Falling Helplessly

Chapter 30 | Bucket List

30

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ISABELLA

Like every other time I spent the night at Miles' apartment, I wake and roll over, excited to see his sleeping face. But this morning, I end up frowning because the bed is empty.

I was hoping he was asleep so I could see his adorable face pressed against his pillow, as well as his nakedness. My smile which appeared from the thought of Miles fades fast as a shrieking alarm sounds through the apartment.

I jump out of bed and grab the first clothing item I see—Miles' t-shirt—and sprint out of the room.

"Miles?" I shout. The blaring stops when I reach the living room, and I see a cloud of smoke and Miles in boxers opening up all the deck doors. He is waving what looks to be a flimsy cutting board in the air, trying to clear out the smoke.

My eyebrows knit together in confusion. "Miles, is everything okay?"

His head whirls over to me whilst he continues waving the cutting board. "Hey! I was trying to cook us breakfast." He worriedly looks back at the kitchen. "I don't know how this happened. I was trying to cook breakfast and the fire alarm went off!"

I try to contain my laughter, but my smile does that for me. "As long as you're alright, that's all that matters."

"I'm fine." He sets the board down and sits in a chair when the smoke disappears.

I saunter over to him and pull his head into my stomach, giggling. He wraps his arms around me, and I kiss his head. "What did you even do to cause all this smoke?"

"I don't even know, I just put the bacon in the oven and boom! I almost blew us up."

I pull away, walking over to the kitchen. I make sure I turn the oven off and then pour us each a cup of coffee. "Well, you didn't. Now let's go drink these on the deck because it stinks in here," I say, handing him his mug.

We both get up and walk out, perching ourselves on the couch. It's a beautiful morning, the sun has risen fully in the sky and it's a comfortable temperature.

"So how did you sleep?" he questions, rubbing my knee.

"Good." I smile. "How did you sleep?"

"Perfect." He smiles back. "Since neither of us has class today, I was thinking we could do something fun."

"Like what?"

"I may or may not have bought us tickets to the new art museum in the city," he says, and my eyes grow wide as he materializes two printed tickets. A tiny, excited gasp escapes my lips as I take them from his hand.

"You didn't! I've heard such amazing things about this place," I say, and then lean in to kiss him. "Thank you."

I dash downstairs to my apartment to change into something more presentable, and when Miles and I meet in the parking lot of the apartment complex, I smile. He is standing at the passenger side of his car. When he sees me, he bows his head slightly and opens the door. "Miss," he says, and I laugh.

"Thank you, sir. You look quite handsome," I reply.

"Are you hitting on your chauffeur?"

"No, that would be inappropriate."

"You're right, it would be," he says, climbing into the driver's seat. The moment he starts the car, his hand slowly trails up my knee and grips my thigh.