make sure that we talk everyday," Skye breathed out dissatisfied. It was going to get to the point where someone would have to pry him away from her.

"And we will Princess. I promise."

A little later in the evening the couple had realised they were hungry, Ian's rumbling stomach being a pretty big giveaway. Because they hadn't left the apartment much they'd gone through food rather quickly and were struggling to find something to make a decent meal with.

"We could go out and have a meal or something?" Skye put forward as an option. Ian not very keen on the idea.

"I don't want to spend my last night with you in some packed out restaurant."

"Ummmm, there's a late night deli a couple of blocks away. We could grab some stuff and bring it back to the apartment?"

"Sounds perfect. Come on, get dressed and let's go."