Maze [Completed]

DYLAN

Maze was asleep in my bed with her back to me. The house was quiet and I stared at the ceiling, wondering how so much could change in two days. Two days ago, I was driving home thinking about the wedding and trying to ignore the gnawing sensation that lived in the centre of my chest constantly. I'd been thinking about the last year of my Masters in English and wondering, yet again, what was going to happen when I'd completed it. I'd felt adrift and since that morning with Maze, I'd felt completely lost. 

Now, she was here. Lying next to me after we'd helped each other out of our wedding clothes and lay next to each other, remembering what we meant to each other and how we felt. We made love, slowly. Maze's nails digging into my shoulder blades, my forehead against hers and afterwards, she'd kissed me sweetly and drifted into sleep.

I couldn't. I was scared if I'd closed my eyes, I'd wake up to realise that this was one of the worst nightmares I'd ever had. That it wasn't real ,she was still gone, I was still alone and regretting that I'd left that morning. She murmured in her sleep and fidgeted, the covers falling over her shoulders. My gaze flew over her, taking in her curves, her blemishes, everything about her that made her the Maze that I fell in love with. I inched forward and stared at the tattoos of the stars on her shoulder blade. I reached out and traced them with my fingertips.

Maze shifted under my touch and glanced over her shoulder to smile at me sleepily. 

"Hi," she whispered.

I leaned forward and kissed the tattoos, Maze shivered. 

"Where did you get these?" I asked.

"Italy, not long after I arrived. I was working in a cafe next to a tattoo shop and I couldn't stop thinking about you. I walked in after I finished my shift and told the guy I wanted the stars on my back. He did a good job didn't he?"

I nodded, kissing them again, "Why did you get them, Maze?"

She rolled over and I slid my hand over her stomach to her hip, tugging her closer to me.

"You've always been there for me, Dyl. Even when I didn't know you were. The things we shared, the way we felt for each other, the support you gave me with Simon and there I was in a country I knew nothing about and I needed someone to have my back. I thought about you and the stars and that's why I got them. You'd always have my back and you'd always be my stars."

I dipped my head and grazed my lips over hers, "I'm absolutely fucking crazy about you,Maze."

She smiled up at me then stifled a yawn, "God, I'm sorry. I'm still so jet lagged from the flight."

I pulled her closer and she rested her head against my chest. I breathed in that familiar lemon scent that was uniquely Maze and pulled the covers up around us. She placed a kiss on my chest and burrowed her head closer.

"I'm not leaving you again, Dyl. I promise."

Relief jolted through me as I swallowed hard, forcing the tears away from my eyes. 

She was home.

I closed my eyes and slept. 

When I woke, she was there and I smiled to myself. It'd been real.