You and Everything After

Chapter 21: Dating Rules (Edited)

Chapter song: Surrender- Natalie Taylor

Stella POV:

Classical music engulfed the ocean of silence between us as he drove down the calm street. I turned towards the city lights that I saw in his eyes when he pulled away from the kiss. I looked at myself in the rearview mirror and realized I was smiling. It was real. Starlight danced under my eyelids when his lips moved against mine. I was lost when he buried his hand in my hair and the other around my waist, pulling me to him.

I turned to him when he parked facing the beach. I smiled a little before getting out and taking my shoes off. He was quick to reach out for my hand as we walked on the warm soil.

"Do you want to explain?" He began and my face became so flushed. Where do I begin?

"Ashley knows I'm Stella. She threatened me to tell everyone, and I panicked."

"So you said I'm your boyfriend," he reminded me and I nodded quietly.

"It was the only thing that came to my mind," I said, stopping at the beach with water reaching my ankles. I inched closer and yelped at how cold it was. I had this urge to ask him whether he liked my kiss. I wanted to know if he felt breathless too.

"You'll get yourself sick." He said, pulling me away gently by my wrist. I splashed water on him with my toes and his gaze dropped to his now wet pants.

"Stella," he teased, "you messed with the wrong Black."

I immediately ran away but didn't make it far because he held me around the waist and then turned us around in a swift motion. He fell on top of me, placing his arms on either side of me.

My laughter died down when his gaze collided with mine him. He removed one wet tendril away from my face and then cupped my cheek with his one cold hand, making me shiver. I gulped as his gaze traveled to my lips and his grin from earlier was replaced by a soft smile.

"What are we going to do? I'm your boyfriend now, babe." He whispered as he helped me stand up. He then took off his jacket and wrapped it around my shoulders as we walked back to his car.

"I'll tell them I lied," I mumbled and my heart sunk.

"We're not."

"What?"

"We're not going to tell everyone it was a lie. We have to go on with it."

I looked up at him. "We're going to fake date?"

"Nothing related to you is fake." I thought I heard him whisper as we got in the car. He immediately turned on the heater. "You'll feel warm in a couple of seconds." I was already feeling warm because of his stare but I didn't tell him that.

"How are we going to make it seem believable? Ashley will have her doubts and will go back to watching my every move. And Noah, he already hates me. They'll know."

"No one can hurt you. I'll ruin his face if I see him try."

I laughed a little under my breath, knowing he'd do that. "Dating rules?" I suggested and he turned to me with a brow raised in confusion. "What? You've dated before you, but I've never. And we need to be careful."

"Yeah," he nodded, waiting for me to elaborate and I whirled to him with arms crossed, my heart clenching.

"What do you mean yeah? How many were there exactly?"

"Who?"

"The girls you've dated. You nodded like you have so much experience. How many?"

He chuckled. "Back to the dating rules,"
I frowned while searching for paper and pen. I finally found a pencil in his back seat along with a notebook, so I opened it to an empty page.