Just in Fifteen Days

34. It's A Yes!

I'm almost sure that you guys must have already forgotten about these beautiful people, Ashton and Natalie. But, no, it's not over yet! They're back! (I'M FEELING SO BAD FOR UPDATING SO LATE!!!)

Read, read, read. Happy reading!

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Ashton's POV

“Anyway, what are we, now?” Talie asked, her eyes as genuine as her own self.

Yesterday, for a minute, I had stopped breathing when I realised that there was a high probability of Talie reading that e-mail. She probably did. Not that it was visible on her face, but I could make that out from the way she was talking to me after we left the room. I didn't want her to know anything that would make her think of me as someone not worthy of her liking. I wanted to tell her everything but now wasn't the right time. It was too soon and I didn't want to be the one she would stay away from for the rest of her life.

I had actually planned to just stay with her in the room which was what I was actually going to tell her when I had gone upstairs to give her her top. I thought I could spend some time with her, talk to her, maybe talk to Char and Steve, too. They must have arrived to New York by now. Talie just talked to them on the phone. We had decided to meet in the evening. Apparently, Steve and Char weren't on talking terms. So, teams were naturally formed between the four of us - Talie and Steve on one and Char and I on the other.

We had just stopped arguing and justifying each other. Thought, we needed a kind of serious talk for a moment.

Talking about serious, I decided to let the plan remain the same and take Talie to the pond for swimming because I realised that things could escalate fast about the emails and stuff if I wouldn't distract her. I had to do it. And it proved to be the best day with her. She looked so beautiful and ravishing in that bikini. I just kept staring at her with awe, like she was something phenomenal, something magnificent.

There's this travel blogger I followed on Instagram. He had a picture of him kissing his girlfriend underwater in the gigantic Pacific Ocean. That picture was stuck inside my mind. I wanted to do that. It was like a whole new world in there. And kissing in the middle of this World was like a cherry on the cake.

“You're not even listening to me. Ignoring already?” Talie hit my arm playfully. We were at her house. Surprisingly enough, Sandra was there, too. For once, she was not in any hurry of going to work.

“What? No! Why would you even think that?” I said, the choco chip cookies smoothly travelling through my oesophagus and reaching my stomach. I already knew where Talie got her cooking skills from - of course Sandra! Thankfully, she had gone for shower. We could talk about the whole thing without getting interrupted, not that Sandra annoyed me or anything but I was a very private person if you excluded those YouTube videos. And even if she would come, we could pretend how much we were really enjoying watching the insects mate on the Discovery channel.

Talie seemed to have mood swings today. One minute, it looked like her body was vibrating with euphoria, the next minute seemed like all the depression and sadness of the world was dumped on her. I held her by her shoulders and scooted a little closer, the blood already rushing over to my face and making it warm. I could see Talie hiding her flushed face from me, her eyelids fluttering rapidly, away from me.

“Talie,” I touched her face, her freckles kissing my skin, “I want to say that I really like you, if you haven't already established that.” She chuckled and flashed a genuine smile, ear to ear.

“Ash, I like you, too, and you're going to be very flattered now, but I want to confess that I liked you the moment I saw you the first time.” She gushed as she chewed on her lip, her eyes searching some reaction on my face.

That was actually news! I didn't really know that. In fact, I thought that she would have cursed me a thousand times in her mind for creasing her cute dress when she bumped into me that day.

I was really flattered. And to show that, I gave a quick peck on her lips. I could feel the goosebumps on her skin as I caressed through the length of her hand.

For few minutes, both of us grew quiet, probably thinking who would first start talking about what we had in our minds. I was anxious about talking about mine but I did anyway, like I wanted to get over with it.

I fidgeted a bit, Talie noticing every little movement of mine.

“Talie, do you really think we can take this forward?” I paused. Without waiting for an answer, I let out, “Honestly speaking, I don't.” My voice was low now, and I feared as I uttered every word. I feared that this talk would ruin everything that we had experienced till now. It wasn't primarily because we would be living on opposite sides of the world but because…

“Umm, I don't know, Ash. Maybe not, because we don't only live far away from each other, but we live on two different continents which are on the opposite sides of the world. I know it's not really possible but…” she paused, “Forget it. It's fine actually,” and walked over to the shiny wooden cabinet under the television to take the remote.

With her most of the weight pressing one side of the knee, she stood with one hand on her hip and the other brushing through the buttons on the remote as she changed channels, as if her eyes caught the fastest view. Her red shorts, with the white edges, sexily hung over her hips while her silky hair rested on one side secured with a loose band.

Talie was beautiful. She was sexy. She was understanding, positive, and supportive. She was everything that I would want to be with, she had my heart. Every little thing that she did attracted me to her, no matter how stupid and crazy it was. Anything and everything looked cute when Talie did it. She made me happy. What else would I need anyway? Ignoring all the reasons of why we couldn't be together, I made up my mind, putting a lid on the “why not” box and pushing it away from me.

I stood up from the sofa I was sprawled on and crawled almost noiselessly towards her. Taking her off guard, I snaked my arms around her waist and kissed her cheek when a small yelp left her mouth.

“Crazy! You scared me!” A music channel was on on the television. I didn't know who the singer was but the music filled my heart and I kissed Talie when she turned towards me, the remote in her hand slightly hurting my back.

“I think we can try,” I said, our holds on each other getting tighter. Her eyes shone brightly, as if providing light to my whole self.

She whispered after she chewed on my lower lip, “Are you serious? Because if you're, know that you've already made my day.” And we kept kissing, until…

“Aww, you guys are so cute!” Sandra sprinted towards us with her hands slowly clapping against each other and hugged us. She was an ideal mom. She was Talie's best friend and I couldn't be any happier for her.

“So,” she said as she stretched the syllable, her nude lipstick perfectly suiting her moulded lips.

“All of this was going on behind my back, huh? All those were home dates, I get it.” She walked around the living room, picking up the bags and bags of everything she had bought from the supermarket. She was going to cook for everyone on her birthday. I wished I could be there, too. But, my flight was of Sunday and her birthday was on Monday. Damn!

Talie chuckled, probably thanking god for a chilled, laid back mother like Sandra.

“I'm so happy for you guys! I like you already, Ashton!” She blew me a kiss while Talie kept watching us in playful jealousy.