The Longest Ride

°•°Chapter 11°•°

"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength while loving someone deeply gives you courage."

― Lao Tzu

Reese's POV.

I take a diversion towards the road leading to San Francisco once I was sure, there's no one following us. Irene is still tense and I can't seem to find any way to help her with that. It made me happy that she felt the same way as I did towards her, wasn't expecting that of course. That kiss could've gone all wrong if she didn't feel the same.

Alex. That asshole has his way to scare people especially Irene, "Hey want to stop somewhere for breakfast?"

I steal a glance at Irene before looking back onto the road, "Yes please."

She gives me a small smile making me smile back. Ten days with her would never be enough. Even if we don't work out in the future which I probably won't let happen, I would still want to give her my best shot.

I've been a jerk to so many people after Millie broke my heart but Irene broke through that tough wall I thought I built around myself. Once I started realizing I was falling in love with Irene, I understood I probably never felt the same before not even with Millie. Is one week enough to fall in love? Before meeting Irene I'd say no but that changed now.

"I told you everything about me, but I know nothing about you," Irene gives a look of realization which makes me take a deep breath. There's not much to me.

"Well, what do you want to know?" And so starts the conversation of the sad uninteresting life of Reese Jarrett.

~•~•~•

"What? I stress eat and this is good too," Irene reasons out as she dives into the third plate of scrambled eggs and toast. But this is my third round of breakfast too so not complaining.

"I'll just change into something fresh before we hit the road again," I nod with food in my mouth and Irene looks at me with a smile. I sure looked like a child. I better freshen up and change too. Hopefully, we come across a motel we could stay at tonight or at least tomorrow and I've got work to do so we do need to halt somewhere.

Irene slips her hand onto mine almost feels like she's seeking reassurance. I remove my hand off hers and wrap my arm around her waist pulling her close enough to make her feel safe, "It's going to be just fine."

"I hope so," she pulls away kissing my cheek. "I'll just freshen up and be back in ten minutes,"

I nod also the following suit since I need to grab stuff from the car too. Irene seems deep in thought as she walks back to the car out of the diner. Just when she started calming down about the whole situation did Alex had to find her number somehow. The day we both do come face to face again, he's not going to attempt to even get anywhere close to Irene after that.

Till today, I was skeptical about Irene and me but now after the long talk about each other, my doubts are all cleared up. She's worth fighting for and I'm willing to do it.

~•~•~•

I drive into the empty parking of Dunes Beach with a smile noticing Irene still fast asleep. She told me it's her birthday tomorrow after we left the diner in the morning after breakfast. I can't surprise her with amazing gifts but I do hope, getting her to the beach for stargazing makes her happy. One of the advantages of having a cargo bed and luckily it didn't rain today so I can take off the convertible cover and set it up.

It was supposed to be her engagement day to Alex in Paris if she didn't run away so now I plan to not let the reminder ruin her birthday which she's going to finally celebrate without being pushed around by Alex or her family.

I kiss Irene's forehead before getting out of the car as silently as I can. She never gets to sleep through the night without a nightmare and the rest of the time her overthinking is enough to get her all exhausted. We also decided not to label our relationship just yet, Irene just got out that torture house and she wanted to make sure I'm not just a rebound. I did agree with her on that, we don't need to jump to anything and regret it later.

The most relieving thing right now is my dad has completely recovered from his surgery and is getting back to work to help mom. Given the fact that I can't be returning home for the next week, dad feeling better reassured me.

I start laying the camping mattress I carry on my cross-country drives always. When I travel alone which I often do, I prefer sleeping in the cargo bed of my car and stargaze.

Hearing Irene open her door, a smile makes its way to my face, "Reese, what are you doing here?"

She walks up to me with surprise as she looks at the setting. Food, drinks and well a cozy enough space to spend time, "Well since I couldn't get the booking at the motel tonight and the weather is all clear, I thought we could use the cargo bed to stargaze,"

"That is amazing Reese," she wraps her arms around my waist and kisses me. I kiss back smiling against her lips. She pulls back with a blush staining her face and goes back to grab some water to wash her face and drink. It's already 8 pm so its dark, the waves of the beach add the calmness and all this makes the perfect atmosphere for stargazing. With Irene next to me, this makes it all the more better.

I climb onto the cargo bed and wait for Irene. She joins me with a beautiful smile decorating her face and hands me the blanket just in case it starts getting colder.

"I'm sorry I keep falling asleep while you drive," she apologizes as she settles down next to me.

"Don't apologize silly," I wrap an arm around her shoulder pulling her close enough for her to lean her head on my shoulder. "Did you call your mom?"

"Yeah and the good news is that my dad's better and getting back to work," I answer her with a smile.

"That's great!" she beams with a huge grin. Right now, there's nothing better than watching her finally smile. I pull her into a kiss, that I couldn't seem to resist. Caressing her cheek, our tounges go in sync as we deepen the kiss. We pull away breathlessly and I rest my forehead against hers still staring into her eyes.

The most perfect moment under the stars.

I break the silence, "I'm hungry, aren't you?" I ask her grabbing the boxes of pepperoni pizza before they went cold.

"Oh my god, it's been so long since I had pizza!" Irene squeals in excitement making me let out a laugh.

Not going to ask why she didn't have pizza because Alex probably did not let her eat out. Just the thought of him angers me.

"Never thought I'd miss pizza so much, I couldn't eat because they always put me on a stupid diet." She says taking a bite of her pizza. "Well, now you can have as much as pizza as you want. So, stop thinking and enjoy it,"

I tell her grabbing my slice to eat, she taps her slice to mine, "To pizza, it is then,"

She says giggling, "To pizza it is."

Laughing along with her, we eat while joking around and talking about things. Looking at her smile is enough for me to promise that I'll make sure she experiences every little thing she missed because of Alex.

One thing I didn't tell her though is that a person was tailing us from when we diverted. I managed to misguide him for now but pretty sure can't keep them away for long.

~•~•~•